MarkWayne Mullin "Understands" Violent Assault on Senator Rand Paul

A heated exchange between Senator Rand Paul and Homeland Security nominee Markwayne Mullin

Given the brutality and vulgarity of politics today, I can’t say I was completely surprised when I heard that Senator Markwayne Mullin had once stated, “I understand why his [Rand Paul’s] neighbor did what he did,” referring to the 2017 incident in which Senator Paul’s neighbor viciously attacked him from behind, blindsiding him and breaking multiple ribs.

When Mullin was called upon to explain his statement, he said “it seems like you fight Republicans more than work with us.”

I consoled myself with the thought that—though gross its casual brutality—Senator Mullin’s statement wasn’t as bad as Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s threat to kill journalist Tucker Carlson if the two ever crossed paths. When Steven Edginton asked him if he’d ever met Carlson, Crenshaw answered, “If I ever meet him I’ll f—-in’ kill him,” adding “No seriously, I would kill him.”

Crenshaw’s brutality reminded me of Preston Brooks, the Representative of South Carolina who beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner close to death with a cane on the floor of the Senate in 1856.

At least we haven’t sunk as low as Brooks, I thought. But then I saw that in November 2023, Mullin suggested that the practice of caning in the Senate should be “brought back”—as though it were a normal practice in 1856— implying that Brooks’s vicious assault of Sumner was a good thing.

Caning would “keep people from thinking they’re so tough” Mullin said after almost having a physical confrontation with a witness during a Senate hearing.

Watch the video below and consider how easy it would have been for Senator Mullin to say, “You know something, Mr. Chairman, you are right. I am ashamed that I spoke in such an intemperate and callous way, and I humbly beg your pardon.” Instead he acted like a petulant child in a grown man’s body.

I often think about how shocked my grandparents and great grandparents would be about the boorish state of affairs in Washington today — a stunning devolution of morals, taste, and manners.

Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma. Mercy me.