No Democrat should ever vote to confirm Markwayne Mullin

As tests go, this is a simple one: Democrats should unite in voting against the confirmation of Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. There is not one iota of benefit to be earned in confirming Mullin. There is everything to be lost.

According to Politico, Mullin "faces a straightforward path to confirmation." The reason? He’s a senator, and senators are not going to vote down one of their own. It wouldn’t be … collegial.

This is an absolutely ridiculous notion in 2026. To believe that one of Trump's selections deserves to get an automatic nod simply because he belongs to the same exclusive club, you'd have to be as stupid as Markwayne Mullin. And that's very stupid.

Of course, there is one Democratic vote they're already counting on for his ascension to replace Kristi Noem.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said Thursday he will support Mullin’s nomination — a nod that could be especially important because he’s on the committee that must advance Mullin’s nomination to the full Senate.

But Fetterman is lost; lost to reason, competence, and reality. If anything, his "nod" should be a clear signal that every other Democratic senator can read: Don't do this.

Mullin has no law enforcement experience. He has no background in immigration, security, disaster management, or anything else that would make him remotely qualified to lead a department with a military budget greater than that of the Marines. He has an associate's degree in construction technology. He gained name recognition by hosting a home-improvement radio show in Tulsa, and he amassed a fat election war chest by selling off a pair of family businesses.

A reality show and some inherited wealth. Just think of Mullin as Trump's younger, even dumber, clone.

If you have any doubts about Mullin's intelligence or emotional maturity, here's a little tale that addresses both.

That's right. During a long bus ride in which several members and their spouses fell asleep, Mullin thought it would be hilarious to start: "walking up and down the bus with his camera and anyone who fell asleep, he would put his finger in their nose and take a picture.” That wasn't some teenager on his senior trip. This man was a U.S. Representative at the time.

There's another way that Mullin is like his mentor. He's corrupt as hell. He's one of the most active stock traders in Congress, and his recent purchases are ... interesting.

Mullin has been flagged for his recent stock trading activity, including buying oil and defense stocks ahead of geopolitical conflicts. …

Benzinga has previously flagged the senator for questionable disclosures. In 2025, Mullin violated the STOCK Act by reporting transactions he made in 2023 two years later.

The STOCK Act is so full of holes that it takes deliberate negligence—or evasion— to violate it, but Mullin managed. And he's still out there making some very interesting trades in the middle of a war.

Mullin owns shares of oil companies Chevron Corporation and ConocoPhillips and defense company RTX Corp, companies that could benefit from increasing geopolitical activity in the Middle East.

A radio show and a pocket full of his daddy's money might be enough for the people of Oklahoma to send a corrupt nose-picker to the Capitol. It shouldn't be enough for anyone to put him in charge of a department with a $64 billion budget and its own private army. Putting an idiot in charge of DHS whose only qualification is loyalty to Donald Trump is exactly how we ended up with American citizens detained and murdered by ICE.

Speaking of which, following the murder of Renee Good, Mullin twisted the truth to defend her killer

“Mullin said on News Nation Thursday, Jan. 8, that Ross was defending himself.

“At the same time, we don't know what she has in that vehicle," Mullin said. "We don't know if she has weapons. We don't know what the situation is, but she clearly pulled in front of the ICE agents to block their path."

Mullin said the officer "didn't have an option" and had to "engage."”

And here's what Mullin had to say about the murder of Alex Pretti.

Mullin's statements on both Goode and Pretti are unforgivable and disgusting. Replacing Noem with Mullin is like replacing arsenic with cyanide. Both are only going to cause more death. Mullin has not said one thing that suggests his DHS would be any more concerned with the law or the Constitution. He is at least as bad as Noem.

And no, it won't be enough if he says they'll wear cameras. There were plenty of cameras around when they committed their last two murders. It didn't stop Mullin from lying.

It may seem almost as quaint as the idea of collegiality to ask you to contact your Senators and tell them to vote against confirming Mullin. But do it. Do it.

More Americans, and more immigrants, are going to suffer if this man takes over at DHS. Tell your senators that one Trump-above-the-law idiot was enough.