President Donald Trump launched into a blistering attack on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, March 26, 2026, phoning into Fox News’ “The Five” to demand the comedian be fired after Kimmel mocked the president’s newly confirmed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary.
The 79-year-old president’s anger was sparked by Kimmel’s March 25 monologue poking fun at Markwayne Mullin, the 48-year-old former Oklahoma senator who was confirmed on March 23 to replace Kristi Noem, whom Trump dismissed as the first cabinet casualty of his second term.
“He’s a loser. He gets no ratings. He’s got no talent. He’s got Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump told the Fox News panel during his March 26 call. “Whenever I watch, I just can’t believe that he’s even on the air. He shouldn’t be on the air. He should be canned.”
Kimmel spent several minutes of his March 25 opening segment on Mullin after the White House swearing-in, spotlighting the new secretary’s earlier jobs as a plumber and MMA fighter. The host likened Mullin to Super Mario, quipping that the U.S. now has “a plumber protecting us from terrorism,” and joked: “Next time instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we can get a concert out of it.”
In fact, the new DHS leader has a more notable fighting background than Kimmel implied. Official records indicate Mullin had an undefeated professional MMA record before entering politics, though sources vary on whether it was 5-0 or 3-0. Trump pushed back on the “low-level” description during his appearance on “The Five,” saying Mullin “had a very good record in fighting” and his opponents were “rough cookies.”
The dispute followed Trump’s March 5 Truth Social announcement that he had fired Noem. Noem had endured two damaging congressional hearings in the Senate and House that week, including explosive testimony about a $200 million advertising campaign that heavily featured her—showing the secretary on horseback at Mount Rushmore. Trump later denied approving the expensive campaign, telling Reuters, “I never knew anything about it.”
Trump reassigned Noem to a newly created post as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, calling it “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” Kimmel ridiculed the role on his show, saying he wished her luck in a “brand new, completely made-up job.”
The late-night host stood his ground after Trump and conservative politicians accused him of disparaging blue-collar workers. Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote that he prefers “plumbers to woke & unfunny comedians,” while Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said Kimmel showed “disdain for working class Americans.”
Georgia Representative Mike Collins added to the criticism, arguing “the elites too often look down their noses at blue collar, middle America,” and suggesting calling a senator a plumber “doesn’t do him justice,” noting Mullin built a business that employs many families.
Kimmel responded on his Thursday program, saying critics had intentionally distorted his remarks to suggest he insulted plumbers. “I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber,” Kimmel replied. “I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber!”
The comedian explained his actual point: “I wouldn’t put a plumber in charge of homeland security for the same reason I wouldn’t call a five-star general to pull a rat out of my toilet. We all have our areas of expertise.”
Trump defended his pick during the Fox News call, praising Mullin’s experience running the family plumbing business and calling him “country smart.” The president said Mullin would “do a fantastic job” and asserted that “everybody loves him.”
Before entering public office, Mullin took over his father’s struggling plumbing company at age 20 after his father became ill. Over nearly 30 years, he and his wife Christie grew Mullin Plumbing into the region’s largest service company. He served ten years in the House and three in the Senate before Trump selected him for DHS. Mullin is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and was the first Native American senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.
The Senate confirmed Mullin by a 54-45 vote, with Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico breaking ranks to support him. Republican Senator Rand Paul was the only GOP senator to oppose the nomination, raising concerns about what he called “anger issues” and whether Mullin should lead an agency facing use-of-force controversies.
The spat is the latest in a series of clashes between Trump and Kimmel, with the comedian remaining one of the president’s most frequent late-night critics.
A spokesperson for DHS pushed back on the mockery in a statement to 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.”
As the exchange continues, neither Trump nor Kimmel appears ready to relent in their ongoing feud, which has dominated headlines and social media for months.