Lisa Murkowski: A Profile in Cowardice
- john raymond
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
I’ve written before about how much harder women in power have had to work to earn their place. I believe it. Women like Senator Lisa Murkowski have fought tooth and nail to rise through a system not built for them, and because of that, I’ve always argued we should listen to them. Not because they’re always right—but because they’ve had to be better, sharper, and more prepared than the average man standing beside them. It’s a high bar, and Lisa has cleared it more than once.
But today, that respect does not save her.
Her vote for Trump’s so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill” was not a compromise. It was not a nuance. It was not a masterstroke of legislative strategy. It was cowardice.
Cowardice dressed up in press statements and posturing. Cowardice cloaked in rhetoric about “doing what’s best for Alaska” while knowingly handing Trump the keys to a $3.3 trillion dollar wealth transfer scheme that harms Americans from coast to coast. And worst of all, she had the gall to tell the House not to vote on the very bill she just passed herself. As if to say: I know it’s wrong—but someone else should stop it.
That isn’t prudence. That’s abdication.
Let me be clear: it is her job to say no to bad bills. It is her job to speak truth to power. It is her job to protect not just Alaska, but every American from the tyranny of a kleptocratic regime that seeks to make the poor poorer and the wealthy untouchable.
Senator Murkowski had the power to stop the madness—or at least stand against it. Instead, she gave Trump his victory, then meekly turned to the House and whispered, “Do better than I did.” That isn’t leadership. That isn’t courage. That’s failure.
It will not be forgotten. Because while the bill may help some Alaskans in the short term, it harms the Republic in the long run. And every Senator who voted for it—especially those who knew better—must be held to account.
Lisa Murkowski knew better. I know it. She knows it. And now, every American should know it too.
Not just every Alaskan. Every single American.
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