President Donald Trump was so enraged by Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks about Markwayne Mullin that he called in to Fox News to rant about him.
Late-night host Kimmel has been at the center of a MAGA outrage storm after roasting Mullin, Trump’s choice to replace “ICE Barbie” Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security. The late-night host slammed Mullin as “unqualified” and referred to his previous employment as a plumber.
Trump retaliated against Kimmel, telling Fox News’ The Five over the phone, “He’s a loser. He gets no ratings. None. He’s got no talent. He’s got Trump Derangement Syndrome. Whenever I watch him, I just can’t believe he’s even on the air.”
Mullin was confirmed as the new DHS secretary on Monday,
Following Mullin’s swearing-in ceremony, Kimmel dedicated a few minutes to the politician in his March 25 monologue. “Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber,” the late-night host. “That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?”
“I mean, if Trump is going to keep picking these unqualified people to run the department, why not have more fun with it?” he continued. “I mean, next time, instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we could get a concert out of it, right?”
The president, 79, continued his rant on Fox by praising Mullin, saying the former Oklahoma senator was “very, very successful” in running his parents’ plumbing business.
“Markwayne is fantastic,” Trump continued, adding that Mullin is “country smart.”
“Everybody loves him, and I think he’s gonna do a fantastic job. He’s got a great way about him and people respect him a lot.”
Unsurprisingly, Kimmel didn’t let Trump get away with his comments on Fox without publicly addressing the president’s latest meltdown.
“The president and his pals in the MAGA media are not happy with me right now,” he told his audience on Thursday.
“His apple-polishers are all in a tizzy because I made light of the fact that his new head of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, before he was a Senator, was a plumber, and now he’s the head of Homeland Security, which is not necessarily the kind of résumé you might hope for from the person in charge of protecting us from terrorism.”
“Of course,” he continued, “they decided to twist that, to say it was an insult to plumbers, which it was not.”
Kimmel’s comments prompted outrage from other MAGA figures. Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote on X, “I prefer plumbers to woke & unfunny comedians.”
Other conservative leaders accused Kimmel of being élitist. “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,” Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said on X, adding, “These people need help.”
“The elites too often look down their noses at blue collar, middle America. They try to demean a man by calling him a plumber,” Georgia Rep. Mike Collins wrote in a lengthy post in response to Kimmel’s jabs. “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.”
Kimmel responded to the outrage, clarifying his stance for MAGA. “I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber. I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber!“
