Kerby Anderson

A Jimmy Kimmel joke led to a Mike Rowe commentary. The joke was about Markwayne Mullin, the former Senator from Oklahoma who is the new Secretary of Homeland Security. Kimmel joked, “We have a plumber now protecting us from terrorism.”

It was a funny joke, even though inaccurate since Mullin ran his father’s plumbing business for a time before heading to Congress (first as a representative and then as a senator). Nevertheless, Kimmel doubled down on the joke saying, “I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber.” He added, “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.”

Mike Rowe said he was a bit “hurt by the suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new, and that competence is somehow limited to one vocation.” He went on to recall when Senator Marco Rubio, during the presidential debates talked about the need to bring shop class back into high schools. He concluded by saying, “What our country needs are more welders and fewer philosophers.”

Mike Rowe thinks “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.” He pointed back to Mullin “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.”

Jimmy Kimmel was making fun of the former senator because he doesn’t like his politics, but he ended up criticizing plumbers. We have a skills gap, and I appreciate Mike Rowe for reminding us of the value of skilled tradespeople.