Dunleavy replied to Trump ultimatum with secret promise to not endorse Murkowski

Gov. Mike Dunleavy responded to a threat from former President Donald Trump by secretly promising the former president that he would not endorse the reelection campaign of Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Dunleavy had refused to reveal to Alaskans that he made this pledge to Trump. We only know about it because Trump couldn’t help bragging about Dunleavy’s allegiance. Trump released Dunleavy’s three-sentence statement to the public.

In a message to Trump’s office, Dunleavy said “please tell the president he has nothing to worry about” regarding Murkowski.

With Dunleavy showing deference and dissing Murkowski, Trump released a statement saying "This is why Mike Dunleavy of Alaska has been, and will be, a great governor.”

Bill Kristol, a prominent conservative leader before the Trump takeover of the Republican Party, accurately summarized Dunleavy’s submissiveness on Twitter.

Earlier in the week, the Dunleavy campaign claimed to Alaskans that Dunleavy would not be involved in the Senate race because he was so focused on his own race.

That’s not the same thing as promising to refuse to endorse Murkowski, which is the only thing that Trump wanted to hear from Dunleavy, and the thing that Dunleavy hid from Alaskans.

By the way, the campaign lie came from Dunleavy’s campaign spokesman, Andrew Jensen, who is still listed as a state “communications assistant” in the governor’s office on the state directory. He is a volunteer campaign spokesman, according to Alaska’s News Source.

It’s improper to be both a state employee and a campaign spokesman. He shouldn’t be on the state payroll. Jensen says this is about his First Amendment rights. Fine. He should exercise his rights by getting off the state dime.

Jensen is the former editor of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, which is owned by the Binkley family, who also own the Anchorage Daily News. The Daily News has not referred to Jensen as a volunteer or mentioned his state job in its reporting on Dunleavy caving to Trump’s whim.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would endorse Dunleavy on one condition.

“He has my Complete and Total Endorsement but, this endorsement is subject to his non-endorsement of Senator Lisa Murkowski who has been very bad for Alaska, including losing (ANWAR) perhaps the most important drilling site in the world, and much else. In other words, if Mike endorses her, which is his prerogative, my endorsement of him is null and void, and of no further force or effect!”

A few things about this statement.

Trump still doesn’t know what the letters “ANWR” stand for. He would be unable to find the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on a map. There is no such thing as “ANWAR,” which speaks of Trump’s ignorance and the incompetence of his staff.

It is not the most important drilling site in the world or the biggest oil field in the world, lies that Trump has been telling for years. Murkowski, not Trump, was responsible for putting the ANWR leasing plan into the GOP tax bill in 2017.

Murkowski didn’t do Trump’s bidding on several occasions when he was president and Trump wants revenge. Unlike Dunleavy, Murkowski didn’t always do Trump’s bidding or ask “How high?”

Finally, the warning about “null and void, and of no further force or effect” reads like the sort of empty blather that could have come with a degree from Trump University or in the fine print on a package of Trump Steaks.

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