President Donald Trump erupted in a heated 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 came after Kimmel’s monologue targeting Markwayne Mullin, the 48-year-old former Oklahoma senator who was confirmed on March 23 to take over for Kristi Noem, whom Trump removed 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 hosts during his phone call on March 26. “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 devoted several minutes of his March 25 opening to Mullin after the White House swearing-in, calling attention to the new secretary’s earlier work as a plumber and an MMA fighter. The comic likened Mullin to Super Mario, saying the country 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.”
The new DHS head actually has a stronger fighting background than Kimmel implied. Official records indicate Mullin had an undefeated professional MMA record before politics, though accounts vary between 5-0 and 3-0. Trump disputed the “low-level” portrayal on “The Five,” saying Mullin “had a very good record in fighting” and his opponents were “rough cookies.”
The dispute flared weeks after Trump announced Noem’s dismissal on Truth Social on March 5. Noem had endured two damaging congressional hearings that week in the Senate and House, including explosive testimony about a $200 million ad campaign prominently featuring her—complete with footage of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore. Trump later denied authorizing the expensive campaign, telling Reuters, “I never knew anything about it.”
Trump reassigned Noem to a newly created role as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, calling it “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” Kimmel mocked the position, telling viewers he wished Noem luck in a “brand new, completely made-up job.”
The host did not retreat when Trump and conservative politicians accused him of belittling blue-collar workers. Texas Senator Ted Cruz posted 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 criticism, saying “the elites too often look down their noses at blue collar, middle America” and arguing that calling a senator a plumber “doesn’t do him justice,” noting Mullin built a business that employs many families.
Kimmel responded on his Thursday show, saying his remarks had been intentionally twisted to suggest he insulted plumbers. “I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber,” Kimmel shot back. “I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber!”
The comedian clarified his 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 company and calling him “country smart.” The president predicted Mullin would “do a fantastic job” and said, “everybody loves him.”
Before politics, Mullin took over his father’s struggling plumbing business at age 20 after his father fell 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 tapped 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 approved Mullin in a 54-45 vote, with Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico joining Republicans in support. Republican Senator Rand Paul was the lone GOP dissent, questioning whether a man with what he called “anger issues” should lead an agency facing use-of-force controversies.
The spat is the latest clash between Trump and Kimmel, with the comedian remaining one of the president’s most persistent 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 back down from their ongoing feud, which has dominated headlines and social media this week.