Lisa Murkowski has spent years positioning herself as the Democrats’ favorite Republican — the one willing to stand up to her own party when her conscience supposedly demands it.
But President Trump isn’t buying the act anymore.
And after Murkowski voted against confirming Todd Blanche as Attorney General, Trump fired back with one word that says everything.
A 50-49 Vote That Barely Made It Through
The Senate confirmed Blanche as Attorney General by a razor-thin 50-49 margin in the early morning hours recently, capping a confirmation process that came uncomfortably close to falling apart.
Murkowski, US Senator (R-AK), joined US Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) as the only two Republicans to break with the party and vote alongside every Democrat in opposition.
That made the math brutally tight. With US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) absent from the chamber, Republicans could not afford to lose more than two votes. They lost exactly two — and Blanche squeaked through.
Blanche had been serving as acting Attorney General since April, following the departure of Pam Bondi. His path to a full confirmation had been rocky. US Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) had both withheld support at various points, and US Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was the last holdout before announcing on the Senate floor that he would vote yes, opening the door to the final confirmation.
What ultimately moved Cornyn and Tillis was Blanche’s written commitment to kill the proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — a provision that had drawn significant scrutiny because it would have compensated allies of the President and extended broad protections against tax audits to Trump and his family members.
Murkowski cited that fund, among other concerns, as a reason for her opposition. She called it a “slush fund” and said that even though Blanche had agreed to abandon it, she wasn’t confident the commitment would hold after confirmation.
What Murkowski Said — and What Trump Said Back
Murkowski released a statement that was careful in its language but unmistakable in its meaning. “The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” she said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”
She also acknowledged meeting with Blanche multiple times. “I have had numerous constructive meetings with Mr. Blanche and he comes across as decent and capable,” she said — before explaining why that still wasn’t enough for her vote.
Trump was not interested in the nuance.
Shortly after the confirmation came through, Trump took to Truth Social and went after Murkowski directly, posting a video that placed a still image of the Alaska Senator next to a clip of former Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland announcing at a press conference that he had personally approved the FBI’s search warrant used in the raid of Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago.
The point was impossible to miss. Murkowski voted to confirm Garland in 2021 — the same Garland who signed off on sending federal agents to search a former President’s private residence. But when it came to confirming Trump’s own pick for the same job, she suddenly discovered concerns about the politicization of the Justice Department.
Trump posted: “After having no problem voting for Merrick Garland. Claiming Blanche will weaponize the DOJ and is too political. The same Garland that personally signed off on the raid of President Trump’s home. Murkowski is owned. Traitor.”
And that wasn’t the only shot. Trump had already gone after Murkowski in an interview with Punchbowl News recorded earlier in the week and released before the vote. “I’m against Murkowski,” he said. “I do more for Alaska than any president in history. No president’s done for Alaska what I’ve done. She’s not good.”
He also made clear that the second impeachment vote still sits with him. “They voted to impeach me,” Trump said. “In all fairness, you think that I’m going to support somebody that voted to impeach me?”
The Pattern Behind the Vote
Murkowski has been doing this for years. She voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial in 2021. She has repeatedly positioned herself as an institutionalist — someone whose loyalty runs to the Senate’s traditions and norms rather than to any President or party faction.
But the Garland comparison is the kind of thing that doesn’t go away quietly. Garland’s Justice Department prosecuted Trump twice. Garland personally approved the Mar-a-Lago search. Murkowski had no visible reservations about any of that when she cast her vote to put him in office. Now, with a Trump-aligned Attorney General up for confirmation, she suddenly finds the Justice Department’s independence a pressing concern.
That’s the argument Trump is making. And it’s not a complicated one.
Establishment Republicans who vote against Trump’s nominees tend to frame their opposition in procedural or institutional terms — concerns about independence, qualifications, process. But the pattern, when you step back and look at it, tells a different story. These are figures who have consistently found reasons to obstruct Trump’s agenda while accommodating the priorities of the very Washington apparatus that spent years targeting him. Murkowski’s vote against Blanche while having voted for Garland is the clearest possible illustration of how that works in practice.
Trump fired off three separate posts about Murkowski after the confirmation came through. That’s not the behavior of someone who considers the matter closed.
And it probably isn’t. Murkowski is up for reelection in 2028. Alaska has moved steadily toward Trump in recent election cycles. The President’s approval in the state is not the liability it might once have been. Whether the Alaska Republican Party has the appetite to mount a serious primary challenge is a separate question — but Trump has made clear he isn’t going to pretend the vote didn’t happen.
The broader dynamic here is worth watching. Murkowski and Collins represent the last visible remnant of the old establishment Republican wing that dominated the party before 2016. Their votes against Blanche were the kind of symbolic gesture that keeps them in good standing with the Washington press corps and the donor class that never fully accepted Trump — but it costs them with the base that actually turned out in 2024 to give Trump his second term.
But Blanche is confirmed. That’s what matters for now. Whatever Murkowski’s reservations, the Senate did its job, and the man Trump wanted running the Justice Department is running it. The question of what to do about senators who make a habit of breaking with the President on his own nominees — that’s a longer-running argument, and Trump just made clear he has no intention of dropping it.
Sources: New York Post, Washington Examiner, NBC News, CNN, AOL/AP
