In an hour-long interview with The New York Times Magazine, published on June 14, a fearful-sounding Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska reflected on her decades-long career, her bleak view of the Republican Party, and the challenges facing Alaska.
“I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real,” she said, rephrasing comments she made earlier this year.
In April, during a conference with nonprofit leaders in Anchorage, she drew national headlines when she stated, “we are all afraid” and “retribution is real.”
Now it’s also perceived retaliation, which is an action driven by revenge or “getting even,” while retribution is considered a more formal, state-administered, response that is more proportional.
“It’s dangerous for us in the legislative branch,” she said to the interviewer.
The conversation with the newspaper comes just ahead of the release of her memoir, Far From Home, expected later this month. In recent months, after she announced her book would be published, she has been ever-present in the media, a tactic used by many authors to grow a readership for their books.
Murkowski reiterated that she has never voted for President Donald Trump and that she endorsed Nikki Haley during the 2024 Republican primaries. In the interview, she criticized the GOP’s continued alignment with Trump and pointed to a culture of fear within the party. She recalled moments where Republican lawmakers hesitated to speak out due to concerns about political retaliation.
She highlighted her record of bucking party leadership, including her vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and her opposition to Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of Defense. She did vote for Biden’s pick for Defense, Lloyd Austin, and Trump’s first-term Defense Sec. James Mattis.
Murkowski used the interview to spotlight Alaska’s vulnerability to changes in federal funding. She said an estimated 37% of the state’s budget tied to federal programs, which makes her concerned about proposed cuts under Trump’s new budget plan, the Big Beautiful Bill, now in front of the US Senate for consideration.
According to Murkowski, those proposals have already resulted in funding freezes and layoffs, triggering protests in Alaska. These are protests she tacitly encouraged in April, when she spoke to the nonprofit conference, telling the audience, “Be affirmative in your protesting to support the programs you want to see preserved. I think it’s important the concerns continue to be raised rather than letting the fatigue of the chaos grind you down.”
Regarding the budget cuts, she told the newspaper, “I come from a state where we have, on a per capita basis, more federal workers than most any other state. So to come in and tell these people that have been helping us with everything from permitting a mine to the visitor’s center at the Mendenhall Glacier and telling them, sorry, your services are no longer warranted. That’s not how we operate here. So it’s been a rocky, rocky five months with dealing with some of what we saw with the DOGE effort,” she said.
Murkowski also discussed her opposition to elements of Trump’s proposed “Big, Beautiful Bill,” including Medicaid cuts and the phaseout of green energy tax credits. The bill attempts to make it harder to scam Medicaid, which is a program that is riddled with fraud, with estimates that the fraud costs taxpayers $22 billion to $73 billion a year.
She expressed alignment with fellow senators Josh Hawley and Susan Collins, who also support Medicaid fraud. Murkowski warned that the proposals could disproportionately impact Alaska, which she noted already face challenges in healthcare access and energy development. She did not explain the prevalence of very suspect invoices submitted to Medicaid by the Native medical providers in the state, nor the need for an overhaul of the Medicaid system.
Her forthcoming memoir, Far From Home, recounts key moments in her career, including her historic 2010 write-in campaign victory after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller. The book covers her 23 years in the Senate and offers insight into navigating Washington.
The full transcript of her interview can be read here at Apple Podcasts.
Funny how Murkowski is “anxious” and in fear of retribution after all the stuff she’s done to her opponents in the past. Karma?
Her extreme chronic TDS has clouded her judgment.
Lisa Murkowski is a deep state senator, she hasn’t represented Alaska and alaskan’s for ten years. Please you republic hating democrats and republicans, quit voting for her. She is trying to do as much damage as she can before getting fired.
She is stoking the fires of fear in her Alaska liberal base.
Does Lisa include book chapters where she: failed the state bar exam half a dozen times, her daddy appointed her because she couldn’t find any other employment, she became a traitor to the party that backed her because she was a brainwashed socialist all along, Joe Miller kicked her *ss in the 2010 primary because he was 10X smarter than her, she had to teach Native voters how to spell her name, and she’s been shaming her parents for 20 years? Those are the chapters that will sell her books. Otherwise, the book is DOA.
Ole Quivers With Wolves still working the book tour?
Continuing to say things like this could land her in Alaska Psychiatric Institute. This woman is a mess.
High anxiety? Boo Hoo You did it to yourself Rino! Cry somewhere else
Murkowski is feeling the pressure from noble ‘native’ criminal entities aka #TribesThatBribe for her inability to deliver on their radical racist anti-Caucasian bigotry driven demands. No quid-pro-quo means they have to threaten to expose her criminal entanglement with the CCP because the soros/xi dark money flow exceeds that of kawerak, bsnc and the likes of the village of Solomon (population 0) USAID grift being clawed back.
And Murkowski owes some very nasty people. Blaming it on 47 is not fooling anyone.
I wonder how dangerous it would be for members of the legislative branch if they did what their constituents wanted, instead of ignoring their constituents and doing whatever they can to consolidate power in their own hands?
She could just be quiet, and stop trying cultivate the liberal base to stay elected.
Rino!!!!
Maybe she should ask Maxine Watters and Timmy Walz to cut back the fighting Words!
She should be anxious about her voice being heard. She is the one that got herself into the “anxious” corner by not doing what Alaskans have asked of her and catering to the Libs while stating she is a Republican. Walking the fence constantly would make me anxious too but the consequences are total her fault. She knows she can’t even win an election without Ranked Choice Voting.
Wanna quit worrying…..get out!
Now that the Rino republicans like “Cocaine Mitch” is gone we should be able to get her out because she wont have access to the Senate leadership money. We just need a decent candidate to run against her. A clone of Nick Begich would be fantastic
DRAMA QUEEN.. What a waste of Alaska’s Senatorial Seat’s time and prosperity Please Resign. For the Greater Good, please resign.
Resign and retire in peace! Please go away!
If Murkowski thinks there is retaliation, she should try being a conservative at the head of the Anchorage Municipal Public Libraries. Please, your whining is sickening. You can’t imagine what you and your liberal friends have put most of us conservatives through over the years. We have every right as voting citizens to express our opinions when you do not vote Republican values. Please just leave the party if we scare you so.