Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin has been rebuked online after he appeared on Fox News Monday and mused on the “smell of war,” despite never having served in the military himself.
Mullin, a member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, was discussing the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran when he channelled his inner Lt. Col. Kilgore from Apocalypse Now (1979), who famously relished “the smell of napalm in the morning.”
“War is ugly,” the senator declared authoritatively. “It smells bad. If anybody has ever been there and been able to smell the war that’s happening around you and taste it and fill it in your nostrils and hear it, it’s something that you’ll never forget.
“And it’s ugly. And fortunately, you have President [Pete] Hegseth. Sorry, Secretary Hegseth… That has got a great relationship with President [Donald] Trump and President Hegseth’s been there and he’s done that.”
Despite accidentally elevating the defense secretary to the presidency twice, it was Mullin presuming to speak for U.S. soldiers that sparked uproar.
Veteran and activist Charlotte Clymer reposted a clip of his comments on X (Twitter) and told the senator, “Sir, you were 24 on 9/11. You were 25 when the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq. You were 28 when I enlisted after high school.
“You didn’t serve. You were an able-bodied young man who chose to inherit your daddy’s business instead of serving. You need to shut your f***ing mouth.”
The Angry Staffer account responded to the same clip with the comment: “Periodic reminder that Mullin was a rancher before he was elected to the Senate. He has no idea what war looks, smells, or tastes like. But he’s fine with sending your kids to die for it.”
Also reacting angrily was the campaign group VoteVets, which said: “Sen. Mullin probably thinks war smells like Mountain Dew, couch cushions, and control sweat because Call of Duty is the closest he’s ever been to war.”
A number of other commentators unkindly shared a photograph of Mullin allegedly attempting to hide from the would-be insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, mocking his record of “brave service.”
Trump also angered some veterans over the weekend over his apparently flippant attitude towards the first U.S. troops killed in the skirmishes, which he described as “the way it is,” leading to criticism from Democrats like Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Reps. Jason Crew and Pat Ryan, who found the phrase callous.
In a separate appearance on Fox Business Monday, Mullin fumbled again when he confused Iran with Iraq.
“It’s up to the Iraqi people or, I’m sorry, the Iranian people to choose their next go… their next leader,” he said.
“It’s up to them to rise up and kick this regime out of place. If they do not, then they will be with a different leader, but the same regime.”
The senator was echoing Trump’s call for the Iranian public to rise up and overthrow their oppressive government, saying the airstrikes represented a unique opportunity that might not come again.
Mullin has previously offered a somewhat inconsistent stance on Iran, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in January: “Even though we’re not into regime change… If that leadership is going to kill their own people, the president said we’ll come to your rescue.”
A month later, he told the same network: “If it takes us removing the ayatollah from keeping the nuclear program from moving forward, then that’s not off the table, but we would prefer diplomacy.”
Mullin last week attracted attention for sparring with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at a confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee for surgeon-general, Dr. Casey Means.
The GOP member was incensed when the veteran leftist teased him for making long-winded remarks about the importance of scientific inquiry.
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