Where on earth does Donald Trump find these people? When Kristi Noem was unceremoniously booted out of the Department of Homeland Security, the nation exhaled in relief. But that brief happiness was quickly squashed when Trump named Markwayne Mullin as her successor.
Mullin arrived with plenty of controversy of his own, but eyebrows have now been raised after a disturbing video from 2023 has resurfaced in which he brags about beating his terrified daughter.
Unearthed video shows new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin describing his daughter pleading with him not to spank her:
— FactPost (@factpostnews) March 24, 2026
“She’s like, ‘No, Daddy. No, Daddy, No, Daddy, No. I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m sorry, Daddy.’ … She just couldn’t bring herself to even bend over for me to be able to… pic.twitter.com/vzI5tVeiek
“Now Larra, for instance, when she was a girl, trying to spank her was like a four-minute ordeal because she’s like (falsetto voice to mock her) ‘No, daddy, no. Daddy, no daddy, no, I’m sorry, daddy, I’m sorry, daddy’.
And then she would get madder and madder and she just couldn’t bring herself to even bend over to for me to bust her butt and I was like, ‘Hun, you got like two seconds or you going to get two instead of one.’”
What on earth? Why would this be a fun anecdote you’d whip out to entertain a crowd? This is an excerpt from an October 2023 speech that was originally given to the “City Elders”. These are apparently an activist group who aim to place “godly people” into positions of power, live by “biblical model of city governance”, and clearly love to hear about a grown man beating a little girl.
What is wrong with these freaks?
As you might imagine, the reactions are a mixture of bewilderment and horror:
Sure looks like it
— qasimhussain (@qasimhussain) March 25, 2026
Exactly, is disgusting!
— Marilyn Yadira®(@marilyn_yadira) March 25, 2026
And what does it teach his daughter? When a man can’t control his emotions it’s ok for him to beat on her. No man should ever be allowed to beat on a little girl.
—Alexa
(@Alexarenee1) March 25, 2026
But wait, it gets weirder. In the full video, it’s revealed that Mullin’s own father is in the audience enjoying this show. Mullin goes on to insist that parents must be “willing to discipline our kids” and praises his dad for being able to physically abuse him quickly and efficiently as a child:
“I’ve never seen a man that can take a belt off so fast, double it up and still hit you. I don’t know how in the world he done that. I tried it and I just can’t.”
Debate is, of course, still raging over whether beating your kids is an effective way of getting them to behave themselves. Supporters argue it teaches kids to respect and fear their elders, underlining that violence is a consequence of stepping out of line.
Critics of it, which include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization , and the American Psychological Association point to numerous studies showing it causes increased aggression children, anxiety, emotional instability, depression, and lower executive functioning in later life.
But you don’t need some fancy studies to show that. After all, Mullin himself is proof enough that spanking kids can turn them into deeply unhinged adults.
