Liberals are attacking Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) after she admitted to being “afraid” of speaking out against the Trump administration at a summit for Alaska nonprofit leaders earlier this week.
Throughout the 45-minute discussion in Anchorage, Murkowski, known as one of the most moderate members of the Republican caucus, openly criticized the Trump administration for various funding cuts and perceived executive overreach.
But it was a two-minute clip that caught the internet’s attention on Thursday morning and has since racked up millions of combined views.
“We are all afraid,” Murkowski said in the video, when asked what she would say to frightened constituents. “I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
The admission struck a chord among President Donald Trump’s political opponents, who have pleaded for Republican dissenters like Murkowski to speak up.
“Senator Murkowski admits she doesn’t have the courage to confront the moment she helped usher in,” one X user wrote. “Her constituents should yeet her into the Sun and elect someone with a backbone immediately.”
“There are people with far less privilege and power than Lisa Murkowski who have spoken up,” another account pointed out. “The fact she refuses to do so tells you all you need to know.”
Murkowski has walked a political tightrope in deep-red Alaska for decades now.
After losing the Republican Senate primary to Tea Party darling Joe Miller in 2010, she waged a successful write-in campaign to retain her seat.
She then fought off another challenge from the right in 2022, narrowly beating Kelly Tshibaka, who received endorsements from Trump, current Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
But Murkowski’s willingness to break from the MAGA base on many key issues didn’t make her comments any less infuriating to some liberals.
“You created this authoritarian monster,” one wrote on X. “Now you’re shocked at the price to be paid.”
“If only you were in a position of authority to actually do something about it,” another user wrote facetiously. “You’re a significant part of how we got here in the first place.”
Others, though, applauded Murkowski for her candor and lambasted the MAGA movement for squashing internal dissent. Among them? The unlikely ally Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s one-time communications director during his first term.
“Senator Murkowski says she is scared and anxious, feels threatened,” Scaramucci tweeted at Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-Texas). “Is that what you want in the Senate chamber? For our society?”
“I largely disagree with Lisa Murkowski on political issues, but getting up on stage and openly talking about her fear of Donald Trump’s revenge is incredibly brave,” another X user wrote. “This nightmare will never end unless it’s increasingly publicly named. By Republicans.”
GOP legislators have faced criticism and disruptions at town halls and other gatherings during Trump’s new term, but few have so openly discussed being afraid of retaliation from the MAGA movement.
But the mixed-at-best reaction to Murkowski’s comments may not give them much reason to speak out.
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