LAURIE KELLMAN and LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's inability to unify the nation at a time of grave unrest is testing his uneasy alliance with mainstream Republicans, some emboldened by Gen. James Mattis' plea for a leader who lives up to the U.S. ideals of a more perfect union.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday called the rebuke by Trump's first Pentagon chief "necessary and overdue."
"Perhaps we're getting to the point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally, and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up," Murkowski said.
Murkowski's remarks reflected the choice Republicans are forced to make about whether, and for how long, to support Trump when his words and actions so often conflict wit
