Through the first two years of the second Trump Administration, national security experts worried he might start a war to annex Greenland. Turns out we were worried about the wrong part of the Great North.
He’s been waging a quiet war on Alaska.
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks on Trump Accounts, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
Trump’s policies and the fights he has picked have kneecapped everyday Alaskans. His bellicosity has damaged Alaska’s tourism industry. His signature One Big Beautiful Bill has ripped away their healthcare. His tariffs and federal budget cuts seem almost surgically designed to squash Alaska’s commercial fishing.
Meanwhile, incumbent Senator Daniel S. Sullivan has, at best, helplessly watched it happen. At worst, he’s actively supported it.
Start with tourism. Simply put, Trump’s aggression towards the rest of the world has made foreign travelers not want to come here, and Alaska is no exception; as roughly 10% of Alaska’s tourists come from other nations, such a hit can have a big impact on the industry, and thus on Alaskans’ livelihoods. International travel, mostly on cruise ships, is down. Bookings at Anchorage hotels are down as well. Overall, tourism to the state has stayed flat. As tourism supports 48,000 jobs across Alaska, Trump’s inability to control his temper imperils the jobs of one in ten Alaskans.
What has Sullivan done during the tariff wars and outbursts that have engendered so much global ill will? He’s actively supported Trump, voting against measures to restrict the president’s ability to arbitrarily slap tariffs on nations that “rub [him] the wrong way.”
Sullivan has played a more active role in the next leg of Trump’s attack on Alaska, namely the One Big Beautiful Bill. Sen. Sullivan cast the deciding vote for the bill, so he owns it. And what did that bill do for Alaska? Its primary impact was to take health insurance away from 25,000 Alaskans. This was terrible for the Alaskans who lost coverage, of course, but also for the healthcare industry, which directly employs 46,000 people in the state. The state, particularly in more remote areas, has felt the pain. Eighteen percent of its hospitals are either “at risk” or “at immediate risk” of closing, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
Yet somehow, Sullivan had the temerity to say the bill would “strengthen . . . Alaska’s healthcare system.”
The administration’s policies have hit the state’s commercial fishing industry just as hard. Trump’s tariffs triggered retaliatory measures from Alaska’s two biggest export markets, namely Korea and Canada. This immediately dried up a major source of revenue for fishermen. Meanwhile, Trump’s war with Iran spiked the price of diesel fishermen put in their trawlers and commercial vessels. On top of that, he cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget, meaning the industry’s requests, from regulatory questions to urgent study topics, can go months without an answer.
And again, Sullivan has been a passive bystander as DOGE cut NOAA programs without understanding what they did, and Trump applied tariffs using an almost comically sloppy formula.
Trump and Sullivan have helped some select Alaskan industries, of course. Their bungled war with Iran jacked up global oil prices, and that’s been great for the oil and gas companies operating in the state. Trump’s bowing to Russia’s Vladimir Putin has likely placated Alaska’s western neighbor.
President Donald J. Trump addresses the nation on the South Asia strategy during a press conference at Conmy Hall on Fort Myer, Va., Aug. 21, 2017. (DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith)
At least for now.
Greenland got lucky. After the signing of an agreement that essentially reiterated the status quo, Trump declared victory and lost interest. Alaska has no such luck. Its citizens will be paying the price of Trump’s quiet war for decades to come.
About the Author: Neal Urwitz
Neal Urwitz is CEO of Enduring Cause Strategies. He served as speechwriter for and political advisor to the Secretary of the Navy from 2021 to 2023.
