Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska, said many of her Republican colleagues in the Senate avoid criticizing Donald Trump and Elon Musk for fear of political retaliation.
During a speech at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Murkowski said that her colleagues are afraid of being attacked, challenged in primary elections for their seats, and publicly discredited. As a result, they prefer to remain silent to avoid becoming targets of Trump supporters and conservative media.
Murkowski, a key figure in the centrist wing of the GOP, was elected to her fourth term in 2022 after defeating another Republican and will not have to run for re-election until 2028.
Nevertheless, during Senate confirmation hearings, Murkowski supported nearly all of Trump’s cabinet and administration nominees. The only one she voted against was Pete Hegseth, who was chosen as Secretary of Defense to lead the Pentagon. She said she has not yet decided how to approach Trump’s White House, emphasizing that she does not intend to oppose the president at every turn but is ready to “stiffen my spine” and defend her positions, even against Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
“I get criticized for what I say, and everybody else is like, ‘How come nobody else is saying anything?’ Well, figure it out, because they’re looking at how many things are being thrown at me, and it’s like, ‘Maybe I should just duck and cover’. That’s why you’ve got everybody just zip-lipped, not saying a word because 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 continued. “We cannot be cowed into not speaking up.”
“I’m not going to compromise my own integrity by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken. I’m going to take the criticism that comes,” Murkowski continued. “It may be that Elon Musk has decided that he’s going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski, and you know what? That may happen.”
