Rebuking her party’s support of Donald Trump, veteran Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is refusing to rule out leaving the GOP altogether as she expresses dismay over the former president’s hold on its direction.
The Alaskan lawmaker, one of just seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after the January 6th insurrection, made clear in a recent interview with CNN that she cannot abide by Trump as her party’s standard-bearer going forward.
“I wish that as Republicans, we had…a nominee that I could get behind. I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump,” Murkowski stated bluntly. When asked if she would potentially become an independent, she responded “I am navigating my way through some very interesting political times. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Murkowski’s noncommittal stance shows her growing disillusionment with a Republican party that seems inseparable from Trump’s divisive persona and false election fraud claims. “I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump,” she lamented.
The three-term senator’s willingness to explore leaving a party she has been a part of for over two decades gives a clear picture of the conundrum faced by the GOP’s shrinking moderate wing.
While stopping short of confirming an outright party switch, Lisa Murkowski’s latest comments leave little doubt about her disgust with the MAGA movement’s control of the modern GOP. Her navigation through these “interesting political times” may ultimately lead her to chart a new path entirely.
