While defending the U.S. strikes against Iran, a GOP lawmaker gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth an unexpected promotion, referring to him as “president” repeatedly.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, spoke to Fox News Monday about the Trump administration’s bombing of Tehran, which is threatening to engulf the Middle East in a wider conflict and has been criticized by some of the president’s MAGA allies.
“When the president first came out and he talked to the American people, he was very resolved and direct on what we could expect,” Mullin said. “War is ugly. It smells bad. And if anybody’s 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.”
The first-term senator, who has never served in the U.S. military, then mistakenly described Hegseth as the commander-in-chief several times on air.
“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,” Mullin said.
Shortly after, the MAGA Republican made another stumble in an interview with CNN, when discussing whether or not Congress should have authorized the strikes.
“When it comes to the [Authorization for Use of Military Force], which is why it was passed for terrorist organizations that was trying to harm us, there’s no question that Iraq — or Iran — clearly fits in that picture because we know,” Mullin said. “Iran’s been the number one sponsor of terror around the world for decades now.”
“But sir, doesn't that slip that you made underscore exactly why the American people are telling us in our poll that they don’t want this?” correspondent Kasie Hunt asked. “The memory of Iraq is still very fresh in a lot of Americans’ minds.”
A spokesperson for Mullin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
The senator is just one of many Trump allies — both in Congress and in the administration — who have scrambled to justify the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that started this past weekend, and have at times given conflicting statements.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that he “knew there was going to be an Israeli action” that would “precipitate an attack against American forces,” which the Trump administration moved to preempt.
In an interview with Fox News late Monday, Vice President JD Vance suggested that strikes occurred in order to prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon. Vance — a longtime skeptic of foreign wars, who argued as recently as 2024 against attacking Iran — said: “There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict.”
Hegseth provided a different rationale, telling reporters that Iran was targeted in order to stop the country from building a “conventional shield” for its nuclear program.
Democrats, who have largely opposed the military operation, described it as illegal and unwise, and seized on varying justifications.
“We have seen the goals for this operation change now, I believe, four or five times,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Monday. “It was about the Iranian nuclear capacity, a few days later it was about taking out the ballistic missiles, it was then — in the president’s own words — about regime change … and now we hear it’s about sinking the Iranian fleet.”
Many prominent voices in MAGA world, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson, have also come out against the Iran strikes. “This is not what we thought MAGA was supposed to be,” Greene wrote on X. “Shame!”
The U.S.-Israeli attack has left hundreds of civilians dead in Iran, according to state media. In response, the Iranian military has launched retaliatory strikes on American and Israeli assets and allies in the region, including in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Trump has said the conflict could go on for weeks, if not longer.
Just one in four Americans say they support the Iran attacks, according to a recent Reuters survey.
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