THE MURKOWSKI EFFECT

Kudos to one brave woman who chose to speak her mind

Among Republican Congresspeople there seems to be one lone woman who is willing to say publicly what many must be thinking.

Despite the political risks that are posed by daring to question Elon Musk’s chainsaw approach to improving – excuse me, I mean destroying – federal agencies, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has more guts than the whole lot of them. Whereas most of her colleagues are, in her words, “not saying a word because they’re afraid they going to be taken down,” Murkowski is not willing to put her career, or even her party, before her allegiance to the people of her state.

Despite Musk’s claims that he’s there to get rid of fraud and abuse, Murkowski apparently knows a fraudster and an abuser when she sees one – and she isn’t willing to be quiet about it. “I’m not going to compromise my own integrity,” she said, “by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken. And it may be that Elon Musk has decided he’s going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski.”

Apparently Murkowski doesn’t care. In the best tradition of politicians who have been willing to put their conscience before the cynical calculations of political expediency, the Senator knows a wrong when she sees it, and she sees it now. Regarding the DOGE cuts now throwing tens of thousands of lives into unnecessary chaos, undercutting the efficacy of programs that help millions of poor and middle class citizens, Murkowski points out that “they’re traumatizing people.” As in many red states, the federal government is a major employer in Alaska. There are 15,000 federal workers there and according to Murkowski, “Many of these abrupt terminations will do more harm than good.”

She also knows how government is meant work. It should not be Musk’s prerogative to order the dismantling of agencies that were established by Congress and receive Congressional appropriations. Yesterday the Senator said this: “To have the executive basically come in and dismantle something that was legislatively created – that’s outside the bounds of the executive. So it requires us, in the legislative branch, to then assert our responsibility, which is to not cede the authority.”

No kidding.

So is Murkowski that one lone voice that ultimately begins a choir? Maybe not yet in Congress, but throughout the country some of the President’s most loyal supporters are beginning to voice negative feelings about the effects of the Musk machine. From veterans protesting throughout the country, to angry Republicans filling Congressional Town Halls, to frustrated Cabinet Secretaries asking how they’re supposed to lead their agencies if Musk is going around firing needed personnel, surely Trump is beginning to hear the complaints. It’s anybody’s guess why the President continues to so loyally support a man who’s starting to cut into his own popularity….especially given that more and more of the MAGA crowd are beginning to voice their dissent.

When Trump attended an NCAA men’s Division 1 wrestling championship in Philadelphia on Saturday, he was accompanied by his now ubiquitous side-kick Elon Musk. But Musk didn’t receive quite the same welcome that the President did.

Katy Travis, a 48-year-old wrestling mom from Montana, told the New York Times that Musk’s constant presence at Trump’s side “looks ridiculous,” and that his enormous influence over Trump made the president “look weak.” She said “It makes him look like he’s kissing ass to get money.”

I don’t know who has power over who in all this, but ultimately it’s MAGA that holds the most power of all. One thing about MAGA – a trait that I actually wish we saw more of among Democrats - is that they’re loyal, yes, but when they feel their loyalty has been betrayed, they’re proven before that they can withhold all that love. A friend of mine in South Carolina this weekend reported seeing a spate of upside down Trump flags are she traveled through the state. And that’s even before those Social Security checks stop coming. It’s even before those Medicaid cuts start affecting Trump voters who desperately need the funds. It’s even before inflation gets worse in response to the President’s tariffs.

So far, the Trump coalition in Congress and throughout the country holds strong. But we’ll see what happens as the months go by. The MAGA base is definitely capable of electing a President. It remains to be seen if and when Enough might be Enough.