In 2023, Senator Markwayne Mullin made a famous and shocking attempt to fight Sean O’Brien, the leader of the Teamsters union, during a U.S. Senate hearing. This happened after Mullin read aloud tweets in which O’Brien had called him a “clown” and a “fraud.”
Senator Rand Paul used this incident to point out that Mullin is someone who seems to glorify violence and would not be a good choice to lead the Homeland Security Department.
This is because the Department’s agents have been using violent methods in Trump’s harsh immigration policies.
Paul asked Mullin, “After the fight, you gave many interviews justifying the violence by bringing up historical examples like caning and dueling.
Today, do you still believe the caning of Charles Sumner was justified and that it’s okay to settle political differences with violence?” He was referencing the 1856 attack on anti-slavery activist Charles Sumner by a pro-slavery senator, which nearly killed him.
Mullin responded, “What I would simply point out is some of the rules that still apply to this body.
For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there. I was pointing out what –”
Paul looked shocked and skeptical.
“Dueling has been illegal for over 170 years! There’s no legal precedent for dueling!” he said, clearly not believing what he was hearing.
Mullin continued, “Even back then, the man who beat Charles Sumner fled the country.
Do you realize that the person who attacked Sumner beat him until he was unconscious? Why didn’t any senators step in? Because his friend had a gun on the other senators, and he kept beating Sumner until he crushed his skull. That’s what you’re suggesting as a precedent for the Senate, and that’s the kind of thinking you live by. That is extremely dangerous.”
In one move, Senator Markwayne Mullin has shown that he is both too ignorant and too violent to be confirmed as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security.
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