WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s inability to unify the nation at a time of grave unrest is testing his uneasy alliance with mainstream Republicans, some emboldened by Gen. James Mattis’ plea for a leader who lives up to the U.S. ideals of a more perfect union.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday called the rebuke by Trump’s first Pentagon chief “necessary and overdue.”
“Perhaps we’re getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up,” Murkowski said.
She also said Trump was the “duly elected president” and that she’d continue to work with the administration.
Murkowski told reporters that she agreed with the blistering assessment offered by Trump’s former secretary of defense Mattis in The Atlantic.
In the statement, Mattis denounced Trump, calling him a threat to the Constitution and saying he was trying to divide, rather than unite, the country.
Mattis also backed people protesting the death of George Floyd while in custody of Minneapolis police.
“I thought Gen. Mattis’ words were true and honest and necessary and overdue,” Murkowski said.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, both Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, called on Trump to drop out of the race after the release of a tape in which Trump boasted in vulgar language about forcing himself sexually on women. Both said they weren’t voting for him at the time.
Murkowski’s remarks reflected the choice Republicans are forced to make about whether, and for how long, to support Trump when his words and actions so often conflict with their values and goals. Trump has responded to violence accompanying some protests following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis by calling for more “law and order” to “dominate” even peaceful demonstrations. He has been slower and less forceful in addressing racial injustice and questions of police brutality that lie at the heart of the unrest.
Asked whether she can still support Trump, Murkowski replied: “I am struggling with it. I have struggled with it for a long time.”
The nation is on edge, and Election Day looms, with the presidency and control of the House and Senate at stake. Trump has made clear that consequences for what he considers disloyalty can be steep.
Indeed, he promised Thursday to campaign against Murkowski when she is up for reelection in 2022. “Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing,” Trump tweeted.
Most in the GOP aren’t breaking with him. Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana said Mattis’ missive was not discussed Thursday at the GOP’s lunch.
Asked for this thoughts on Mattis and Murkowski, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered no response.
