President Donald Trump has offered a perplexing compliment for the man he chose to replace Kristi Noem.
During an appearance on Fox News’ The Five on Thursday, the 79-year-old president gushed about Markwayne Mullin, the Oklahoma senator who was sworn in as homeland security secretary on Tuesday.
But many were quick to point out that the president’s effusive praise could be taken as an insult.
Trump lauded Mullin’s “very good record” as a low-level MMA fighter before adding with a chuckle, “But more than [inaudible], you know I call him ‘country smart.’ He’s a very smart guy. He’s got a great way.”
The president’s curious praise of Mullin, 48, as “country smart” triggered a wave of debate over whether he was taking a backhanded dig at his new hire.
“Did Trump just call MarkWayne an idiot?!” one X user said.
Another concluded, “‘Country smart’ is just another word for dumb.”
A third user questioned what Trump, a born-and-raised New Yorker, could know about life in the country.
“What does he know about country smarts? The guy who was driven to school in a limo every day,” the person wrote.
Trump had previously fawned over Mullin’s MMA background, as well as his Native American heritage, which he apparently only learned about while reading his prepared remarks during Mullin’s swearing-in.
“But as the only Native American—I didn’t know that. Huh?” the president said, before adding, “Let me look at you,” glancing back at Mullin, a member of the Cherokee nation. “I think that’s all right,” he said after a beat.
“He’s got great quality, I can tell you,” he continued. “I would have picked him faster if I had known.”
During his Fox News appearance, where the hosts competed to outdo each other with softball questions, Trump bragged that Mullin had received support from Democrats during his confirmation.
Mullin, a trained plumber, was confirmed as the new DHS secretary by the Senate 54 to 45 on Monday, despite concerns over his temperament and his ties to a hardline evangelical Christian group. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich crossed party lines to support the nomination.
At his confirmation hearing, Mullin said he regrets calling Alex Pretti a “deranged individual” in the wake of the ICU nurse’s killing at the hands of federal immigration officers during Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis in January.
But fellow Republican Rand Paul accused Mullin of having anger management issues and being a liar, claiming his Oklahoma colleague applauded violence against him after he was attacked in 2017.
The Kentucky senator also played a series of clips where Mullin promoted fighting and even challenged a Senate witness to a brawl. Newly resurfaced footage also shows Mullin boasting about threatening to drag his daughter’s boyfriend’s face over asphalt.
When reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast in a statement, “In record time, President Trump ended Biden’s border crisis and deported countless dangerous criminal illegal aliens. Secretary Mullin is perfectly suited to lead the Department of Homeland Security and work closely with President Trump to continue building on his many successes. President Trump clearly thinks very highly of Secretary Mullin and only the glue sniffing interns at the Daily Beast would suggest otherwise.”
Jackson, 29, has never worked outside Republican politics. She is vocal about being a Christian, although she was married in a secular ceremony, which was publicized in Politico. Jackson has posted abusive messages about journalists using the F-word. Under her maiden name, Marone, she worked as a student “correspondent” for the conservative website Campus Reform.
