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Year: 2025

Republican senator calls caucusing with Democrats an ‘interesting hypothetical’

Republican senator calls caucusing with Democrats an ‘interesting hypothetical’

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called the prospect of caucusing with Democrats an “interesting hypothetical,” but she fell short of fully committing to doing so if the Democrats pick up three seats in the 2027 midterms.  “It’s an interesting hypothetical,” Murkowski said on the “GD Politics” podcast with Galen Druke. “You started off with the right hook here, is if this would help Alaskans.”  The senator is promoting her new book, a memoir titled, “Far From Home.” She was repeatedly asked if she would caucus with Democrats if the party divide in the upper chamber of Congress becomes 50-50 after the next election.  “That’s why this book is kind of scary, because now people know what motivates me, and it’s this love for Alaska and what I can do,” she said. “So, that’s my primary goal. I have to figure out how I can be most effective for the people that I serve.” SENATE GOP AIMS TO APPROVE MAJOR LEGISLATION NEXT WEEK AS TRUMP TOUTS PARTY UNITY Murkowski said the “problem” she had with Druke’s hypothetical was that “as challenged as we may be on the Republican side, I don’t see the Democrats being much better.”  She said the Democrats also have policies that she inherently disagrees with.  “I can’t be somebody that I’m not,” Murkowski said, describing how she received pressure to run as a Libertarian after narrowly losing the GOP Senate primary in 2010. She went on to win as a write-in candidate in a historic victory, launching her Senate career. “I can’t now say that I want this job so much that I’m going to pretend to be somebody that I’m not. That’s not who I am.”   Druke, arguing that Murkowski would not have to become a Democrat to caucus with them, asked, “Is there world in which by becoming unaligned or an independent that you could help Alaskans, you’d consider it?”   “There may be that possibility,” she said, noting that the Alaska legislature currently features a coalition with members of both parties. “This is one of the things that I think is good and healthy for us, and this is one of the reasons people are not surprised that I don’t neatly toe the line with party initiatives, because we’ve kind of embraced a governing style that says if you’ve got good ideas, and you can work with her over there, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re a Republican or Democrat,” Murkowski said. “We can govern together for the good of the state.”  “If Democrats won three seats in the next election and offered you a way to pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucused with them, you’d consider it?” Druke pressed.  REPUBLICAN SEN MURKOWSKI PREPARED TO ‘TAKE THE CRITICISM’ OVER DOGE PUSHBACK Murkowski said in response that a coalition is “not foreign to Alaskans,” but it is at the federal level in the U.S. Senate. “I’m evading your answer, of course, because it is so, extremely hypothetical, but you can tell that the construct that we’re working with right now, I don’t think is the best construct,” Murkowski said, adding: “Is it something that’s worthy of exploration?”  Murkowski joked that Druke was trying to “make news” and said the rank-choice voting system in Alaska means candidates are more likely to get elected if they are not viewed as wholly partisan. “It is a different way of looking at addressing our problems rather than just saying it’s red and it’s blue,” she added.  Druke hammered the senator again, saying, “Was that a yes? There’s some openness to it?”  “There’s some openness to exploring something different than the status quo,” she said.  Murkowski, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 riot, recently called the July 4 deadline that GOP leadership wants to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by “arbitrary.”   “I don’t want us to be able to say we met the date, but our policies are less than we would want,” Murkowski told Axios. “Why are we afraid of a conference? Oh my gosh.”  Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are hesitant about going to conference with the upcoming debt ceiling “X date” approaching and the party lines so tight.  Murkowski, a critic of Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Ukraine, told the Washington Post that she was in a “lonely position” in the Senate, and sometimes feels “afraid” to speak up among Republican colleagues out of fear of retaliation.  “We used to be called the world’s greatest deliberative body,” she told the Post in a recent interview promoting her book. “I think we’re still called it, but now I wonder if it’s in air quotes.”

Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize over Iran-Israel ceasefire deal

Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize over Iran-Israel ceasefire deal

FIRST ON FOX: A House lawmaker is nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., wrote to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee declaring Trump had an “extraordinary and historic role” in having ended “the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.” Trump declared the “12 Day War” was ending late on Monday afternoon, with a ceasefire that was meant to go into effect overnight Tuesday. It ends just over a week after Israel first launched a preemptive strike against Iran, arguing Tehran was dangerously close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. A FULL BREAKDOWN OF OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER, THE ‘LARGEST B-2 OPERATIONAL STRIKE IN US HISTORY’ The two countries subsequently traded rocket fire over the following days, and over the weekend – the U.S. launched its own airstrikes on three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. Iran responded by shooting rockets at a U.S. air base in Qatar on Monday, but not without giving advance notice to U.S. and Qatari officials. No injuries were reported in that attack. “President Trump’s influence was instrumental in forging a swift agreement that many believed to be impossible. President Trump also took bold, decisive actions to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ensure that the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism remains incapable of acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Carter wrote in his letter. He said Trump’s leadership through the crisis “exemplifies the very ideals that the Nobel Peace Prize seeks to recognize: the pursuit of peace, the prevention of war, and the advancement of international harmony. In a region plagued by historical animosity and political volatility, such a breakthrough demands both courage and clarity.” WHY DID TRUMP LEAVE G7 EARLY? ‘MUCH BIGGER’ THAN IRAN CEASE-FIRE, HE SAYS “President Trump demonstrated both, offering the world a rare glimpse ofhope. For these reasons, I respectfully submit this nomination for Donald J. Trump, 47th President of the United States, to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Carter finished. It’s not the first time Trump has been nominated for the prize, though he has not won so far. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., tapped Trump for the prize just earlier this year, arguing his 2024 electoral victory had an “astonishingly effective impact” on peace in the world. According to the Nobel Prize website, there have been 338 candidates nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize so far. Carter, who is also running for Senate in Georgia, has introduced several notable bills this year backing Trump, though many have been seen as largely symbolic. The Georgia Republican introduced legislation to rename Greenland “Red, White, and Blueland” after Trump expressed interest in taking the territory. He also authored a bill aimed at letting Trump sell off a federal building in California named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But as for the conflict in the Middle East, it appears the tenuous peace is in danger of fraying as of Tuesday morning. Carter’s nomination for Trump comes shortly after Israel accused Iran of breaking their ceasefire agreement, which Tehran has denied.  

Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran with profanity for breaking ceasefire

Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran with profanity for breaking ceasefire

President Donald Trump expressed deep frustration with both Israel and Iran on Tuesday, saying the two countries “don’t know what the **** they’re doing.” Trump made the comments while departing from the White House for a NATO summit Tuesday morning. Both Israel and Iran fired missiles at one another following the imposition of a ceasefire on Monday night. “I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either, but I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning,” Trump said. He continued, “We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the **** they’re doing.”  “I’m gonna see if I can stop it,” he added.  TRUMP ANNOUNCES HISTORIC IRAN AND ISRAEL CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT TO END ’12 DAY WAR’ “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after boarding Marine One. TRUMP HAILS ‘MONUMENTAL’ DAMAGE AS EXPERTS AWAIT VERDICT ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran on Monday night, dubbing the conflict a “12-day war.”