With state lawmakers on a spring break-shortened scheduled last week, Oklahoma’s political eyes turned to the Potomac where confirmation hearings unfolded on President Trump’s nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin as Homeland Security secretary.
That the small-town, MMA fighter/plumber-turned-politician – arguably best known for mangling the King’s English – is on the verge of a high-level presidential appointment remains remarkable, even in the Looking Glass-esque Trump era.
But here we are: The state’s pugnacious junior U.S. senator tasked to run an agency that has become a flashpoint thanks to Trump’s willingness to target “others” in order to keep his political base riled up.
What could possibly go wrong?
It’s hard to imagine Mullin’s stewardship could be more chaotic than Kristi Noem’s. After federal agents murdered protesters in Minneapolis and she “performed” poorly in congressional hearings, Noem no longer was of value to a mercurial president whose loyalty runs only one way.
Mullin surely recognizes this about Trump. Why give up a safe U.S. Senate seat on the off-chance he could succeed where Trump’s last Sooner sidekick, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, could not?
It’s true that presidential appointments are among the political world’s most exalted. As rare, if not more so, than a seat in the world’s Most Exclusive Club, the 100-member U.S. Senate.
But serving in the Trump administration means serving Trump. When the going gets tough, Trump’s appointees often get going … out the door.
So far, Mullin has demonstrated a knack for threading the needle. The iconic photo of him ducking for cover during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection didn’t disqualify him for service to a draft-dodging president who’s also known as Gen. Bone Spurs. Nor did the fact Mullin voted to certify the 2020 election results that Trump and his mob challenged.
Even so, Mullin continued to parrot the president’s lie the election was stolen. Just the sort of linguistic two-step that Trump deploys 24/7.
Mullin’s willing tradeoff – a high-profile presidential appointment for an almost certain decades-long Senate career – may not be as puzzling as it first appears. Mullin’s checkbook overflows, his personal wealth estimated to be between $29.2 million and $97.6 million, based on public records. He doesn’t “need” a senator’s $174,000 annual salary or gold-plated health insurance to secure his family’s future.
That leaves a more obvious explanation: The one-time Tea Party acolyte and political outsider has become a political insider. The epitome of the old jab: “the most dangerous place in the world is between Sen. So-and-So and a TV camera.”
Mullin repeatedly demonstrates his publicity skills. Remember when he challenged Teamsters’ boss Sean O’Brien to a fight during a Senate hearing? Or publicly called fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul a “freaking snake” who “deserved” to be assaulted by a neighbor? Or attempted, during this year’s State of the Union, to yank a sign away from Rep. Al Green that read “Black People Aren’t Apes”?
Or that he sat alongside Trump – cameras clicking – at the 2023 and 2025 NCAA Wrestling championships?
Mullin early-on proved himself adept at cozying up to power, attaching himself to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s rise to congressional power.
Where Mullin has proven himself less skilled is getting big things done legislatively. The absence of a signature achievement during his dozen congressional years suggests he couldn’t figure out how to work the levers of power or lacked public policy vision – or both.
Neither of which means he cannot or will not succeed as Homeland Security secretary. But the odds are against him, mostly because of his boss’ volatility. Trump seemingly wakes up in a new world every hour.
In Oklahoma, few remember Pruitt, much less lament his political demise. Mullin’s fate likely will be the same.
