Kerfuffle Over Kimmel's Barb Against 'Plumber' Emerges as Warning Against Mocking Voters
The column says Kimmel’s remarks about Mullin’s former plumbing work risk insulting voters who value humble beginnings.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYThe New York Sun is an identifiable publisher, and the piece names its author, but this is an opinion column rather than original reported coverage. Its assertions and historical examples are not supported with links or documentation in the text.
- Source type — Opinion content warrants a lower baseline than independently reported news.
- Transparency — The publisher and author are identified.
- Author attribution — A named author is credited.
- Editorial standards — The column presents an argument and offers limited documentary support for its claims.
The column is coherent and gives examples to develop its argument, while quoting Kimmel’s remarks. It is primarily a single-perspective commentary, with limited sourcing or engagement with counterarguments.
HOW WE SCORE ↗This is a commentary piece that advances one central argument. It quotes Kimmel’s explanation of his remarks but does not develop a sustained case in support of his view or present other perspectives.
- Counterarguments presented — Kimmel’s stated defense is quoted, but the column does not explore it at length.
- Opinion vs reporting — The piece is explicitly an opinion column and argues for a particular interpretation.
- Source diversity — The argument is built chiefly from Kimmel’s remarks and the author’s historical examples.
- Loaded language — The language is pointed in its criticism of Kimmel’s remarks, but is not uniformly inflammatory.
The column is sympathetic to Mullin and other public figures with working-class backgrounds, and critical of Kimmel’s remarks. Its framing has a modestly conservative-populist tilt but does not make a sustained partisan argument.
- Framing — The article presents Kimmel’s comments as a warning about alienating voters who value ordinary work.
- Language tone — The column criticizes Kimmel’s treatment of plumbers and bartenders while defending the dignity of those occupations.
- Source selection — The piece relies mainly on Kimmel’s quoted remarks and the author’s own interpretation.
The column argues that Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks belittling Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s plumbing background risk alienating voters who value humble origins. It also compares the episode with Kimmel’s reference to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former work as a bartender.
The column says Kimmel softened but repeated his criticism of Mullin, questioning whether a former plumber had the résumé for Homeland Security. It notes that Mullin also served in the House and Senate, and argues that Americans may resent ridicule of honest work more than criticism of officials’ qualifications.
The author connects the remarks to Kimmel’s reference to Ocasio-Cortez’s bartending background and to former Representative Joseph Crowley’s earlier dismissal of her as a political threat. The column uses examples of leaders with modest beginnings to argue that people from ordinary occupations can serve in high office.
Community verdict
VOTING CLOSED
No good or bad look here
This story reports what happened without casting Mullin in a good or bad light, so readers don’t rate it and it doesn’t count toward Mullin’s record.
People in this story
SWIPE →
President referenced in Kimmel’s description of his supporters
Former Homeland Security secretary mentioned as Mullin’s predecessor
Former Homeland Security secretary mentioned as Mullin’s predecessor
Former representative who dismissed Ocasio-Cortez as a political threat
Representative whose former bartending work is referenced in comparison
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