Dem
47
GOP
53
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) sat for his grilling with the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday, and made it through. Depending on how you look at things, you might say he advanced because he got the vote of every single Republican on the Committee.
The chair of the Committee, and this was just Mullin's bad luck, is Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Paul loathes Mullin and, of course, he's only R-KY because you can't win elections as L-KY. The Chairman came out of the gate with barrels blazing. He first demanded that Mullin apologize for his approving remarks about the time Paul was attacked by his neighbor. He then asked some very pointed questions about Mullin's anger management, accompanied by considerable footage of the Oklahoman losing his cool in various situations. The climax of that super-cut was, of course, the footage of Mullin challenging Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to a fight during a committee hearing.
Paul's obsession with demanding an apology for the personal insult (an apology he did not get) is a little silly. On the other hand, as reason's Jacob Sullum points out, the temperament concern is very valid, indeed. Mullin is very clearly a hothead, and has often expressed an attitude toward violence that is somewhere between "laissez faire" and "enthusiastic." This is not the ideal profile for anyone who would presume to be head of DHS. It's even worse right now, given what DHS has been doing, and given who Mullin would be succeeding.
That said, Mullin survived. Paul voted against him, but the nominee's bacon was saved by Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman. When Fetterman began his career, he seemed to be the second coming of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). As it turns out, he is the second coming of Joe Manchin. That's as big a surprise as Kyrsten Sinema's evolution from lefty firebrand to hardcore centrist (and not-so-secret grifter). Oh, well, you know what Ben Franklin said about the effect of power upon people.
For Mullin to fail when he comes up before the whole Senate, he would have to lose Paul's vote, plus all the non-Fetterman Democrats and independents, plus four other Republicans. The first part of that is definite, the second part is very likely, and the third part is exceedingly unlikely. The Senate Republican Conference has signed off on considerably worse candidates than Markwayne Mullin, and if four of them were going to rebel, they would already have hinted at it to reporters. So, expect him to be on the job by sometime next week. (Z)