Words & Phrases We Could Do Without

I’m “afraid” these lawmakers are cowardly careerists

At a recent Anchorage conference, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) declared: “We are all afraid.” No, she was not speaking about immigrants who fear they might be snatched off the street and exiled to a dungeon in El Salvador built to hold terrorists. She was not referencing Miles Taylor or Chris Krebs, two former Trump officials targeted for criminal investigation. (Investigation of what crimes? Their persecutors will figure it out later.)

Similarly, Murkowski was not speaking on behalf of fired federal workers, participants in canceled NIH health trials, parents worried their kids might get measles, or the people of Ukraine who face a sell-out that would have made Neville Chamberlain blush.

The people who have real reasons to be afraid of losing their liberty, jobs, health care, and very existence were not the subject of Murkowski’s remarks. They are not included in her “we.” Instead, she was talking about some of the most privileged people on the planet: United States Senators. She confessed, “I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”

Murkowski did not expound on what “retaliation” she feared. “Afraid” in this context might mean more akin to irritation (from a mean social media post) or inconvenience (having to—sigh!—face a primary challenger) or embarrassment (e.g., losing a plum invitation, not being able to deliver on pork back home). While she indicated she was merely “anxious,” news reports suggest that others, such as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are afraid for their physical safety. (If he or others do get “credible death threats,” they should go to the authorities and/or law enforcement. They can do that without being “afraid” that they will be abducted and stripped away from their families in the process.)

Strangely, such fear does not compel them to rush to the aid of others who have far fewer resources and power and are direct MAGA targets. I do not hear a whole lot of Republicans (certainly not in the Senate) decrying Trump’s truly fearsome targeting of political adversaries, law firms, colleges, judges (about whom Mad King Donald declares, “Impeach them!”), and international allies. As usual, senators’ concerns center on themselves.

Frankly, financially and physically secure senators, who have every tool at their disposal to access law enforcement, should stop declaring themselves “afraid.” Whiny senators should acquaint themselves with former senator, vice president, and president Harry S. Truman (“If you cannot take the heat. . .”)

Put differently, no one is forcing them to be senators. They can look for work or retire (goodness knows, many exceed retirement age). Don’t Republicans lecture others fired from the government payroll to look for private sector jobs? Apparently, the prospect of shifting from senator to highly paid lobbyist or corporate board member so terrifies these attention hounds that they cannot imagine either walking away or losing in a contested race. On the flip-side, we are fortunate that, for decades, human rights leaders, civil rights advocates, dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists, and abortion clinic doctors here and around the world—some of whom were incarcerated or assassinated for standing up to far more formidable tyrants—have been made of sterner stuff than these quivering lawmakers.

Moreover, Murkowski, Tillis, and other Republicans sure sound as if they are confessing to taking votes and saying things (or not saying things) that they know are wrong, harmful, and/or based on lies. Will we learn which votes were coerced, or for which ones they have violated their oaths of office?

Multiple news stories suggested Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) was cajoled to vote for the unfit, unqualified, and morally repugnant Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. If so, we should know what threats/coercion were used, how to tell when to disregard her statements and votes as insincere expressions of her views, and what consequences her ill-advised votes might have. (Some senators taking questionable votes are not afraid but rather have atrocious judgment.)

And that brings us to the most important question of all:

Why do they tolerate a president and a party that operate, in essence, by extortion?

(Nice career you’ve got there. Shame if anything happened to it.) I am still waiting for the wholesale revolt from the Trump regime and the MAGA-controlled GOP.

Rather than operate in a system run by threats and fear that compel them to do things against the public interest, Republicans could flee the MAGA cult or even the party entirely. Just as no one has to remain a senator, no one has to remain in a political party that resembles the Mob. (And I feel compelled to mention that if only 4 GOP senators were to move to the “D” side, MAGA bullies would lose control of the Senate.)

In short, senators need to stop being “afraid” for themselves and their own careers and start expressing fear on behalf of the country, the Constitution, and the real victims of Trump. Since “afraid” under this regime means something far different than its meaning for ordinary people, senators should stop using the word to excuse their spineless conduct.