Trump blasts GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski as 'lousy' and 'worse than a Democrat' at Alaska rally

• Trump during an Alaska rally blasted Murkowski as "a lousy senator" who is "worse than a Democrat."
• The former president rallied support behind Kelly Tshibaka, Murkowski's top Republican opponent.

Former President Donald Trump during a Saturday rally went after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, accusing the veteran lawmaker of being "a lousy senator" and "worse than a Democrat."

Trump was in Anchorage for a "Save America" rally in support of candidates that included Kelly Tshibaka, the former state commissioner of administration who Trump endorsed to take on Murkowski, and former Gov. Sarah Palin, the ex-Republican vice presidential nominee who is running for the state's at-large House district that became open after the death of longtime GOP Rep. Don Young.

While speaking to his throngs of supporters, Trump — who has been flirting with a 2024 presidential campaign since he left the White House last year — went on the attack against Murkowski, who voted to impeach him for "incitement of insurrection" for his role on January 6, 2021.

"This is not a normal place when you have a lousy senator like Murkowski," he said. "We're going to do something about that. ... You're going to fire your RINO senator, she's worse than a RINO, Lisa Murkowski. She is the worst. I rate her No. 1 bad, and we have a couple of bad ones, but she's by far the worse."

"She's worse than a Democrat. ... She's a total creature of the Washington swamp, but much worse than that, and a tool of a corrupt establishment, the likes of which we've never seen. The fake news media loves her," he added.

Trump then lavished praise on Tshibaka, who has sought to depict Murkowski as out-of-touch with the electorate and insufficiently conservative.

"You're going to elect a wonderful woman, a conservative warrior — Kelly Tshibaka," he told the crowd to sustained cheers. "And you're going to send the great, legendary Sarah Palin to the US House of Representatives."

He also criticized her for voting against Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, along with her support of Ketanji Brown Jackson's appointment to the high court earlier this year and her backing of the bipartisan gun reform legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law last month.

But the former president's disdain for Murkowski was fueled by her call for his resignation based on his conduct on January 6, when he spoke at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse and continued to perpetuate his debunked claims of a stolen election before the violence unfolded at the Capitol.

Two days after the riot, Murkowski in an interview with The Anchorage Daily News called on Trump to step down from office.

"I want him to resign," she said at the time. "I want him out. He has caused enough damage."

Murkowski was one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in February 2022, and the former president last year vowed to travel to Alaska to campaign against the senator, who is seeking to win a fourth term in office this November.

The declared candidates will all compete in the state's August 16 open primary, where the top-four vote-getters will then move on to the November election, which will feature a ranked-choice voting system.