A Bowl of Punch

​Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has gotten deserved criticism for his public threat to fight during an official Senate proceeding on Tuesday as being unbecoming of a senator.  What’s significantly worse, though, (and what he doesn't grasp) and which hasn’t got almost any attention from the news media is not just that he stood up and threatened to fight someone in a Senate office building...but that he was a committee member at a Senate hearing THREATENING A WITNESS.

Let’s repeat that to be even more bluntly clear.  As part of his official duties, Sen. Mullin – who is a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter -- serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and was questioning a witness, and he stood up and threatened to beat up the witness.

The thing is, it's worse than even that.  Mullin didn't just threaten a witness.  He threatened all witnesses who will come before the committee he sits.  Witnesses who now might be concerned about what they say out of concern that a United States senator thug might threatened to punch them out.

Imagine a prosecutor doing this in court during a trial.  I’ll wait a moment while we let this sink in and percolate for a bit.

The chairman, 82-year-old Bernie Sanders, told Mullin to sit down.  “Stop it!” he called out, as Mullin kept getting into with the witness, and so had to continue more bluntly, “No, no, sit down! You know, you’re a United States senator."

I feel comfortable thinking that in that imagined courtroom scenario, Sen. Mullin would not have been treated so well.  Sanctions, as a starting point, and being charged with intimidating a witness, as a likely possibility.  Perhaps, too, with having his law license pulled.

As a U.S. senator, though, he was able to do this.  At best, it was crass and reprehensible.  At worst, it was fascist. 

(That’s not hyperbole.  The use of violence, after all, is one of the three main tenets of fascism.  The others being trying to undermine other sources of authority -- which Mullin was also trying to do with the witness, Sean O’Brien, who is president of the Teamsters Union -- and xenophobia.)

But at heart, this heightened aggressiveness of pseudo-masculinity, posturing, physical violence and swaggering was so on-brand with today’s Republican Party.

And we don’t have to go back very far to see it.  Because the very same day that Sen. Mullin threatened to fight a witness, there was a physical altercation in the House hallway between Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Tim Burchett (R-TN).  And further still, the very same day, though without violence but overloaded with macho-combative belligerence, chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) got upset when a Democrat on the committee brought uncomfortable facts to his attention, and instead of addressing them in rebuttal, instead called the member a "smurf" and later made an ad hominen attack against yet another Democrat on the committee, referring to him as "Mr. Trust Fund."  And again the same day, just yesterday, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) insinuated on the House floor that an 80-year-old Democrat didn't understand something because she was senile (which backfired, since the woman promptly rose and whimsically schooled Ms. Greene on a civics lesson that she didn't understand about how the government works).

No, that wasn't all violence..."just" two incidents.  But four acts of overt hostility in Congress in just one day.  And good for former Sen. Doug Jones who, when asked on MSNBC this morning about such actions in Congress, pointed out that it's not been "Congress," but almost exclusively Republican.

Almost exclusively Republican and so much more --- including the infamous pushing match caught on camera that took place on the House floor in January between Republicans McCarthy and Matt Gaetz when trying to elect a Speaker.

It all began with Trump, of course, for whom name-calling has seemed to be the way he breathes, and his calls for violence led to the Insurrection – and now, attacking judges and prosecutors to undermine the authority of the judicial system and rule of law, as well as threatening dog whistles for his base.  Since then, taking Trump as their fascist lead, the behavior of Republicans in Congress deteriorated.

Indeed, let us not forget the lamented, former Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) who went so far over the ledge that even his Republican district voted him out of office last election after only one term.  But before he got booted, made made a heartfelt plea to parents against letting their sons be emasculated (which he oddly called "demasculate"): "If you are raising a young man, please raise them to be a monster."

Which brings us back to – “…and in this corner!” -- former MMA Sen. Mullin standing up to threaten a witness.  And of course, being a good Republican these days, not only didn’t apologize, not recognizing that fighting in the Senate and threatening a witness are really terrible things in a democracy, but doubled down on his actions.

Indeed, in an interview afterwards, he added to his threat to fight, “And by the way, I’m not afraid of biting. I will bite."

The host was a bit taken aback.  "Biting?" he asked.

"I’ll bite 100 percent. In a fight, I’m gonna bite," Mullin answered. "I’ll do anything. I’m not above it. And I don’t care where I bite, by the way."

No, this wasn’t the Bayonne Brawler performing after a wresting match for the TV cameras.  This was a United States senator.  Explaining how he’d “bite” and “do anything” when fighting a witness.  Because “I’m not above it.”

In fairness, we figured that last part out already.  It was easy.

By the way, Madison Cawthorn might have been upset about Mullin saying this.  Once upon a time, a guy getting into a fight and biting his opponent was not considered manly.  At least up until Mike Tyson.  (But even then it still wasn't looked up at as, "Oh, my, what a cool way to fight!," but instead demeaned as crude and brutish.)

But most notable was that in the interview, Sen. Mullin (R-OK – and no, it’s not OK) said that it was only "political correctness" that kept him for fighting a witness (when it was actually 82-year-old Bernie Sanders), adding “All of a sudden you got to worry about somebody’s feelings but oh, by the way, the left can say whatever they want."

This was quintessential fascist Republican.  Because what Markwayne Mullin doesn’t grasp (and likely doesn’t want his party’s base to grasp) is that he can say whatever he wants, too!!  He could have insulted the witness, and ridiculed the witness, and smeared the witness however he wanted.  Said whatever he wanted.  As indeed James Comer and Marjorie Taylor Greene chose to do the very same day.  But instead, he made the conscious decision, the personal choice to threaten the witness.  And all future witnesses.

Which is so on-brand for today’s Republican Party in Congress.  And unfortunately, across much of the country.