The Lincoln Logue | Senator HeeHaw in at DHS, Trump’s Missing Off-Ramp in Iran, & TSA Works for Free
Sometimes I think Donald Trump was never punched in the mouth, or not enough.
When I was in school, bullying was everywhere. It was the early social media era which meant it didn’t stop when you got home. I’ve seen all of it: fake AOL Instant Messenger accounts catfishing someone about a crush, coordinated harassment, entire friend groups turning on one person overnight. It was constant. A nonstop mix of insecurity, dick measuring, and social ladder climbing. And it stuck with you.
By the time I graduated, the country finally started to reckon with it. Campaigns popped up at the federal, state, and local levels with websites, assemblies, and “be kind” messaging. All of it was an attempt to rein in a culture that had gone too far.
Trump feels like the guy who missed out on those assemblies.
Everyone else got the memo: grow up, cut the shit, or you’re going to get left behind. There was a social agreement that things had gone too far and we all needed to learn how to exist around others, to learn where the line was.
He never did.
There’s the story from Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough where her father dumped a bowl of mashed potatoes on his head at a family dinner. Apparently, it’s his least favorite story, which shows just how effective those moments can be. And something that should’ve happened more often.
Because what we’re dealing with now isn’t complicated. It’s a guy who still operates like a middle school bully who never got checked. Still obsessed with dominance, still measuring himself against everyone in the room, and still convinced that the world exists for him to win inside of it.
He’s stealing lunch money on a global scale. He’s humiliating people for sport, testing boundaries just to see who won’t push back, and escalating every situation because no one has ever made him stop.
And now he’s running the world like the playground – where he sets the rules.
Somewhere along the way, most people learn that behavior like that comes with social, personal, and sometimes physical consequences. You get corrected, learn to adjust, and grow the fuck up.
He never did, and until someone steps up to punch him in the mouth … we’ll be dealing with it.
Monday, 3/23 – The Mullin Era Begins at DHS
Can you imagine being named “Markwayne?” I understand that there are heehaw historical ones that are handed down through generations of Appalachia like “Jethro,” but good god. It has to explain a lot, because there has never been a man more brazen in his “tough guy” image who grew so scared in times of crisis – we all remember the photo of him on January 6th.
This week, Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as the Secretary of Homeland Security, taking over after Kristi Noem was fired. Mullin isn’t coming into the role as a technocrat or institutional operator. He’s built his reputation during his time in Congress as a blue-collar conservative who leans into conflict, whether it is on cable news, the senate floor, or a near physical altercation in a committee hearing. That style might play politically and get the attention of Dear Leader, but DHS isn’t a campaign stage.
This is one of the most complex agencies in the federal government. It oversees border security, immigration enforcement, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, disaster response, and intelligence coordination from multiple sub-agencies. It’s already stretched thin with Trump using the department as his personal Gestapo force whenever a problem arises, and has been operating under pressure from both parties.
Mullin is stepping into the role at a time when immigration remains one of the most volatile issues in American politics, with ongoing fights over enforcement, asylum policy, and federal authority. At the same time, DHS has to manage evolving threats abroad and at home, from cyber attacks to domestic extremism and possible threats tied to Trump starting the war in Iran – Mullin has to do all of this while managing the day-to-day realities of FEMA responses and border operations.
The question isn’t whether Mullin can command attention, it’s whether he can manage an agency that requires precision, coordination, and restraint. And we aren’t holding our breath for the college dropout from Oklahoma who wants to show off his MMA skills on the Senate floor.