Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) offered a unique pitch as to why President Donald Trump couldn’t be “racist,” arguing that because of his friendship with the president – and being a “Cherokee Indian” himself – there was no way Trump could be racially prejudiced.
Mullin’s comments were made during an appearance Sunday on CNN with Dana Bash, and were in response to attacks from his Senate colleague, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who criticized Trump for not wanting “brown people coming” into the country.
“Mark Kelly just got done saying that the president was racist because he doesn't like brown people, yet I sit in front of you as a Cherokee Indian and I'm very close friends with the president,” Mullin said. “It's ridiculous what Mark Kelly is saying, he's losing credibility every single day!”
Mullin is, in fact, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, and is the first tribal citizen to serve in the Senate in nearly two decades. The Cherokee Nation is the largest of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes with more than 300,000 members.
While the Cherokee Nation does not require a specific blood quantum – a measure of the amount of Native American ancestry an individual has – it does require that members can provide proof of direct lineal descent from a Cherokee ancestor.
Mullin went on to attack Kelly further over his recent push for service members to defy illegal orders from their superior officers, calling his comments “the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard right now.”
“He’s encouraging men and women in uniform to question the orders of superior officers!” the senator exclaimed.
U.S. @SenMullin argues Trump can't be racist because "I sit in front of you as a Cherokee Indian and I'm very close friends with the president." pic.twitter.com/zRowxpmyrV
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) November 30, 2025