Is Markwayne Mullin an Improvement Over Kristi Noem? - New York Magazine

If the key to success in any high-profile job is low expectations based on the poor performance of one’s predecessor, President Trump’s nominee for Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, is a lucky guy. Kristi Noem leaves DHS in shambles and her own once-bright political career on the ropes. She managed — through well-documented incompetence, corruption, self-glorification, and even alleged moral turpitude — to discredit herself and her agency, despite a close identification with Trump’s signature mass-deportation agenda. Now DHS is technically shut down, and it could definitely use a new image and lease on life. Could the relatively obscure Oklahoma senator provide it?

It’s hard to say. Mullin’s main credential is that Trump really likes him. But once upon a time, he really liked Noem as well. A plumbing contractor by trade before he entered politics, Mullin is probably best known for two things that have nothing to do with his senatorial duties: He is a certified member of the Cherokee Nation, making him the fifth Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate. And before running for office (he was elected to the House in 2012 and to the Senate in 2022), Mullin had a brief but successful career as a mixed martial arts fighter, which is legal tender in MAGA-land. He remains a black belt in jiujitsu, a credential that got some attention in 2023 when he publicly challenged Teamsters president Sean O’Brien to a fight in the middle of a Senate committee hearing.

Indeed, it’s unclear if Mullin is capable of hiding his light under a bushel, as one might hope from a Noem successor. On January 6, 2021, he physically confronted MAGA rioters and sought to defend his colleagues from the attacks. A few months later, he made a rogue trip to Kabul during the final evacuation of Afghanistan to try to rescue some trapped American civilians. He’s a hands-on kind of guy.

On the other hand, he may be interested in the actual job. He has been supportive of a reformed but fully funded FEMA, the important agency Noem sought to starve and then kill. But more controversially, he’s been a big fan of ICE and the entire DHS immigration-enforcement mission, which is sure to be a topic fully aired when Mullin eventually gets confirmation hearings.

Speaking of which: Will Mullin be confirmed, or will he perform his duties as an acting member of Trump’s Cabinet? It’s generally assumed that senators will quickly confirm colleagues (or even former colleagues) to appointed posts, and that may have had something to do with Trump’s choice of the Oklahoman. The identity of the chairman of the committee that would hold confirmation hearings could be a complication, though:

The broader question is whether Noem’s dismissal and Mullin’s appointment will be viewed as significantly conciliatory by the Democrats who are holding up DHS funding until immigration-enforcement reforms are undertaken. This may very much depend on what both Mullin and his boss have to say on the subject in the very immediate future. If their impulse is to assure MAGA-land that Mullin will be as badass as Noem, rather than assuring the country as a whole that a responsible adult is now in charge, then the new DHS boss may be embattled as well.

This post has been updated.

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