Alaska GOP Cancel Cultures Lisa Murkowski For Bullying Donald Trump, Not-Bullying Deb Haaland
Cancel culture is destroying America! It is ruining our children! It's an evil weapon wielded by the Woke Left to turn us into a hellhole of taco trucks and drag queen story hours!
Unless it is Republicans doing the canceling, in which case it is a bold stance for liberty and justice. Like when the Alaska Republican Party censures Sen. Lisa Murkowski and says she can't sit at the cool kids table with the rest of the Gippers any more — that's the good kind of cancel culture. Obviously.
Last Saturday, the Republican State Central Committee voted to censure Murkowski and back a challenger when she comes up for re-election next year. The Anchorage Daily News reports that the eight-count resolution detailing the senator's crimes against conservatism passed 53-17. Among her sins are her tepid support for abortion rights and trans kids, her "present" vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, her vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017, and her support this week for confirmation of Deb Haaland as Interior secretary.
"Senator Murkowski supported the nomination of Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, an outspoken opponent of resource development on public lands, which is so important for Alaska's economy," they chide. As if Murkowski, who probably owes her political survival in 2010 to Native support and has made damn sure to ally herself with the all-important voting bloc throughout her career, would vote against the first Native American Cabinet official ever.
The Alaska Gippers are also pissed that Murkowski failed to unquestioningly support President Trump in each and every particular. Not only did she vote to convict in the second "unconstitutional" impeachment trial, but she "has repeatedly spoken critically of President Trump throughout his term in office, though many of the executive and legislative accomplishments of the Trump Administration have been supported by Senator Murkowski, and have benefitted all Alaskans."
How very dare the senator criticize the president for siccing an armed mob on Congress? And when Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act because of China, or conservatives getting censored on Twitter, or Confederate monuments, or who the hell even knows, Murkowski should have said "Thank you, sir!" instead of pointing out that it would totally fuck the Alaskan Coast Guard.
Be it thus RESOLVED, that the Alaska Republican Party "separates itself from Senator Murkowski's conviction vote of President Trump." It "hereby censures Senator Lisa Murkowski for her votes and actions contrary to the Alaska Republican Party platform and best interests of the State of Alaska." And not only that, but it "will recruit a Republican primary challenger to oppose and prohibit Senator Murkowski from being a candidate in any Republican primary to the extent legally permissible."
Take that!
Although, as the ADN points out, recent changes to Alaska's election law mean these threats carry a lot less weight than they did during Murkowski's last election.
Alaska's new election system, approved by voters last year, could dilute the impact of the resolution. Alaska no longer has a party-run system in which only one candidate advances to the November election.
Instead, four candidates will advance from the primary to the November general election, and the ballot could list multiple candidates from the same party.
In 2010 Murkowski became the second senator in history to win election as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to her perennial Republican rival Joe Miller, a Tea Party stalwart. So she's danced this dance before — more than once. And if the party is relying on Trump to make good on his promise to fly out to Alaska and campaign against Murkowski, they might note that the former president has confined himself to quick field trips up and down the East Coast since getting You're Fired by America two months ago. They probably shouldn't bet the farm on him abandoning his beloved omelet bar for a multi-day jaunt to Juneau.
But hey, if the Republicans want to split their vote in 2022, with Miller and Murkowski both on the ballot in November, who are we to complain, right?
DEMS IN DISARRAY!
[Anchorage Daily News / Censure Resolution]
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Liz Dye lives in Baltimore with her wonderful husband and a houseful of teenagers. When she isn't being mad about a thing on the internet, she's hiding in plain sight in the carpool line. She's the one wearing yoga pants glaring at her phone.
