Alaska news organizations need to cover Dan Sullivan's silence

Sen. Dan Sullivan has been busy on his official government-funded social media accounts talking about such weighty topics as encountering moose while running in the Anchorage suburbs.

“Dodging moose on a morning run is one of the many things that make our state so unique and wonderful!” Sullivan said January 20.

What Sullivan has not found time to comment on in any way is Trump’s Greenland delusion and the damage it has done to the United States standing in the world. Trump has attacked and belittled our NATO allies and gone out of his way to court Putin and other dictators.

As Tom Nichols, a former instructor at the Naval War College put it on Twitter/X, “No one can be watching this Davos speech and reach any conclusion but that the President of the United States is mentally disturbed and that something is deeply wrong with him. This is both embarrassing and extremely dangerous.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been outspoken about Trump’s deranged behavior, while Sullivan has been outspoken about moose.

“What we have seen is a loss of faith and trust in the United States from so many of our friends and allies,” Murkowski said Friday. “When you have a setback in the trust and the reliability of the United States, it sets Ukraine back and it advantages (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and that’s exactly the wrong direction for us to be going.”

Murkowski and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire introduced a bill to block Trump from spending defense funds or state department funds to take over Greenland.

Sullivan has refused to co-sponsor the bill. He has also refused to talk about it.

Sullivan’s extended silence about Trump on this matter and others has not been examined in any detail by Alaska news organizations. That needs to change.

It is more than likely that candidate Sullivan will continue to duck every Trump controversy.

He’ll only be able to do that if Alaska news organizations allow him to get away with it. They need to start by mentioning every instance in which Sullivan takes cover by claiming he has nothing to say.

Regarding Greenland and NATO, the best that Sullivan spokeswoman Amanda Coyne could do is to tell reporters to look up Sullivan’s “Greenland is nice, but Alaska is better” press release from a year ago.

This happened again Friday with the Anchorage Daily News.

“Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne said Friday that Sullivan was traveling and could not answer questions on recent developments in Trump’s efforts to assert control in Greenland,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

“The senator has been saying repeatedly that we should focus on Alaska,” Coyne told the newspaper, a reference to the idiotic “Alaska is better” press release from January 15, 2025

Sullivan was not traveling on January 20 and could have answered questions on Greenland instead of providing a moose update.

Liz Ruskin of Alaska Public Media, the only Alaska reporter in Washington, wrote in her latest column that Sullivan has made many speeches in the past about NATO, foreign affairs and the standing of the U.S. among nations.

“When it comes to Trump, though, Sullivan holds his tongue. He kept his head low these past two weeks while Trump demanded Greenland and gratitude, or ‘you’ll find out’ and ‘we’ll remember,’” Ruskin wrote in a column.

“Maybe Sullivan didn’t think the Greenland threat was real enough to merit addressing. Maybe he thought it wouldn’t do any good to knock Trump on this. Clearly, Sullivan would have paid a price for disloyalty,” Ruskin said.

The suggestion that “maybe Sullivan didn’t think the Greenland threat was real enough” to talk about is certainly false.

There is no sense in pretending that Sullivan is silent on Greenland because the diplomatic crisis created by Trump was not worthy of Sullivan’s attention. This is all about Trump. And it’s all about fear.

Trump demands and receives obedience from the likes of Sullivan. You could see this in the White House meeting earlier this month when an annoyed Trump asked Sullivan the same question about Murkowski four times.

“Are you going to get her to vote for the Great Big, Beautiful Health Care Bill that we're doing?” Trump asked.

“We'll work on it, sir. Um -- we'll work on it.” Sullivan said.

There is the fear of alienating Trump and having the MAGA cult turn on Sullivan. There is the fear that openly cheerleading Trump’s aberrant behavior and his personal enrichment will cost Sullivan the votes of many Alaskans alarmed by the dangerous character in the White House.

By his silence over the Trump years on many occasions, Sullivan has cemented himself to Trump and all of his excesses. Alaska news organizations need to make that clear as he runs for another term.

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