The Republicans had a busy day on Capitol Hill, with the “shoving/elbowing incident” between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Tim Burchett. Also, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Rep. Darrell Issa a “p***y”, after he criticized how she presented the impeachment motion against DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.
Then there was the Senate hearing, where Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., read out loud tweets by Sean O’Brien of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, General President, who called Mullin a “fake tough guy” cowboy and challenged him to fight anywhere, anytime.
Mullin, as we reported previously, invited O’Brien to follow through on his words right there and then. Moments later, he stood up, appearing to be ready to fight.
Watch this video for those who missed it:
A fight almost broke out in a Senate hearing.
Markwayne Mullin read a tweet from Teamster boss Sean O’Brien which challenged Mullin to a fight. Mullin said he was ready to settle things right here, right now.
Bernie Sanders shut the scene down. pic.twitter.com/U0X3YmWPwY
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 14, 2023
Mullin challenged O’Brien to a charity MMA match later in the hearing. O’Brien refused to accept this challenge, saying that he would rather sit down with a cup of coffee and chat.
Although I believe most people agree that physical fights should not occur between hearing witnesses and elected officials, I do not think this is something worthy of the attention it receives. Take away the title, and you’re left with human beings who are going to react viscerally to keyboard warriors trying to repeatedly write checks in their mouths they can’t cash.
Mullin, a retired MMA fighter, who challenged O’Brien earlier in the year to a charity MMA match, confirmed this when asked afterward about the incident:
1) GOP OK Sen Mullin to Fox News Radio about challenging a Teamster to a fistfight in a hearing today: Someone came to me earlier today and they said they said, was that conduct of a United States senator? I said I’m a guy from Oklahoma first.
2) Mullin: You don’t run your mouth like that in Oklahoma unless you’re willing to stand up and back it up. And that simple, this guy some he’s a he’s a he’s a union Teamster boss who said he wants to bring back the mob mentality after he was elected president.
3) Mullin: And he just ran his mouth off to the wrong person, I guess.
Mullin tweeted, “In Oklahoma when you speak your mind, you are called out, Period.” He’s also scheduled to do some podcast interviews where he will talk about the feud.
O’Brien has not followed up on his keyboard wars since his bluff had been called by a United States senator in the most embarrassing way.
What is the moral of this story? The moral of the story? Don’t mess with Oklahomans either.
