Sen. Markwayne Mullin Thinks Dueling Is Legal In The US
It would be nice if, just once, President Donald Trump would nominate someone who is qualified, intelligent, well-adjusted, and somewhat grounded in reality to serve in his Cabinet or anywhere else in his administration.
Just once.
Well, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), the man Trump tapped to replace Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, certainly is not that nominee.
This fool thinks dueling is legal in the U.S. in 2026.
During Mullin’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) grilled the senator over a viral confrontation he had on the Senate floor in 2023, in which Mullin tried to a fist fight with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien — because, you know, that’s something a qualified, intelligent, well-adjusted and somewhat grounded in reality lawmaker would do.
“In the days after the fight, you did many interviews in which you justified the violence as historically justified by precedents such as caning and dueling,” Paul pointed out. “Is it today your opinion that the caning of Charles Sumner was not only justified but are used still for resolving our political differences with violence?”
Sumner was a U.S. senator who was famously beaten unconscious with a cane in the Senate chamber on May 22, 1856, by a member of the House of Representatives, who was apparently upset that the good senator was anti-slavery.
“What I was simply pointing out is some of the rules that still apply to this body,” Mullins responded, possibly indicating that he also believes beating up senators on the Senate floor in the name of white supremacy and Black bondage is currently legal.
“For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there,” he continued.
“It’s been illegal for 170 years!” Paul shot back. “There’s no precedent for legal dueling. Even then, they fled the country. Do you realize that the man that beat Charles Sumner with a cane, he beat him until he was unconscious? You know why no senators intervened? Because his friend held a gun on the other senators, and he kept beating him and beating him until he crushed his skull.
“That’s what you’re insinuating is a precedent of the Senate, and that’s what you live by,” he concluded. “That is a very, very dangerous sentiment.”
“Mr. Chairman, you’re going to have your opinion. I’m going to have mine as the secretary of homeland security,” Mullin eventually said. “I’m going to bring peace of mind and security to this country, and I’m going to stay laser focused on that.”
My God, y’all.
Trump has nominated as a top Homeland Security official a man who needs to be told that it’s not an “opinion” that people shooting at each other to resolve conflicts, and congressman-on-congressman caning are legal; it’s just an incorrect statement and a categorically stupid thing to believe.
Bro really watched Hamilton and was like: “Nah — but we should really bring that ‘pistols at dawn’ sh-t back!”
The Trump administration really is just a clown car with a revolving door of clowns who just won’t stop exiting from it.
What are we even doing here?
SEE ALSO:
Trump Nominee Drops Out After ‘White Identity’ Defense Gets Him Dragged
Racist Trump Nominee Paul Ingrassia Exposed In Group Chat
Sen. Markwayne Mullin Thinks Dueling Is Legal In The US was originally published on newsone.com
