Social media is blowing up over a fight that just took place in the Mexican Senate.
Two senators were nose-to-nose, arguing, when punches started to be thrown, with one man regretting stepping in to try to quell the fight.
While we have not seen anything like this in recent years, save a threat of a fight involving Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), our country's own history is littered with violence in Congress.
In the early days of our nation's government, all-out brawls in Congress were not uncommon.
One that stands out in particular, however, is the caning of Sen. Charles Sumner, but that was far from the only incident that took place.
The days leading up to the Civil War were especially contentious, including the circumstances surrounding the death of Rep. Jonathan Cilley (D-ME).
Rep. William Graves (WHIG-KY) felt slighted by Cilley when he refused a note from an editor that Graves was tasked with delivering. The men fought in a duel, with Graves, after several misses, striking and killing Cilley (duels were outlawed in Congress soon thereafter).
One of the more entertaining hearings in the Senate took place in 2023 during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing.
Mullin was questioning Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters Union, when he challenged him to a fight.
O’Brien seemed to be suffering from keyboard warrior syndrome in an online conflict with Mullin, who is a former MMA fighter. Mullin brought the posts back up during the hearing, challenging O’Brien, "You want to do it now?" O’Brien replied that he would “love to,” at which point Mullin was frothing, responding, "You stand your butt up.”
He then told Mullin to stand up, and he did, ready to throw hands right then and there, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) jumped in, stating, “Stop it! No, no, sit down! You know, you’re a United States senator."
The session in Mexico went south when Alejandro "Alito" Moreno, head of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), approached Gerardo Fernández Noroña, the Senate president of the ruling Morena Party, for denying him the floor.
The exchange got heated, and once hands were thrown, well, things devolved rather quickly, with Moreno appearing to prevail. At one point, cameraman Emiliano González González tried to step in, but Moreno put him on the floor almost immediately, then stood over him like a conquering hero…
For my money, the fight was actually started by Fernández Noroña, but it turns out that he is the one filing the criminal complaint. Moreno responded, "Let it be clear: the first physical aggression came from Fernández Noroña.” You just have to love it when the adults in the room act like petulant children.
