ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his Tuesday night monologue to ridicule newly sworn-in Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin as little more than a plumber who stumbled into a cabinet post. The joke landed, just not the way Kimmel intended. Within hours, lawmakers, journalists, and ordinary Americans on X turned the bit into an indictment of Hollywood's contempt for working-class life.
Mullin, the former Oklahoma senator, was confirmed Monday on a 54-45 Senate vote and took the oath of office Tuesday at the White House as the nation's ninth DHS secretary, replacing Kristi Noem, who was removed from the position earlier this month. The confirmation drew bipartisan support: Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico joined nearly every Republican to clinch the nomination. Only Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against Mullin from the Republican side.
None of that context made it into Kimmel's bit. What did make it was a punchline built on the premise that a man who once fixed pipes has no business running a federal department.
Kimmel opened his monologue with a riff on the new secretary's name and background:
"Trump's got a whole new generation of thinkers lined up, including his newly confirmed secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne 'Chuck Mike Bruce Dave' Melon, Mullin. Maybe melon's better."
He then zeroed in on Mullin's pre-political career:
"He's the now former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That's right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?"
Kimmel kept going, calling Mullin an "unqualified" pick and suggesting the administration should appoint rapper Lil Wayne next, "At least we can get a concert out of it, right?"
The routine treated Mullin's blue-collar roots not as a biographical detail but as a disqualification. And that framing is what drew fire.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., was among the first elected officials to respond. She wrote on X:
"The disdain for which the Democrats and Hollywood elites have for working class Americans, and folks who step up to do important jobs for their country, is shameful. These people need help."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, kept his reply shorter and sharper: "I prefer plumbers to woke & unfunny comedians." As the New York Post reported, multiple commentators and Republican lawmakers accused Kimmel of showing elitist disdain for blue-collar professions.
Mark Hemingway, a senior writer at RealClearInvestigations, wrote, "I would much rather be protected by plumbers than lawyers." Substack journalist Chris Cillizza, hardly a conservative firebrand, offered a two-word verdict: "Not a great look."
Amy Curtis, a writer at Townhall.com, pointed out a biographical irony: "This is your reminder that Jimmy Kimmel does not have a degree, save an honorary Doctorate from UNLV." A late-night host without a college diploma mocking a U.S. senator-turned-cabinet-secretary for having worked with his hands, the irony was hard to miss.
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., posted the most detailed response on X, turning Kimmel's punchline into a broader argument about who actually keeps the country running. Collins wrote:
"The elites too often look down their noses at blue collar, middle America. They try to demean a man by calling him a plumber. As if plumbing is something to be ashamed of or is somehow a lesser profession than a court jester turning tricks on late night commentary (comedy is dead). But even just calling a U.S Senator and cabinet secretary a plumber doesn't do justice to a man, who built a successful business in a highly competitive environment that provides jobs for several plumbers actually and others that then feed many families."
Collins wasn't finished. He continued:
"Plumbers, truckers, builders, tradesmen, etc built this country and continue to be vital part of our economy's backbone. It's not just jobs. It's a spirt of actually using the sweat of your brown [sic], determination and yes, intellect, to add in a productive way to America, a land of pioneers. Western civilization can't survive without the men and women who provide blue collar services. Late night political commentary masquerading as comedy would never be missed."
The congressman's point was blunt: Mullin built a business that employed people and fed families. Kimmel reads jokes off a teleprompter. Viewers can decide which skill set matters more when the subject is border security and counterterrorism.
The Department of Homeland Security itself weighed in. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital:
"DHS is too busy arresting gang members, terrorists, pedophiles, rapists, murderers, and other criminal illegal aliens to engage in this kind of silliness."
The statement was a not-so-subtle reminder of what the department actually does, and what a late-night comedian's opinion is worth to the people doing it. As Breitbart noted, the backlash framed plumbers and other essential workers as far more necessary to society than celebrity commentators, with one writer asking readers to imagine how long civilization would last without plumbers.
Kimmel's monologue glossed over the political reality of Mullin's path to the cabinet. The 54-45 vote was not a rubber stamp. It required genuine bipartisan cooperation. Sen. Fetterman's decision to cast a decisive vote advancing Mullin's nomination drew fury from fellow Democrats. That vote, which saved the nomination in committee, made Fetterman a target within his own party, a trajectory that has seen him go from Democrat hero to villain in the eyes of the progressive base.
Sen. Heinrich of New Mexico also crossed party lines. Even with that support, Mullin's nomination passed its first hurdle despite some GOP opposition, including the lone Republican "no" from Sen. Paul. The confirmation was hard-fought, bipartisan, and legitimate, the opposite of the frivolous appointment Kimmel's bit tried to suggest.
Kimmel's writers probably thought the plumber line was an easy laugh. A blue-collar guy running a massive federal agency, what could go wrong? But the bit exposed a reflex that keeps costing the cultural left: the instinct to treat manual labor as a mark of inferiority rather than a mark of competence.
Mullin was not simply a plumber. He was a plumber who built a business, won election to the House, then to the Senate, and was confirmed to run one of the largest departments in the federal government. His path to the cabinet ran through voters, a Senate committee, and a floor vote, not through a Hollywood talent agency.
Kimmel, by contrast, holds no degree beyond an honorary doctorate from UNLV. He has never run a business that employs tradespeople. He has never stood for election. He has never managed a federal workforce. None of that disqualifies him from telling jokes. But it does make his "unqualified" crack ring hollow.
The deeper problem for Kimmel and the progressive establishment he speaks for is that this kind of mockery confirms what millions of working Americans already suspect: the people who claim to champion the little guy hold the little guy in contempt the moment he rises too high. A plumber in overalls is a sympathetic prop. A plumber in the cabinet is a punchline.
That double standard is why the backlash was immediate, bipartisan in tone, and devastating in its simplicity. Cruz's five-word reply did more damage than a ten-minute rebuttal could have. Collins's extended defense of tradesmen landed because it described reality. And DHS's response, we're busy catching criminals, made the whole late-night segment feel small.
Kimmel wanted to land a joke about qualifications. Instead he delivered a case study in why his audience keeps shrinking and the people he mocks keep winning elections. The plumber is running DHS. The comedian is explaining why that's funny.
One of those jobs matters. The country already knows which one.
