Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) tore into her Republican colleagues for being ‘afraid’ to stand up to President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, terrified of backlash or a brutal primary challenge.
Murkowski, one of the few Republicans still willing to publicly criticize Trump, made these comments during a press conference in Juneau on Tuesday.
“I get criticized for what I say, and then everybody else is like, ‘How come nobody else is saying anything?’” Murkowski told reporters. “Well, figure it out. Because they’re looking at how many things are being thrown at me and it’s like, ‘Maybe I’ll just duck and cover.’”
“That’s why you’ve got everybody zip-lip, not saying a word, ’cause they’re afraid they’re going to be taken down, they’re going to be primaried, they’re going to be given names in the media,” she added. “You know what, we cannot be cowed into not speaking up.”
Murkowski, who won in 2022 against a Trump-backed challenger, is in a position where she can speak out more than other Republicans. Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system also helps her chances of staying in office if she runs again.
Still, her willingness to stand up to Trump is rare in her party, where many have closely followed his lead. After voting to convict Trump for inciting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Murkowski refused to support his re-election, criticized his views on immigrants, and opposed several of his Cabinet nominees.
Trump has called Murkowski “worse than a RINO,” meaning “Republican in name only.”
“When people say, ‘Why aren’t you a better Republican — and if you’re not, get out of the party,’ until Alaskans tell me, ‘Lisa, it’s just not working anymore,’ I’m going to give you every last breath and I’m going to try and solve every little problem,” Murkowski said on Tuesday. “I’m not going to compromise my integrity by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken.”
Last week, Murkowski voted with Democrats to cut funding for the Department of Government Efficiency, the Musk-led group that has been cutting federal jobs and agencies without congressional approval. In a speech to Alaska’s legislature this week, she called the cuts “indiscriminate,” “unlawful,” and said they were “traumatizing people.”
“It may be that Elon Musk has decided he’s going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski,” she said on Tuesday, referring to Musk’s satellite internet company. “And you know what, that may happen. But I’m not giving up one minute, one opportunity to try and stand up for Alaskans.”
You can watch the full press conference below, with her comments on Republicans starting at the 14:48 mark:
