Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was ridiculed en masse Friday after he was spotted “clutching a stress ball” during a tense press conference that regularly saw the DHS secretary lash out at reporters.
“This snowflake is a walking, talking stress ball every time he enters a room and has to wrestle with the English language,” wrote Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief for the progressive media organization MeidasTouch.
Mullin spoke during a press conference Friday in the wake of the latest shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. On Thursday, an ICE officer shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck after approaching him in his vehicle in plainclothes. Belgal’s 5-year-old child was with him during the incident.
“It is shameful that we are giving this particular case so much attention when this is a thug, an absolute worst of the worst!” Mullin said during the conference.
Mullin also accused Belgal of being a “thug,” a “gang-banger” and a “possible murderer.”
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has said that Belgal has had two prior arrests in New York City, one in 2023 for grand larceny, and another in 2025 for selling a controlled substance.
“In the United States of America, you don't take seven shots and wound somebody with a 5-year-old in the back of the car because they committed grand larceny in the past,” argued attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold.
Other critics couldn’t help but fixate on Mullin’s pink stress ball spotted in his right hand. Justin Brannan, a former New York City Council member, referred to Mullin’s stress ball as “his binky.” Journalist Manny Fidel issued an especially fierce condemnation of Mullin and his stress ball.
“Alpha male Markwayne Mullin frantically looking for his stress ball before the scary press briefing,” Fidel quipped.
This snowflake is a walking, talking stress ball every time he enters a room and has to wrestle with the English language.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 9, 2026