In a powerful and emotional moment during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, Senator Markwayne Mullin fought back tears as he shared how President Donald Trump went out of his way to visit his son, who had a traumatic brain injury.
Mullin’s son Jim, a world-class young wrestler who had competed internationally since age 12, suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury in 2020 during a high school match.
The teen was unconscious for 26 hours.
When he woke up, he was a different kid entirely.
The once-athletic teen couldn’t touch his nose, walked with a shuffle, struggled with short-term memory loss, and couldn’t even handle basic math like five plus three.
The family feared the worst as his pulse dropped dangerously low.
“I’m going to try getting through without crying. It’s not about President Trump. It’s about my son,” Mullin said.
President Trump, who at the time was only acquaintances with Mullin, heard about the tragedy and immediately sprang into action. He called right away, offered the use of his personal plane to fly the family to the renowned Center for Neural Skills rehabilitation facility in Bakersfield, California, and followed up with near-daily check-in calls for two weeks.
But the most moving part came in the thick of the brutal 2020 presidential campaign.
WATCH:
NEW: Senator Markwayne Mullin tears up as he tells a story about how President Trump went to work for him when he found out his son had a traumatic brain injury.
Mullin explained how his son became a completely different kid after the injury.
“Here you had a world-class athlete… pic.twitter.com/lQhS3vM3KK
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 18, 2026
Bakersfield wasn’t a must-win campaign stop. Trump’s team was pressuring him to keep moving. Yet the President made time to personally visit young Jim anyway.
“His team came to him twice and said, ‘Sir, we got to go; we got to go,’” Mullin said. “On the third time, they came over to him, he looked at them. He says, ‘Hey, I guarantee you that plane won’t leave without me for the next 15 minutes.’”
Choking up at the Senate hearing, Mullin emphasized that Trump did none of this for show, publicity, or political gain.
“He didn’t do it for publicity. He didn’t do it for any show. He was running in one of the toughest elections he had been in and the guy was still that concerned about my son,” Mullin said. “I mean, here’s the president of the United States, and he did it just because he cared.”
The visit and ongoing support had a profound impact.
The “big event” of Trump’s presence helped jog Jim’s memory, boosted his spirits, and contributed to his remarkable recovery.
What doctors projected would take years of rehab was largely complete in just nine months.
Jim went on to wrestle at Oklahoma State University and is thriving today.
WATCH:
Great news! My son Jim has been discharged from the Centre for Neuro Skills and we are heading home! pic.twitter.com/K6fx6TB0jl
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) October 9, 2020
The post WATCH: Sen. Markwayne Mullin Tears Up Recalling How President Trump Dropped Everything to Visit and Help His Brain-Injured Son in the Middle of the 2020 Election – ‘He Did It Just Because He Cared’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.