Jimmy Kimmel’s 'Plumber' Joke Against DHS Sec. Sparks Backlash

0:00Welcome to the Three Martini lunch. Grab a stool next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America and Jim Garrity of National Review. Three Martinis coming up. So glad you're with us for the Thursday edition of the Three Martini lunch and Jim we start off with a double-fisted Martini when it comes to the fight over funding, Homeland Security, one on the funding fight itself, and one as it relates to the new Secretary for Homeland Security, former Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullet. Let's take them one at a time. Last night Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Federman was on Hannity with Sean Hannity. Federman is only, I think he's the only Democrat right now, voting to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats continue to filibuster the overall bill. We've seen the TSA lines and so forth, but last night Sean Hannity asked him to expand on this. And one of the fun things about Federman is is that even though he doesn't agree with us most of the time, when he does disagree with his party, he not only disagrees, he blows up their narratives.

1:02Listen, I mean, why do they want this shut down? I truly don't know who's who's on first. I mean, I'll with a lot of this. It's just a fundamental simple thing, just to acknowledge that this is gone. It should have never happened, but it's gone way too long. We've all witnessed the kinds of chaos in our nation. Do the right thing. Put the country ahead of the party. Now there's a huge rally. You know, that another no-kings kinds of protests. So now it's it's also probably motivating some people in my party that nothing might be afraid to reopen now because they are demanding these kinds of extremes, you know, what they think is a solution that there was ever going to be a solution. Never had any leverage to force any kinds of changes than ice or over-control funding because of the big beautiful bill. Jim, we had no leverage and they're doing this because they're scared of being called out at a no-kings rally or at the ballot box in a primary. Yeah, I mean, one of the consequences of our intense era of polarization is that it makes it

2:08impossible for somebody to compromise because that scene is selling out. That scene as, you know, not being a fighter or something like that. My understanding is that this just this morning every Democrat in the state of Pennsylvania is preparing a primary challenge against Federman. I exaggerate slightly, but they are basically lining up like a TSA line. That's how long the line and it just it's very interesting because as you pointed out, you look at Federman's record. He's probably voting the Democratic position 85, 90, some percent of the time. He's got some very high-profile divisions with the rest of his party. Sometimes on this, sometimes on Israel. You and I like to point out how much he enjoyed pointing out the corruption of Bob Menendez when most other Democrats wanted to overt their eye. But, you know, and he's also said that wanting to enforce immigration law and wanting a secure border is not xenophobia. That doesn't mean he's on board with everything ice is doing. That doesn't mean he's on board with a lot of things that Trump administration is doing, but he does vote to confirm Mark Wayne Mullin and he does think that this is a silly way to try to get leverage over ice policies. When ice

3:12is already getting funded and everybody you're getting you're hurting through this policy has nothing to do with the decisions that are being made at ICE. So good for you, John Federman. I think probably endorsements from us will not help you in that Democrat primary, but but isn't this fascinating to see where we are looking back at the Federman Oz debate and all of this stuff where like there was a time when Democrats absolutely insisted the worst possible thing could be that John Federman would not be in the Senate. No, that's exactly right. And I hope the line is really long. I hope there's a lot of people who try to challenge him and that'll frighten them. By that field, yes, the vote. I mean, I hope the Republican wins the seat, but if there's got to be a Democrat holding that seat compared to what's probably going to challenge him, Federman would be the guy. Dr. Oz, probably doing a better job than we expected over at Medicare and Medicaid services. So maybe they maybe they do have the right jobs. I don't know, but anyway, the second part of this is Mark Wayne Mullin just confirmed earlier this week, 5445. And now because he has the name Mark Wayne and because of his professional background before

4:12coming to Congress, Jimmy Kimmel has decided to sneer about this in terms of who our new secretaries. Homeland Security, Mark Wayne, Chuck Mike, Bruce Dave Mullin, maybe Mullin's better. He is the now former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Mark Wayne Mullin was a low level MMA fighter and a plumber. That's right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. I worked for Super Mario. Why not, Mark Wayne? But honestly, I mean, it's going to keep you unqualified people to run the department. Why not have more fun with, I mean, next time instead of Mark Wayne, how about little Wayne for Homeland Security? These things can get a concert out of it, right? Jim, it's just so mystifying how the left lost

5:14the working class over the last few elections cycles here. And by the way, calling him a plumber is definitely selling him short. He took over his family plumbing business in 1997 when it had six employees. By July 2011, it had become Oklahoma's largest plumbing company and eventually opened eight different businesses in a variety of different services. Plus, you know, he was in Congress since 2013. So he worked up some experience in a lot of different areas, 13 years later to take this job. So Jimmy Kimmel, I'm sure the, the, the left elites are enjoying that joke, but I don't think middle America is liking it at all. Greg, Jimmy Kimmel is a garbage human being. We saw this in his, the way he reacted during the Ted Cruz charity basketball game in which let's let the record show Ted Cruz beat him better athlete. A lot of people funny look like Duke, but with some other kid, the kid from Duke from a few years ago. But, you know, and it was all raising money for charity. Usually when you participate in this, you try to smile and obviously, you know, people were tuning in because Kimmel and Cruz said, you know, Kimmel had been making fun of Cruz for a

6:17long time. There was a strange bitterness the entire time. It was very clear that Kimmel was begrudging. I don't know if he expected he was going to beat Ted Cruz or what it was. Let it also point out that when Brendan Carr, the chair of the FCC, started threatening Kimmel, who came to his defense, Ted Cruz, because Ted Cruz is a principled human being who cares about what's right and wrong and isn't always willing to follow his party or whoever's, you know, the administration if he thinks that they're wrong. We saw this in the way Jimmy Kimmel handled the Charlie Kirk assassination and his claim that the Trump, you know, I went back and I checked the exact wording of it and he says, look, we hit some new lows over the weekend when the Maga gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. Now, as we all know, this was not one of the Maga types who killed him was somebody who was very active in trans political agenda and things like that. And you had to pull teeth to get Kimmel to admit that he had done anything wrong in that one. And now we have this third one. Now, I was going to ask how many plumbers watch Jimmy Kimmel's program, but the short answer is probably not that many, just because not many people watch Jimmy Kimmel's

7:19program. But the other thing is is that I was recognizing, you know, Jimmy Kimmel much like many other late night shows, Stephen Colbert, et cetera, has basically become group therapy for progressive left. So it's not a, maybe there aren't that many plumbers that are watching and that would be offended by the insinuation that plumbers certainly could never have anything useful to contribute to, you know, government there. They're lucky. We let them vote, you know, these plumbers and type. But also Greg, how many times have we heard in pointing out that Alexander Ocasio-Cortez used to be a bartender? Right. Now, yeah, I noticed like when Tom Delay used to be an exterminator, everybody was soft. That was Ipsophacto evidence. Christina Montpour, I remember we'd like to bring this up as evidence that he had no proper training, no proper qualifications to weigh in on foreign policy. I don't see the same argument often made from our friends on the left about AOC. And I also would point out that, no, no, we see that's a sign that she's in touch with the working class. That's tough. Bill Friss, the former Tennessee Center, he was a doctor. He was a surgeon. He like held people's pancreas in their hand or their be-

8:23like Mola Ram, he could pull out your heart and show it to you, beating, you know, and then put it back in. That's a very important part of that. I don't remember a ton of credit going to Bill Friss for being a doctor. We've got Ron Paul, Rand Paul. Like, do you ever see, I was like, well, you know, this this Republican lawmaker does have a career in this, you know, field. Therefore, he is a more trusted authority. I'd never see that. But now I'll have a son book if you're a plumber. Well, then it's Ipsophacto Valerius and I just want to observe Tajimi Kimmel, formerly of the man's show, which was well known as an extraordinarily classy, high-minded intellectual program really on par with William F. Buckley's firing line. And I say, by the way, I love Adam Corolla. God bless him. But I'm sort of like for Jimmy Kimmel to look down his nose at someone as not being serious enough. I don't think, well, if Jimmy Kimmel is, I think listeners can tell that now. Yeah, I'm kidding, no kidding. First of all, late night's been dead for a while. I was looking at the ratings a few weeks back and I think it was around the Tallarico controversy with Stephen Colbert. And average night, they're between one and two million,

9:24good night, maybe two million. Average Johnny Carson. And yes, it's more fragmented audience now. 11 million. 11 million. People want to be in a bigger country before they go to bed. Like, there's a higher population. There's more people watching TV. So you really should, like, yeah, there's more cable channels, YouTube, people watching different stuff. But yeah, it's a very niche audience. And I suspect that niche audience does not include many plumbers. No. And they're losing a gut failed who's cable, not project. So on many different nights. Lastly, Tom Delay had a pretty good nickname, the hammer, the exterminator. He should just should have gone with that. That would have a great nickname up on Capitol Hill. But all right, this episode is brought to you by Pocket Hose, the world's number one expandable hose. And Jim is warm in the DC area today, we're at peak cherry blossoms. It's time to roll up the sleeves and get to work and getting at lawn ready, getting the flower bed ready. And you want a hose that's not going to frustrate you. It's going to be tough enough on your back and your knees, maybe to get some of that stuff looking good with the mulch and everything. So have a hose that works with

10:24you, not against you. And that's the Pocket Hose. This is a great tool for gardeners, which I suspect is another profession that Jimmy Kimmel looks down his nose at. Jimmy Kimmel probably thinks that if you've garden, you shouldn't vote either. You're completely unqualified to have any position in government. But no, look, whether you just want to water your lawn or you just have a need to get water from one place to another, this is the pocket hose you're going to want to use. As I've mentioned, I have the world's worst one. It's nowhere near like the Pocket Hose, which can shrink itself down and coil back up like magic, no winding, no hassle. You're going to want to see this for yourself. You might want some of the gardeners to vote the illegal ones anyway. For a limited time, my listeners, three martini lunch can get a free pocket pivot and their 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose. Just text martini to 6400. That's text martini to 6400 for your two free gifts with purchase text martini to 6400 message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. All right, Jim, onto our second martini now and

11:28this is kind of an evolving story. But the Wall Street Journal reporting earlier this week that Iran has certain demands for potential negotiations. This is what it says. According to the Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, the IRGC is said to be demanding first that Washington close all US bases in the Persian Gulf. Pay compensation for attacks on Iran, lift all sanctions and guarantee non-aggression in the future. It also reportedly insists on retaining Iran's missile program and seeks the right to charge commercial vessels for passage through the straits of Hormuz. Similar to how Egypt charges for transit through the Suez Canal, additionally Iran is said to demand that Israel halted strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. So, Jim, I was the younger brother, the youngest of three and my middle brother and I used to tangle. I used to drive him crazy and he used to pound on me. I wasn't exactly in a position while I was being pounded on to make demands about how this was going to end. He usually dictated the terms. So I'm pretty

12:31sure that Donald Trump's not going to pay much attention to this. My understanding Greg is that the US State Department responded to that message with the seven page facts. The first page was just giant letter F. I think you can see where the next six letters, six pages were going. We shouldn't be surprised. This is, you know, the Iranian... Look, Iran calls us not merely a bad country, not merely an adversary. We are the great Satan. Now, I'm sure a lot of Americans saying, dang right, we're great. But they don't call us like, you know, the frustrating country. So everything has to be done to the absolute. These are maximalist demands. As you point out, they're really not in any position to make those demands. By the way, interesting that we've heard, I've, we've heard this argument about President Trump lots of times that he often begins negotiations with a maximalist demand way more than he actually wants expects to get or really needs to get. And he comes down eventually and he gets walks away. I suppose this is conceivable or this could be face saving. They need to convince their own public that they are winning the war. They need to convince their own public. Never mind like everything's exploding all around them.

13:34And the new Iatola hasn't been seen. The old Iatola is in the ground. They don't have a navy. They don't have an Air Force. Things are blowing up left and right. And half the people, you know, everybody who's surviving probably was a source for the Israelis. But Leo, you put all that together. Like, there's a report in the Wall Street Journal today that the President thinks we are on on schedule with the war. Remember, they'd said about five weeks, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less. He announced that the summit was Xi Jinping of China. He expects to go forward on mid-May. They expect the military operations against Iran to be done by then. That's something encouraging. But it also is a record that if Iran is willing to make concessions, they're hiding it pretty well. This message would indicate we're nowhere near a negotiated solution to the war. But then again, this is probably just for propaganda purposes and door to convince anyone who's willing to be convinced that they're actually doing just fine and that they're winning the war. The explosions happening all around would indicate otherwise. Yeah, I'm sure there's some Democrats in media who think these are reasonable demands because

14:34they keep trying to convince everyone that we're losing this war. Jim, we also found out that apparently an Israeli air strike killed the guy who ordered the closure or at least the restrictions on the Straits of Hormuz. And there's also reports we may have gotten no confirmation yet, the head of the IRGC. Remember Iraq, we had the deck of cards? I think we'd be onto at least our second, maybe our third deck by now. Yeah, my understanding, if you call the Pentagon, the whole music is Queens, another one bites the dust. There's a more serious question to this, which is that according to independent reporting, the US, so Trump said the negotiations are going well. That's why he doesn't going to hit the power plants. The Iranians said we're not negotiating. We didn't know what you're talking about. Independent reporting says that yes, there are back channel communications going through the Egyptians in certain other countries. So it's not direct talks, but basically messages are being passed back and forth. But interesting question is, who are we negotiating with? Is this person in the IRGC? Is it a representative of the new

15:37Ayatollah? Who, if that photo that's floating around in social media, is accurate? Looks like the mummy. Credit where the Iranians, you know, if they don't, which we don't do in this podcast very often, but they do have a leg to stand on. The bad news is it's just one, at least in the case of the Ayatollah. Like there, who, you know, is it the more traditional Iranian military? My understanding is that the IRGC, he kind of is integrated in both the regular military and the rest of society, kind of like the SS and Nazi Germany. So who are we negotiating with? And whoever we're negotiating with, do they actually have the power and the authority to keep any promises that they make? Behind the scenes, some things must be going on in a fascinating way. Also, there's an interesting question of each time we tell things through the Egyptians or some other country. I wonder if things are going to get lost in translation or, you know, how accurately are the wording of these messages going to be passed through? Are they being done written? Are they being done electronically? Some day, the full story of this war and these negotiations will be told. And I think we'll be a fascinating story. Yeah, they're not based in reality.

16:38So we'll see how much pain it takes for them to see reality. But thanks to HomeServe for sponsoring this episode. A lot of pipes bursting in Iran, I'm sure, with all these air strikes and whether it's, you know, water lines, sewer lines from your house to the street or major systems inside your house could be plumbing. Might want to hire Mark Wayne Mullins business to fix that. But, you know, whether it's that, HVAC, all sorts of different things could go wrong. And if it's not covered by homeowners insurance, it could cost you a bundle unless you have HomeServe. Yeah, Mark Wayne Mullins probably going to be busy for the next couple of years, running DHS and, you know, it does make sense by the way that he'd be in charge of the home land security, the department he'd be in charge of. Look, regular homeowners insurance, usually doesn't cover a lot of the day-to-day wear and tear. Your plumbing failures, your HVAC breakdowns, your electrical issues, and you're often going to be on your own for those. They can get expensive. That's where HomeServe comes in. It's like a subscription for your home, for as little as $4.99 a month, they will have your back. Help protect your home systems and your wallet with HomeServe against covered repairs.

17:41Plans start at just $4.99 a month. Go to HomeServe.com to find the plan that's right for you. That's HomeServe.com. Not available everywhere. Most plans range between $4.99 to $11.99 a month. Your first year. Terms apply on covered repairs. All right, Jim, we've talked about Florida, Congresswoman Sheila Sherfillis, McCormick, a couple of times. That's because she's been indicted. She has been charged by the Justice Department of stealing more than $5 million in disaster relief funds to finance her first congressional run in 2021 and also purchase some luxury items, including a large diamond ring. She's also alleged to have participated in a straw donor scheme and conspired to file a false federal tax return. It sounds like a wonderful human being. Well, not only is she facing the criminal charges, the House Ethics Committee, unsurprisingly, has taken an interest in this. And now, the ethics trial is about to begin that could result in her expulsion

18:42from the House of Representatives. Now, she is mad about this process because she says that the criminal proceedings need to conclude before the House can take it up because she really can't talk about stuff. The criminal proceedings are over. And so, Jim, in a statement to Fox News, she says she's, quote, deeply disappointed that the committee chose to proceed with a trial. And she alleges that's a violation of a due process, right? And I assume the ethics committee is saying, you're disappointed in us. George Santos could not be reached for comment. He was expelled from Congress before he was sentenced to 87 months, President Trump later pardoned him. Look, it's the House Ethics Committee, not the House Convictive Crimes Committee. That's a fairly high bar to, you know, and it exists because there is a, you know, what I thought was a near-universal belief that you can do things that are technically legal, but that are not ethical. And that's what they owe. So let's say hypothetically, you're a, you know, Congressman from Texas, say, and you

19:48pressure one of your staffers into having an extra marital affair with you. And that staffer eventually kills themselves, setting themselves on fire. I think we can say that the affair itself is not breaking any law that I'm aware of, but it probably is highly unethical behavior. And if you do something like that, that district can find somebody better to be represented by that. So my attitude is, it's the House. These are House rules. This is not a matter of law, and they can't expel anybody they want. Theoretically for any reason, but I think, you know, obviously the reason is to find some sort of egregious ethical misbehavior. Certainly looks like we've got this. Now, I will recognize that there's a complication. Let's say that they, the House Ethics Committee punishes her in some way. And then she's later found, you know, not guilty of the charges. Okay, I could say I'd be a complicated scenario, but come on. She did it. She's innocent the way OJ was innocent, right? I mean, we kind, you know, so it's one of those things

20:52where also she will have the opportunity to make her defense to the House Ethics Committee. If there is exculpatory evidence, if there is evidence that points to her not doing this, she could present this. And the House Ethics Committee say, oh, we're sorry, you have been falsely accused. We will not take any action against you. She's not doing that. She's saying you don't have the, you're not allowed to hold me culpable for any of my actions for violating the House rules or ethical behavior until I'm convicted of a crime. Why do they have to wait around? What is the, you know, what, what is the issue here? Because by the time you're convicted of a crime, it's kind of late for the House Ethics Committee to step in. Well, now, now we can get you. Now this, this is unacceptable. Also, like, they're taking her away in handcuffs in jail. Like, that's, you know, that seemed kind of, I think the Santos precedent. Like, a lot of people are very worried about that. I don't mind having, in addition to don't break the law, don't behave unethically. That doesn't seem like a really unfair expectation of members of Congress. Yeah. That's on Hawkeye and Jeffries too. I mean, because usually when

21:56somebody gets in a whole heap of trouble, the leader is like, you need to go now. You need to resign. I mean, just be gone. And he's not doing that. They're staying behind her and, you know, no censures on people. And they always, they always rally behind the team. I guess that's a thing, like, you know, what are you gained by protecting the slime balls on your team? Like, because the thing is is that you're still stuck with the slime ball who, who hurts the party's image and hurts everybody out. Like, is, does she throw really great parties? Like, what is the upside of keeping her in Congress? You know, if she does, that's what it is. It's the most majority. We don't want her out. And then we'd have a vacancy. I don't know. It's just, yeah. How, how about we get, rid of all the slime balls? How does that sound? That sounds pretty good to me. And you'd think by keeping them, it'd be harder to keep the seat. But anyway, they've got their own logic. All right. In a moment, the chaser. When you really need care, you need 24-7 access to a care team, not a maze of paperwork from a third party. Every day, America's hospitals and health systems show up for you. Navigating healthcare can fuel overwhelming, but you can count on real doctors,

22:59real nurses, real people, providing quality around the clock care when you need it most. They're in your corner. In communities across America, your neighbors, your lifelines, right beside you, holding your hand and helping find answers. That's what putting patients first actually means. Learn more at strengthinhealthcare.org. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Health Care. All right, Jim. Some people are describing this as a landmark ruling. I think we would call this common sense. The Associated Press reporting transgender women athletes, meaning men, are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday, which aligns with President Donald Trump's executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Quote, eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports as now limited to biological females. The International Olympic Committee says that will be determined by a mandatory gene test

23:59conducted once in an athlete's career. So some are saying, oh, transgender athletes are banned. No, no, no, no, you just have to compete in the right category. I'm now thinking conducted once in an athlete's career. So it's kind of like, you can't say, well, it's changed now. I don't know. Look, the International Olympic Committee, arguably one of the most deeply corrupt institutions on earth, somehow has made the right decision. And I think it's a fascinating demonstration. Was the Algeria, was the country of the boxer from last time, that the sea change in cultural thinking on this, that this would not have happened four years ago. Whether you want to tribute this to Trump's election, whether you want to tribute this to, let's note, National's populist parties have been winning in a whole bunch of different countries. Whether you want to argue that the trans athlete agenda has, or advocates have gone so far that they have alienated people who might have once been more supportive. If you want

25:01to say, this is the end of cancel the closure, but everyone is, this is a fascinating indicator of which the direction things are going in. And look, you know, we have no idea how things are going to go in the midterms as a good chance Republicans are going to feel set back. But for now, there is a sense in this country that things are shifting to the right things went far too far to the left on that, particularly on this issue. And the IOC is heating that. I wonder if this is reflection of the fact that the next ones are in LA, right? In two years. So either way, you know, don't blink kids. Good job, IOC. Yeah, I'm not going to say that too often, but you're right. I think the images of that boxer pummeling women who are much smaller was an image that did not reflect well on the IOC. And I think that was a big part of why they ended up with this decision in addition to the fact that it's obviously the right decision. So Jim, tomorrow is Friday. Looking forward to it. See you then. Can't wait, Greg. See you tomorrow. Jim Garrett, a national review. I'm Greg Carumbus of Radio America. Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be sure to subscribe to the three martini lunch. If you don't already tell your

26:03friends about us as well. Thanks also for your five star ratings and your kind reviews. Please keep those coming. They are a huge help to us. Get us on your home devices. All you have to say is play three martini lunch podcast. Follow us both on X. He's at Jim Garrett. I'm at Greg Carumbus and follow three martini lunch on Facebook and Instagram. Have a great Thursday and join us again Friday for the next three martini lunch. Every day, excessive delays and denials from big ensures keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big ensures put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner, navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Health Care. Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing. Victory Lane? Yeah, it's even better with Chamba by my side. Race to ChambaCasino.com. Let's Chamba. No purchase necessary. VTW Group, voidware prohibited by

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