Mike Rowe defends America’s aspirational spirit against Kimmel’s plumber insult, highlighting career flexibility and the American Dream.
As only TV personality and host Mike Rowe can, he embodied what makes America great. The American Dream is not just about a certain achievement like buying a home or being promoted to a particular vocation: It’s about the opportunity to dream big and aspire to higher things — or just different ones.
Of course, Rowe’s incredibly insightful commentary, which he posted to X on Sunday, was born from unfunny comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s joke that maligned the fact that a plumber — that would be former plumber, former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, and current Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin — is now heading the agency in charge of combating terrorism.
Rowe began:
If you haven’t heard, and even if you have, Jimmy Kimmel said this about Markwayne Mullin, former Senator from Oklahoma, and our newest Secretary of Homeland Security:
“We have a plumber now protecting us from terrorism.”
Apparently, there has been some backlash. Plumbers were offended, obviously, as were parents of plumbers, spouses of plumbers, children of plumbers, and millions of people who have had a plumber show up when they needed one. Comedians were also offended, (the funny ones, anyway,) along with a surprising number of terrorists – especially those with access to hot and cold running water. However, in spite of the ensuing kerfuffle, @jimmykimmel doubled down.
Yeah, Kimmel loves to do that, because he knows he’s bulletproof. Remember when people called for his job, and two of his syndicators stopped airing his show, after he made those terrible comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination? All Kimmel did was send out the Bat Signal, and his leftist friends in Hollywood cried censorship. Kimmel gave a half-baked fauxpology, then went right back to business as usual: being a terrible comedian, but a great left-wing activist.
Here’s how Kimmel doubled down on his stupidity.
“I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security was a plumber,” he said, “I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber.” He further elucidated by adding, “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, OK? We all have our areas of expertise.”
Rowe makes a great point on this: Being offended is always a choice, and from my perspective, we live in an age where people think having thin skin is a badge of honor. Rowe is Gen X like me, so insults like this roll off our backs. But Rowe does make the point about what he did find offensive about Kimmel’s ignorant opinion.
But I am a tad butt hurt by the suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new, and that competence is somehow limited to one vocation. Obviously, expertise and skill are important. If I need a new kidney, I’d prefer a doctor do the surgery, not a late-night talk show host. But if the doctor in question used to host a talk show, why would I hold that against him?
Exactly. Dr. Ben Carson was a brilliant brain surgeon, but he chose to stop doing that and enter the political space, running for president in 2016, becoming Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the first Trump administration, and now serving as a special advisor in this second Trump administration. So, is Dr. Carson any less competent at any of these professions because of his choice to aspire to be something different?
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) won her seat in 2018 after working in sales and retail fashion, and then founding her own marketing and event management company that she successfully ran for over 30 years. Blackburn is the first woman to have been elected as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. That’s a huge aspiration, and she achieved it. After winning re-election in 2024, Blackburn decided she aspired to become Tennessee’s governor, and if the winds hold, she may just achieve this. So, does Kimmel wish to insult her for moving ably from being a successful businesswoman to U.S. Senator, and now potentially a governor?
He really needs to go sit down.
Rowe brought his point home with the 2016 presidential debate, when then-Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio responded to a debate question by saying that “America needed to get shop class back into high schools,” and “What our country needs are more welders and fewer philosophers.”
Rowe continued,
I don’t think the current shortage of welders has anything to do with an overabundance of philosophers. In fact, I think it’s a mistake to promote one vocation at the expense of the other. What we really need in this country, are more welders who can talk intelligently about Aristotle, and more philosophers who can run an even bead. More Generals, in other words, who can fix their own toilets, and more plumbers who can hold a powerful government job.
Amen to that. Then Rowe laid out Mullin’s trajectory, something that Democrats and the Left always omit when complaining about his ascension.
This is what Mullin did. He was a private citizen who mastered an essential skill and then turned that skill into a multi-million-dollar company that employed a lot of people and served a lot of customers. That gave him the freedom to do other things with his life, including a career in public service which got him into Congress, where he’s spent the last eleven years doing whatever Congressmen do. Now, he has a very consequential position in the Cabinet of the current administration.
Boom. If anything, Mullin is the embodiment of someone who not only aspires to become more, but also to be a person of agility and flexibility. As the adage goes, “Blessed are the flexible, because they’ll never be broken.” If Kimmel did finally get fired from his gig, he probably wouldn’t know how to pivot to anything new or different. He’s a small man, and small people only see their little elitist box.
Rowe brings it home beautifully. It’s not about a profession or competence in that profession: It’s about the American Dream, a dream that you can continue to pursue until you draw your last breath.
Is that not the embodiment of the American Dream? I get that Jimmy Kimmel might have a problem with Mullin’s politics, but what possible objection could he have about the trajectory of his career, or his desire to do more than one thing with his life?
The only sensible thing to do in the wake of a moment this tone deaf, is remind America that the skills gap is wide, and getting wider. The shortage of skilled tradespeople is now headline news and closing it is nothing less than a matter of national security. This year, my foundation has set aside $10 million dollars to help train the next generation of plumbers, and lots of other essential workers. I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of AI-proof, six figure jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, waiting to be filled. The money is currently available to anyone who wants to master a useful skill at https://mikeroweworks.org. Apply today.
As for those of you genuinely offended by Kimmel’s comments, consider expressing your disappointment with a modest donation to mikeroweWORKS. Our work ethic scholarship is making a real difference, and your money will be well spent, I promise. The donate button is big and red and hard to miss, at https://mikeroweworks.org
Excellent way to promote the power of aspiration, and how anyone who pursues their dream can always benefit from a little help.
That is what I love about being an American and pursuing my American Dream. My maternal grandmother and grandfather were sharecroppers who decided they wanted to aspire to a better life. Those aspirations took them out of the fields into working the “better” jobs at that time for Southern Blacks: a maid and a bellman. They moved from Tyronza, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, and then to Chicago, Illinois, joining that Great Migration from South to North that many took during that time because they aspired to something more. I am a product of that aspirational push, and I am always dreaming bigger and reaching higher. While the golden handcuffs of being a software and document specialist in law firms might be fine for most people, I knew from a young age I wanted to be a writer, and through fits, starts, and many detours, that is what I am doing today.
Always aspiring to go higher is what the American Dream is all about. People like Mike Rowe, DHS Secretary Mullin, and I get it. Poor souls like Jimmy Kimmel never will.
By Jennifer Oliver O’Connell | 7:24 PM on March 29, 2026
Jennifer Oliver O’Connell (As the Girl Turns) is a contributor at Redstate and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics, Pop Culture, and the American story, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer’s world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on X and Facebook.
Story leads: info@asthegirlturns.com.
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