When Jimmy Kimmel sneered that America now has “a plumber protecting us from terrorism,” he meant it as a punchline, but he accidentally delivered a confession. In a few seconds of late-night banter, he summed up how a certain slice of cultural elites really see the people who keep the country running: good enough to fix their pipes, not good enough to help run their government.
Markwayne Mullin is not some random reality show pick dragged off a job site. He is the Homeland Security secretary, a former senator from Oklahoma, and before that, a successful businessman who built a major plumbing company from the ground up. His career is the sort of story that used to be called the American dream. For Kimmel, it is a setup line.
Jimmy Kimmel is now insulting DHS Sec Markwayne Mullin because he used to work as a plumber.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 25, 2026
As if you couldn't hate elitist Hollywood leftists any morepic.twitter.com/NAa21bgKKR
This is where the joke collapses. Kimmel’s world is full of people who turned blue-collar work into something bigger. His longtime friend Adam Carolla worked construction and other trades before he ever sat behind a microphone. That path is not unusual in comedy or in politics. It is only supposed to become embarrassing when the target has an R after his name.
Jimmy Kimmel making fun of newly sworn in DHS Secretary Mullin for being a plumber before being a Senator.
— C3 (@C_3C_3) March 25, 2026
Like this is an insult?
Americans would be better off if plumbers instead of lawyers ran DC.
Kimmel proves again to be a propagandist.
Sicko.pic.twitter.com/7weiHNKbn5
Kimmel’s monologue was not really about qualifications. If he wanted to argue that Mullin’s views or record in the Senate are wrong, he had plenty of material to work with. Instead, he tagged him as “a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber” and left it there, as if certain jobs automatically disqualify someone from high office. That is not scrutiny. It is class signaling.
The irony is that the American left once prided itself on championing workers who used their hands for a living. Now, some of its cultural standard bearers recoil at the idea that one of those workers might end up at the top of a Cabinet department. The problem is not Mullin’s resume. The problem is that his success story does not depend on the approval of people in green rooms and writers’ rooms.
When Markwayne Mullin was 20 his dad's health took a turn. He dropped out of college to run the family business. He built it from 6 people into a multimillion dollar HVAC company with 150+ employees.
— Benjamin Domenech (@bdomenech) March 25, 2026
He's a pillar of his community, and @jimmykimmel can't even tell a funny joke. https://t.co/yVfsqzpRgh
ALSO SEE: Markwayne Mullin Is Confirmed As Department of Homeland Security Secretary
Mullin Takes the Helm at DHS As Trump Swears Him In
There is a reason the backlash to Kimmel landed so quickly. Viewers are tired of being told that the only acceptable leaders are lawyers, consultants and entertainers who never missed a brunch in Manhattan or Los Angeles. A Homeland Security secretary who knows what it means to make payroll and deal with government red tape might actually bring a useful perspective to a department notorious for bureaucracy.
The plumber line also exposes something else. The same media class that lectures the country about dignity and inclusion has no problem reducing a man to his old job when it makes the right people in the audience feel superior. That is what bothered so many critics. It was not just the joke. It was the contempt behind it.
🚨 Jimmy Kimmel is a POS!
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) March 26, 2026
Mocked new DHS Secretary Mullin for being a plumber, saying: “We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now.”
Americans are done with these Hollywood clowns looking down on real men who actually work for a living.pic.twitter.com/iYa5bEOKNy
Conservatives do not have to pretend Mullin is beyond criticism to see what is going on here. Elections have consequences, appointments matter and voters have every right to debate his decisions as secretary. But if the new standard is that blue collar success is a black mark, then the problem is not with the plumber at the Cabinet table. It is with the elites who have decided that the people who built the country are good enough to laugh at, and never good enough to lead it.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member