Key Highlights
- Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma changed his stance on whether the U.S. is at war with Iran multiple times.
- Mullin’s inconsistencies highlight internal divisions within the Republican Party over the conflict in Iran.
- The senator’s lack of military experience and apparent confusion about key figures are noteworthy.
Sen. Mullin’s Flip-Flops on War in Iran
You might think this is new, but…
On Sunday morning, Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a prominent White House ally and surrogate, appeared on Fox News and told viewers, “We are not at war with Iran.” Donald Trump suggested the opposite a day earlier, but the senator delivered his message with emphasis anyway.
A Shift in Stance
On Monday afternoon, however, Mullin seemed to change his mind. While defending the administration’s military offensive in Iran, the Oklahoman told Fox News: “War is ugly. It smells bad.
And if anybody’s ever been there and been able to smell the war that’s happened around you and taste it and fill it in your nostrils and hear it, it’s something that you’ll never forget.”
This was problematic for a variety of reasons, including the inconvenient fact that Mullin never served in the military and has no idea what war smells like, as actual veterans were quick to note. Nevertheless, the senator at least seemed to acknowledge at the time that the United States is at war, despite what he said a day earlier.
Reversal of Position
Roughly three hours later, however, Mullin reversed course again, telling CNN that the war in Iran “isn’t a war.” Reminded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it a war earlier in the day, the senator shrugged it off and stuck to his position. A day later, while talking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Mullin called the crisis in Iran a “war.” He then argued that it wasn’t a war, and when he was reminded of what he’d said moments earlier, he said: “That was a misspoke.”
Consistent Confusion
Mullin also recently appeared to confuse Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei, before arguing than Iran “was more Westernized than the United States” ahead of the 1979 revolution. For good measure, it’s also probably worth noting that the GOP lawmaker has also referred to Hegseth as the president and accidentally referred to Iran as Iraq more than once.
Questionable Credentials
The junior senator from Oklahoma is a prime example of why Republicans might want to rethink their messaging strategy. His inability to keep his statements consistent, coupled with his lack of military experience, makes him appear unreliable on issues that matter most to the party’s base. And when you consider how many times he’s gotten things wrong, one wonders if there are more capable voices within the Republican ranks who should be representing them in these critical debates.
So to recap, over the course of roughly two days, the senior senator from Oklahoma changed his mind about the nature of the U.S. operations in Iran four times. It’s a perfect storm of political theater that serves only to undermine the credibility of the Republican Party on an issue where they need to be unified.
