Even if he manages to win a second term in office come November, Donald Trump may well find himself losing a member of his party in the U.S. Senate.
Manu Raju of CNN reports that during his recent discussion with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the senator said she’s “done” with Trump as the standard bearer of her party.
“I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind. I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”
Would Murkowski renounce the GOP and become an independent?
“Oh, I think I’m very independent minded. I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”
Is that a yes? Again, Murkowski refused to commit to what political affiliation she might choose.
“I am navigating my way through some very interesting political times. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Murkowski voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial in the Senate. She also voted “present” instead of yay or nay on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court after accusations of sexual assault were made against him by a former high school classmate, Christine Blasey Ford. Kavanaugh was later confirmed by a razor-thin margin, 50 to 48.
The Alaska Republican told Raju that she strongly disagrees with Trump calling January 6 prisoners “hostages” or “patriots” who deserve presidential pardons.
“I don’t think that it can be defended. What happened on January 6 was … an effort by people who stormed the building in an effort to stop an election certification of an election. It can’t be defended.”
Losing a Republican senator could be devastating to the GOP, which is seeking to regain control of the Senate in the upcoming election. And it might also mean that Trump would be unable to get his judicial nominees appointed to the bench. That alone would be a big blow to Republican efforts to confirm increasingly conservative judges.
