“We are all afraid,” Murkowski said, taking a long pause. “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell ya, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
Sitting Republican US Senator Lisa Murkowski made this stunning and candid admission this past Monday while speaking to constituents in Alaska. Here are more details from the Anchorage Daily News:
The Republican senior senator appeared for a 45-minute discussion with Laurie Wolf, president and CEO of The Foraker Group, during its annual leadership summit — the state’s largest gathering of nonprofit and tribal leaders — at a conference center in downtown Anchorage.
The questions were wide-ranging. Most dealt with the extreme uncertainty felt by many working in the public sector, nonprofit services and social safety net programs since the start of the second Trump administration in January. [source]
For those who don’t have time to read the whole article, here is a selection of direct quotes from Murkowski:
“It is head spinning,” Murkowski said. “It seems that just when you’ve made a little bit of progress on one issue that had caused so much anxiety, there’s another one.”
Murkowski was exceptionally candid criticizing aspects of the Trump administration’s approach to implementing policy measures and service cuts, some of which she described as “unlawful.” She recounted a frenetic cycle of activity in her office among herself and staff chasing rumors about programming changes to find out if they are true, and if so, looking for ways to blunt the harm they might do to constituents in Alaska. […]
“I share this with you not to say that ‘we don’t know anything,’ but I’m saying that things are happening so fast through this Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE … none of us understand the half of it,” Murkowski said. “It’s literally piecing it together.” […]
“There is a growing number of Republicans, which needs to happen, who are saying ‘Medicaid is off the table,‘” Murkowski said. […] “I’m not saying you can’t touch Medicaid at all,” Murkowski said. “What I hope we’re moving away from is an $880 billion cut to Medicaid. Because if that happens, this is going to be a very, very different state.” […]
“The seafood side. Those on the industry side are more than a little bit anxious. We send a lot of product to China. We get a lot of it back from China. This is something that’s going to be very significant to us,” Murkowski said.
Likewise, Murkowski said that potential further cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — above personnel terminations that already took place — could jeopardize fisheries managers’ abilities to make informed decisions about sustainable harvest targets.
“We won’t have the well-managed fisheries that we demand,” Murkowski said, speaking to a group of reporters after her session on stage. “You’re gonna have your managers say, ‘Well, we don’t have what we need, we’re going to err on the side of caution.’ The quotas are going to be reduced. Your fishermen aren’t going to be able to harvest as much. There’s impact there. Or it could go the other way: ‘Well, we don’t really know, so we’ll engage in fishing practices that are not gonna be healthy and sustainable.‘”
I suspect some Trump supporters and apologists will chalk these comments up to long-standing rifts between him and Murkowski (which existed long before she voted to remove Trump from office in 2021). However, I urge those readers and everyone else to consider what Murkowski shares seriously. She’s been involved with government for long enough to understand the intended and unintended consequences of the reckless budget and personnel slashing that DOGE and the Trump Administration are engaged in.
This isn’t a sustainable way to run a government. We will live with the long-term results of this chaos for years and most likely decades to come.
What’s also remarkable to me is to see a Republican politician encouraging protest against her party’s own policies. From the article:
She expressed alarm at how the judiciary was increasingly being treated as a partisan entity, saying it was putting America in “a very dangerous place, because you stop believing in the rule of law.” And she called on Alaskans to “be affirmative” in protesting on behalf of programs they want to remain in place so that elected leaders are kept aware of where support and frustration exist among constituents.
“I think it’s important the concerns continue to be raised rather than letting the fatigue of the chaos grind you down,” Murkowski said.
I am in complete agreement with Murkowski. It’s easy to let fatigue get the best of us, but those among us who care about good governance and what happens to their fellow residents and citizens need to speak up.
I also appreciate that Murkowski also casts responsibility on Congress as well:
She said that the administration’s actions refusing to disburse congressionally authorized monies approved under legislation was “against the law,” and that Congress had allowed the executive branch to claim too much power that the U.S. Constitution assignsto the legislative branch.
“It’s called the checks and balances. And right, now we are not balancing as the Congress,” Murkowski said.
Again, credit where it is due, Murkowski does have a record of practicing what she preaches (though her vote record). And she had to overcome party retribution for doing so. I hope others in the Republican party and their voters will follow her example.
Aside: This story is precisely why local journalism is so important. The national political press would never cover this type of local speaking engagement. These moments of leaders being candid with local constituencies at public events are what we stand to lose as local and state press coverage is gutted.
