I have watched a lot of spineless politicians in my time. I have never watched one quite like Dan Sullivan. The man from Alaska has made himself perfectly clear. He supports Donald Trump’s illegitimate war on Iran. Sullivan stands with Trump. He has voted fourteen times against War Powers resolutions. Fourteen times, he chose party over Constitution. That is not leadership. That is cowardice dressed in a senator’s suit.
I want every Alaskan to hear that number. Fourteen. It should follow Sullivan everywhere he goes. This is not a complicated story. It is a story about a man who swore an oath and then broke it. I know something about broken oaths. I was a Republican once and defended the party line. Then I woke up. Sullivan has not woken up. He is still asleep at the switch. And Alaska is paying the price for his slumber. So let me say this plainly, the way I would say it to his face. Dan Sullivan is a fraud. He is a constitutional coward. And he does not deserve to represent the people of Alaska for one more day.
The Constitutional Crime He Keeps Committing
Only Congress can declare war. That is not my opinion. That is the plain text of the Constitution. Article I, Section 8. It is not ambiguous. Sullivan swore an oath to defend that document. Instead, he has become Trump’s rubber stamp. He says Iran started this conflict long ago. “This country’s been at war with us for almost a half century,” he declared. That is a dodge, and a lazy one. Our Constitution does not care who started what. It cares who authorizes war. Consequently, every vote Sullivan casts for this war is a vote against the rule of law.
He knows better. I know he knows better. Yet he does it anyway. On September 24, the Senate held its fourteenth war powers vote since the war began in February. The measure failed 49-50. Lisa Murkowski, Sullivan’s own colleague from Alaska, voted for it. Sullivan voted against it.
He split with her. Sullivan stands with Trump. When reporters asked him why, he offered an excuse that would embarrass a first-year law student. “A war powers vote is about removing American forces from a region,” he said. “And when there are troops in contact, I don’t believe in doing that.” That is not a constitutional argument. That is a bumper sticker. It is a way to avoid the only question that matters. Who decides when America goes to war? The founders said Congress. Sullivan says the president. That is not conservatism. That is monarchy. And it is a betrayal of everything this country is supposed to stand for.
The Price Alaskans Are Paying for His Loyalty
Sullivan says the economic pain is worth it. He told Alaskans that directly. At a rally in Wasilla on October 13, he stood beside Trump and listened as the president called soaring fuel costs a “small price to pay” for stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Sullivan did not object. Sullivan did not push back. He stands with Trump. Then Sullivan went further. He called the Iran war “temporary” and said the real “forever war” is the Democratic Party’s war on Alaska oil and gas. Tell that to the family in rural Alaska paying eight dollars for heating fuel and tell that to the village of Shungnak, where gas hit twenty-six dollars a gallon and tell that to Kobuk, where diesel stove oil costs $15.45 a gallon. The average price of heating fuel in rural Alaska reached a record $7.97 per gallon in August.
It has climbed since. These are not abstract numbers; rather, these are choices between heating your home and feeding your children. Sullivan bristled when Politico asked him about these costs. “I thought you were asking me campaign stuff,” he snapped. “Is this like a hit piece or what?” That is what powerful men do when they cannot defend their record. They attack the question. They play the victim and call the truth a hit piece.
When pressed on whether the pain was worth it, Sullivan did not answer for Alaska families. He answered for his party. “The real economic pain is when Democrats get control,” he said. Meanwhile, Sullivan has tripled his personal wealth during his two terms in the Senate. He has landed in the top quarter of most-absent senators. He does not worry about the price of heating oil.
The Ambition Behind the Allegiance
Why does Sullivan do this? I have a theory. He wants to be liked by Donald Trump. Sullivan has spent years climbing the ladder. He voted against the War Powers resolution fourteen times because he was afraid. Afraid of a primary challenge. Afraid of losing the spotlight. Politico reported that Sullivan “repeatedly denied chances” to put distance between himself and Trump’s most unpopular policies.
He is not running away from Trump. Sullivan stands with Trump. He is running toward him. He is betting that loyalty will save him. That is a bad bet. Three weeks out from Election Day, the polls tell a different story. A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted October 12-15 put Mary Peltola ahead of Sullivan, 44 percent to 42 percent. An InsiderAdvantage poll gave her a five-point lead, 48 to 43. The RealClearPolitics average had Peltola up by 1.4 points. Even Republicans are nervous. “I think Alaska’s turning blue,” one Trump voter told Politico in Wasilla. Another Republican strategist called Trump’s support “both a blessing and a curse.” Alaskans are not fools. They see a senator who puts his career before their kitchens. Sullivan had chances to distance himself from Trump’s most unpopular policies. He refused every single one. That tells you everything about his character.
The Cult That Demands His Silence
I have called MAGA a cult, and I will say it again. This is what a cult looks like. It demands absolute silence about obvious failures. It demands loyalty to one man above all else. Sullivan is not a victim of the cult. He could stand up and say this war was a mistake and join Lisa Murkowski, who voted to advance a resolution ending the conflict and say that the Constitution matters. He could say that Alaskans deserve better.
Instead, Sullivan stands with Trump at rallies and calls the war a small price to pay. I warned about this before the war even started. “Only Congress has the Constitutional authority to declare war,” I said. And I did not stop there. Trump “fucked up launching this war, and he’ll fuck up how this war will end,” I wrote. “The U.S. will walk away weaker, Iran will walk away stronger, and the world’s economy will have taken a huge hit.” That is exactly what is happening. And Sullivan is enabling it. His silence is a confession.
He has chosen Trump over the law and has chosen power over principle. That is what cults do. They demand total submission. They demand the sacrifice of conscience. Sullivan has made that sacrifice. And for what? For a seat in the Senate? That is a Faustian bargain. And Alaskans should not have to pay for it.
The Moral Cowardice of a Junior Partner
Sullivan calls himself a conservative. I call him something else. A conservative does not hand a failing president a blank check for endless wars. A conservative does not cheer when Congress is sidelined and does not stand by while the Constitution is shredded. Sullivan justified his votes as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. That is the excuse every enabler uses. Every war has its noble justification.
Every power grab has its high-minded rationale. Meanwhile, the war has strengthened Iranian hardliners and weakened reformers. It has depleted U.S. defense stockpiles, a direct threat to Alaska’s military bases. It has driven up prices for working families. Sullivan knows this. He recently called the cost of diesel “just too damn high.” He has even urged Trump to invoke a diesel export ban. Yet Sullivan stands with Trump and keeps voting the same way. He keeps supporting the same war. That is not conservatism. That is cowardice with a Senate parking spot. Sullivan is a low person who knows he is wrong but is too afraid to change. That is a man who has traded his principles for a seat at the table.
Alaska Deserves a Senator, Not a Pathetic Servant
This election is not complicated. It is a choice between a senator and a servant. Dan Sullivan serves Donald Trump. Sullivan stands with Trump. Mary Peltola would serve Alaska. I do not agree with Peltola on everything. That is not the point. The point is that Sullivan has forfeited his claim to represent anyone but the president. During their final debate on October 16, Peltola said it plainly. “This war is driving up our energy bills and hurting Alaskans with no end in sight,” she said. She lamented the deaths of twenty military personnel. Sullivan accused her of lying. He accused her of “character challenges.”
He had no defense for his record, so he attacked her. That is what cowards do. There is also a same-name challenger on the ballot, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who is running because he is fed up with high gas prices and the war. In Alaska’s ranked-choice system, even a few thousand votes for the other Dan Sullivan could seal the incumbent’s fate.
Republicans know it. Democrats know it. Alaskans know it. Dan Sullivan has spent six years in the Senate telling Alaska what it wants to hear. Also, he has spent the last eight months telling Alaska to sacrifice for a war he refuses to end. Alaska, you have the power to end this embarrassment. Send him back to whatever comfortable life he has built. Replace him with someone who understands that the people of Alaska are not pawns in a game of political ambition.