‘We Are All Afraid’: Republican Senator Admits Colleagues Are Terrified of Being Punished for Criticizing Trump

"We are all afraid", says one of the literally only people on the planet with the power to actually do something about it.
Seriously. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, YOU FUCKING CHODE.
This whole ordeal can be stopped by about half a dozen Republicans any time they want.
Threaten to leave the party, go independent, and caucus with Democrats to appoint a new House and Senate speaker. It would take, what, 3? Maybe 4 Republicans in each chamber to flip control of Congress. You don't even have to hold your nose and vote with Democrats on actual funding bills or anything. Just vote with Dems on curtailing Trump's actions and impeaching the fucking bastard. Even if you can't get him removed from office because the rest of your party are spineless cowards, you could at least pass bills to do things like reverse these stupid tariffs and actually reclaim power that was granted to you by the Constitution in the first fucking place.
This woman, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins have all spoken up. All they need to do is find one more Republican willing to say "We are willing to caucus with Democrats to elect a new Senate majority leader unless our demands to curtail these damaging Trump tariffs, reclaim Congressional powers, and reverse these destructive policies are met." That's it. Same in the house. 3 Republicans in the house willing to stand up and caucus with Democrats to get shit back under control.
But if all you're going to do is complain about being "afraid" when you're simultaneously rubber-stamping his entire agenda, then have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up, because you voted for this. And if the rest of us are going to have to suffer because of your cowardice, then we're going to at least get some entertainment out of it along the way once the leopard starts eating your face.
I have absolutely zero pity for some of the most overpaid, well-protected, resourceful people on the planet when they're the ones complaining about being afraid. Fuck you. What about the rest of us? You seem to have been perfectly OK with it when it was just the brown people and poors being effected.
- “We are all afraid!”, …but we don’t want to lose our privilidge by opposing him.
  Fuck you cowardly cunt.
  As noted, a small group could end this.
  
  Naw, she is no coward. She is a pro-abortion Republican that voted against Trump. Rather than be her ally you act like a little bitch.
- It's interesting you mention why Republicans are so unwilling to consolidate votes, yet the only time in history where they did consolidate votes was to prevent Hunter S Thompson from becoming sheriff of Aspen.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Aspen
- The Christian nationalists would absolutely crucify them, it's career suicide and they know it.
  
  So what? It's better for the country.
  I'm thinking they are more fearful of their friends and family being murdered.
  
  In a just world, they should feel that capitulating to Trump’s agenda would be actual suicide.
  
  Are they so unskilled they couldn't just go get another job? (I'm not asking you to defend them - just pointing out the absurdity)
- Of all the people we needed to be brave, it had to be the fucking Republicans. We are truly and utterly fucked.
- We need to be sending "CHODE" T-Shirts to all these people afraid of Trump. Your idea, so get on it 😘

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
You took an oath. Being afraid isn't an excuse.
We expect 19 year old soldiers to run into fire and destruction to honor their oaths. We expect no less from our elected representatives.
- Yeah and if they haven't noticed - creeping fascism only gets worse the longer you let it linger. Time to bite the bullet and do something, it's not going to go away on its own and we're all going to be in more danger (including GOP senators) the longer it goes on.
- I’ve said this before, but being an elected politician should be treated as a position of service, not of status and excess. If you want the office for the right reasons then having some downsides to taking the power should be no big deal.
  
  Democracies are only as functional as their courts. I think the US court system has been failing its people in a lot of ways, for some time now.
- Republicans take a second oath:
  "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
- I took that oath at 18.
  
  Reading these headlines me think and feel that military service should be a prereq for US Congressional/presidential office.
- **“I believe in the sacredness and dignity of the individual. / I believe that all men derive the right to freedom equally from God. / I pledge to resist aggression and tyranny wherever they appear on earth.” ** also this one, its german translation is broadcast in german public deutschlandradio every sunday at noon followed by the ringing sound of berlins freedom bell
- Amen.

She's 67 years old. She's been in the Senate for over 20 years. She can decide to retire after her current term and they can't use the threat of a primary against her. It's her choice to cower in fear and empower the destruction of our democracy. Because she is watching that happen. In the end she's just another pathetic boomer willing to bow to trump to cling to power.
- they can't use the threat of a primary against her
  She lost the 2010 primary during the height of the Tea Party movement, ran a campaign to have people vote for her as a write in candidate, and won as a write in.
  In the end, the problem is that her vote doesn't actually matter this cycle, at least not by itself. In order to flex any muscle she'd need to actually persuade some colleagues to stand up to Trump. At this point she's more of a Republican Fetterman than a Republican Sinema/Manchin.
  
  Yeah, I'm aware she's an outlier in that she beat back the crazies once before, but 2010 is not 2024. In 2010 Trump wasn't a factor. The cult was forming, but there was no messiah yet. If tomorrow trump singled her out for hate like he did Liz Cheney she'd get wrecked instantly, and she knows it.
- 67 year old politicians aspire to cling to power for 20 more years

Chris Van Hollen travelled to a dictatorship to free a man wrongfully imprisoned without due process by two authoritarians, while these simpering cowards whine about the monster they created.

“We are all afraid,” Murkowski told the crowd on Monday.
Pausing, she added: “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell ya, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
This, right here, is the most open and honest admission of what the US is today, by the ruling party elite: A dictatorship. An authoritarian state.
- Do the fucking job you were elected to do, coward.
  
  They are doing the jobs they were paid to do, by corporate America.
  Being ineffectual corporate-whores who capitulate to capital is the core requirement of every politicians job description in the 21st Century. Though, it turns out corruption is incompatible with democracy and the rule of law. Who would have thought?

I remember when my politicians had, yknow., a fucking spine and principles. Yes. Im that old.
- Didn't think there were any Revolutionary War Veterans left alive.....

Politicians: Take the job and the paycheck to represent the people, bow out when it's time to do that.
I might get called extremist for this, but senators and representatives should be willing to kill their career and reputation in politics to fight for their constituents. Otherwise, are we just paying them to have a good time??!
- There definitely needs to be a restructuring of incentives

Every republican in this situation should resign, let someone brave take their place.
- Wouldn't that just allow Trump to install one of his puppets?
  
  Some states prevents the governor from appointing senators. Some republican senators have Democratic governors, who (hopefully grows a spine) wouldn't appoint a republican. Regardless, they would eventually have to face a special election. Special elections and midterm elections usually are in favor of the opposition.
- Or, keep their seat, and vote in lock-step with the opposition.

Fucking cowards.
- On one hand, sure. She's a coward. She's one of the most privileged people in the US, but she's afraid. She's not doing her job because she's afraid, and that's just allowing the fascists to win.
  On the other hand, at least she's admitting it. That's a small step in the right direction. You can't fix the problem until you acknowledge it exists. Being scared of MAGA is rational, and it would be good if more politicians admitted that they were acting out of fear, not because they believed in what these assholes are doing.
  So, if she's scared, maybe she needs support. The US goes on and on about how the 2nd amendment is about keeping the people free from a tyrannical government. So, be like the Black Panthers. They were probably also scared. They were in a lot of danger, much more so than women or non-straight people today. But, they tried to make the other side scared too.

Do your FUCKING jobs!!! You literally have the power to remove him. ONLY YOU HAVE THE POWER TO REMOVE HIM!!!! YOU HAD TWO OPPORTUNITIES ALREADY!!!!!!!!

If only we had a body of elected representatives that were able to do something about the situation.....
- I bet they hold private meetings about who they could even replace trump with after impeaching and removing Trump, Vance, etc.
  If it falls upon speaker of the House then Womp Womp it's still project 2025 time.
  I guess they're secretly hoping to get wiped out in the midterms.
  
  Just launch a real investigation into the election and they'll easily find proof that it was stolen, and the true US president has been Harris all this time. I'm sure many GOP senators are secretly wishing she had won now.

Clearly they are not yet NEARLY afraid enough about the path they're allowing the Trump admin to take.
Oh no, you might get primaried?
- They're terrified that if they get primaried, they will no longer be in a position where they can mostly avoid the impact of trump's petulance.
  You know, like the common people

Hey. I'm terrified of living under a fascist regime! Twinsies.

I have emailed my congressman this article and asked if he was just a coward. I'm unhopeful for a response.

You and your colleagues could actually stop him instead of lining up to defend/allow his fascist actions.
- It's better if we just blame the Democrats.

Spineless traitor. She has a crucial vote and ability to impeach trump and says this shit. Lady if you dont grow a spine you're gonna burn either way.

As bad as things are, it's cathartic to watch the old guard, bourbon sipping Republican party that originally weaponized misinformation to further the agenda of big corpo (faux news since they existed: "Herp derp climate change is a hoax for scientists to sell books") realize that though their long in motion coup worked, they lost control of it in 2015 when King confidence scheme scam artist stole their grift out from under them by saying the dogwhistles they used to string their racist base along out loud with a dumb little dance.
Its not helpful, but knowing Mitch McConnell and John Roberts know they sold out their entire society's future not even for their benefit or the benefit of the right small room of classy old money bigots, but for some crass asshole that's as belligerent and willfully ignorant as their sucker voting base to take the reigns of post democracy machiavelian power they so carefully curated since the 70s as they watch powerlessly, and IN FEAR no less?
Poetry.
🎻🎻🎻
- It would be a lot more enjoyable if we were not the pawns being pushed forward by the mad king.

Punished how? you cowards
- The fascists won't invite her to their birthdays anymore. It's a real dilemma for Murkowski.
  
  They don't have birthday parties in federal prison

You chose this. Purged everything that wasn't MAGA so that all that was left was hate. Dont be a bitch now. All those GOP motherfuckers were straight creaming on election night. Lie in your nut stained beds.
- But we're all being smothered in their nut stained beds, brother. For them to lie in their beds would be to accept retaliation of their party and fight back, not to take it. They deserve the flak but are seemingly not brave enough to save us all.
  
  Nobody will save us but ourselves. Dont let that leave your head during all of this. The charge to.lead the people will only come from the people. The military isnt tagging in, politicians are still talking about elections, nobody is doing anything until the first American burns a heritage foundation office and then doesnt stop.

You took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

For anyone wondering, she did vote to convict trump during his second impeachment.
Not sure what’s she’s done between now and then, but she’s no McConnell or Green,

It's not the trump organisation, it's the republican party, and by not doing anything, you're supporting them, and saving your own ass in the case the republican party fails.
Keep up the good work propelling fascist imperialism forward

Cowardly traitors.
Fascism requires such cowards to enable their regimes.

Confirmation of something we already know, or should already know - elected politicians are craven cowards.
This is actually great news. We can get them to side with us against HitlerPig. All we have to do is make them fear the citizens more than HitlerPig, and there are a LOT more of us than them.

But they’re fine with letting the country burn so they can keep their jobs.

Right wing ideologies depend on fear

"but what if I get primaried?" They ask as people are being sent to life in prison without being charged with a crime.
Jesus Christ, how do you make it this far in politics with this little spine or conviction? Is it really that easy?

Holy fucking christ.
reach into your purse and find your balls, you servile fucks

Doesn’t she realize that to an authoritarian government, the senate having the ability to break his power is the most threatening thing ever : the more you wait the more you need to be fearful because your life will be shortened. Right now, it is in Trump’s best interest to disappear congress and the supreme court. And the supreme court is mostly dealt with by now because proven powerless. He has two years two deal with Democrats and way more time to deal with whoever he believes a problem, but the senate is an everyday threat to his power.

Fuck every last one of them.

If you can't summon up as much bravery as the folks actually fighting back, GTFO. I'd call her a cunt but she lacks the depth and warmth.
- You nailed it, we're getting into a "following orders" type scenario now, if you don't agree with what they're doing but too scared to do anything to stop them, then step down! If you can't do your job which is to protect the people you represent then let someone else step in.

And there it is.
They lack the courage it would take to step down, and the strength it would take to stand up.
These are the exact qualities he needs from the sheep that are required to serve him.

I mean I get it, because I'm also scared of Donny. But at the same time... It kinda is someone's job to stand up to him, no?
- It's literally her job

We already know almost all of them are spineless.

Are they afraid of ending up in this CECOT mound?
- Is that blood on the ground next to the mound of what I can only assume are dozens of bodies?
  
  https://www.ladbible.com/news/world-news/el-salvador-cecot-prison-mysterious-mound-google-earth-reddit-440823-20250416
  We don't know. Can someone drop the coordinates here or Reddit thread? I used to work on this kind of imagery and would like to poke around (we sold to Google too!). I'm a bit suspect of it. The 'bodies' (not being sarcastic, I dk what it is but that's not unusual for aerial imaging) do not look proportionate. Google offers imagery from 10m per sq pixel to 0.3m. The older stuff, and stuff not in the first world is much more likely to be on the bigger end. Those ?objects seem too big. Look at the length of the units against the structures. Not saying terrible things don't happen there, but from the clip, they look like giants but I have to look at it to actually know what's going on. Also, they're awfully straight for a haphazard pile.
  Edit: I'm pretty sure they are too big, unless they're housing some 9ft+ humans. Look at the cars and road nearby for size comparisons. That stain is also persistent across years to some degree.
  Edit edit: Also take the colour with a grain of salt, those images get bulk normalised.

5-10 Republicans, that's all it would take to impeach him in the house, and less required to remove in the senate. Clearly he can ignore most lawful orders, but if Congress came together to stop him, I'd argue that would be the end of him, no matter how hard he wants to fight.

Republicans are so spineless they let a low IQ felon rapist take over their party and cuck them.

"We are afraid", they say while wiping their tears away with $100 bills.

Leopards be feasting

They're scared of the wrong thing.
We need to show them what they should really be afraid of.

Wow she sure has some strong words. Coward.
DO SOMETHING about it then. They have the power to do it.

Oh you're afraid the leopard is going to eat your face??

Neat. Unfortunately, my tiny violin was repossessed.
Fuck these people. She supported this , and now she’s going to pretend to have feelings. No, you don’t get to do that. We remember.
- my tiny violin was repossessed
  I gotchu fam:

Pathetic cowards.

I wonder if she's tried furrowing her brow.

Gutless treasonous scum. The face of the GOP.

So if she, as a Republican ally is this afraid, how does she think his actual enemies feel?

America is becoming a technocracy and the political class are so paralyzed, they think a technocratic government would have space for them because they are rich and powerful now.
- Technocracy means the masses are ruled by a panel of experts in their fields. Scientific, expert advice sets policy, ie. Logic rules supreme. America is not, is not becoming, and never will be, a technocracy.
  America has been an oligarchy for a while, now it's going full authoritarian.
  
  "In more practical use, technocracy is any portion of a bureaucracy run by technologists.
  Critics have suggested that a "technocratic divide" challenges more participatory models of democracy, describing these divides as "efficacy gaps that persist between governing bodies employing technocratic principles and members of the general public aiming to contribute to government decision making"
  The above is from wikipedia and I must say I'm not an expert.
  Academic ruling doesn't mean an ethical ruling, it try to put efficiency above social cohesion pushing people foward and discarding the people who do not adapt since they are considered dead weight.
  For me it's clear that the powerful elite of techbros are using information to gather power, political power is becoming weak since it cannot rule what it doesn't understand well, leaving most tech somewhat deregulated, this bottleneck allow technology to fill the gap, illustrate by Musk government and Trump being somewhat sidelined.
- Technocracy would be fine. However it seems more like crazy racist incompetence. Even if they are trembling in fear, why do they not stand up?
  
  Technocracy is more paternalistic than democracy, racism in the past was also backed by science and the firsts iq tests unfortunately, since the cost of doing science is often high it can be manipulated to political ends.
  In my opinion they are scared, but feel protected by their social standing, the logical decision for them would try to stabilize their wealth and adapt to the changes or leave the country if they are politically ostracized.

Yeah, we have been well aware of this since the 2016 primaries. You are all massive chicken-shits who’s fear of a con artist eclipses your duty to the American people and the constitution. I’ll be sure to make a note of it in case I forget.

What a fucking piece of shit she is.

They should be equally as afraid of enabling Trump. That’s where we come in.

You're scared? However scared you are is nothing compared to the people you are supposed to be representing. And if they can start making a stand against this you have no fucking excuse for your inaction.

reach into your purse and find your balls, you servile fucks