Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin appeared to get emotional while demanding his fellow senators thank President Donald Trump for launching an unauthorized war with Iran.
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were being grilled about the 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) on Tuesday when Mullin melted down at Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who noted that Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Act give Congress, not the president, the authority to declare war.
“I want to be clear: Iran is a bad actor, and we must ensure that they never, ever produce nuclear weapons,” Peters said. “But I also want to be clear that we had an agreement with Iran on nuclear proliferation, and President Trump withdrew... from that agreement in his first term, without a plan, and he was basically playing politics.”
“But now he’s sending U.S. forces back to the Middle East to fight in a war, without the support of Congress and without the support of the American people,” Peters said, adding “that’s why the administration must immediately seek Congressional approval to make clear to Congress, but more importantly to the American people, that there’s an actual end goal.”
When it was his time to speak, Mullin spent the majority of it directly addressing Peters’ remarks.
“I just feel like I need to respond to some things that the senator was bringing up,” Mullin began, before ranting about Iran’s posture toward the U.S. since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
“How about we say ‘thank you, Mr. President for finally getting rid of this nuisance, this murderer, this sponsor of terror,’” Mullin suggested in reference to longtime Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israeli strikes on Saturday.
“He did the world a favor, and the world is a safer place because of it,” Mullin continued, adding, “You can’t deny that this was a threat, and an essential growing threat to the United States.”
“And you want to say he’s ‘playing politics’ with it, that he’s playing politics, Mr. Peters,” he continued. “You guys are the ones playing politics, you guys are the ones grandstanding.”
“The president’s doing his job, as commander in chief,” he said. “And I think, at one time or a next, we should say ‘thank you. Thank you for being a strong leader.’ But there’s no way on God’s green earth you guys can ever give the president, at least President Trump, any credit.”
Mullin appeared to be emotional at the end of his rant. He then attempted to ask a question, but jumbled over his words after he mistakenly called the Department of Defense just that, its real name, not MAGA’s preferred “Department of War.”
“I think he choked up here a little at the end. Almost started crying,” Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of Meidas Touch, quipped on X.
The Daily Beast reached out to Mullin’s office for further comment.
It’s not the first time Mullin has stumbled over his words while attempting to become the most staunch defender of Trump’s war in Iran in the past few days.
In a Monday appearance on Fox News, Mullin referred to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as “President Hegseth.” Twice.
“And fortunately, you have President Hegseth—or I say President Hegseth—Secretary Hegseth, that has got a great relationship with President Trump, and President Hegseth’s been there. He’s done that,” he fumbled.
In a separate appearance on Fox Business, Mullin appeared to forget exactly who the U.S. is supposedly liberating.
“It’s up to the Iraqi people or, I’m sorry, the Iranian people to choose their next go—their next leader,” he said.
Once he got his countries straightened out, he said he hoped Iranians “choose to get a different leader that we can have a relationship with, which we would love to. Prior to 1979, we had a good relationship with Iran.”
