TSA officers haven't received a full paycheck since February – selling their blood, watching nearly 500 colleagues quit, keeping your airports running on empty.
Chris Murphy left Washington anyway.
He flew nearly 3,000 miles to Torrance, California, grinned for a photo with Jimmy Kimmel, and posted it to X like he'd done something brave.
Chris Murphy Left the DHS Shutdown Behind to Pose for Photos in California
Murphy is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee – the exact man whose party has blocked every deal to pay the people keeping your airports safe.
TSA officers have worked nearly 90 days without full paychecks because Senate Democrats refuse to fund DHS unless Republicans gut ICE enforcement.
The result: four-and-a-half-hour security lines stretching through airport parking lots during spring break.
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Officers selling plasma to cover rent.
Some relying on passengers to donate grocery store gift cards just to get through the week.
Nearly $1 billion in payroll has gone unpaid – and TSA leadership told Congress the situation is "dire," warning that the agency won't be able to staff up in time for the FIFA World Cup this summer even if the shutdown ends tomorrow.
Murphy's response was to fly to California and hold a sign.
Jimmy Kimmel Brought His Children to the No Kings Rally While Mocking the New DHS Secretary
Kimmel showed up at the Torrance rally with his children in tow – the kids holding anti-Trump signs, his father wearing a Barack Obama hat, his own sign reading "Enough Already."
He captioned his Instagram post "Great turnout at #NoKings."
The comments lit up immediately: "Deport Jimmy Kimmel." "Trump is not your king, he's your daddy." "Poor kids."
That last one landed – because those kids didn't choose this.
They didn't choose a father who turned a Disney-funded comedy show into a Democrat Party newsletter.
They didn't choose front-row placement at MoveOn-organized rallies where their faces get posted to millions of followers.
But Kimmel made the choice for them – right after spending his show last week mocking DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin for once working as a plumber.
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A decorated former congressman, successful small business owner, and now the man charged with running the department his party left unfunded for three months – and Kimmel's problem is that he used to work with his hands.
The Man Who Covered for Biden at His LA Fundraiser Is Now Leading Anti-Trump Protests
This is the same Jimmy Kimmel who emceed Joe Biden's 2024 Los Angeles fundraiser – and then went on television to tell his audience that the clip of Biden being escorted offstage by Barack Obama was nothing.
"He didn't freeze," Kimmel told viewers. "He was just listening to people in the front row."
He spent three years shielding a man clearly unfit to be president, then headlined a $25,000-a-plate Democrat fundraiser for the DCCC earlier this year – tickets topping out at $310,100.
That's the party "of the people" raising money at price points that exclude virtually every working American.
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The same working Americans whose TSA colleagues are now selling plasma while Murphy poses for Instagram.
Kimmel told his audience last October that "the American Revolution was a 'No Kings' rally."
What he didn't mention: these rallies are organized by MoveOn, Indivisible, and the 50501 Movement – the same progressive machine that's been working to take down Trump since inauguration day.
His sign said "Enough Already."
For once, the sentiment is right.
It's just aimed at the wrong people.
Sources:
- Jerome Hudson, "Jimmy Kimmel Mocked After Bringing His Family to 'No Kings' Rally: 'Deport Jimmy Kimmel,'" Breitbart News, March 29, 2026.
- "Oversight Hearing – DHS Shutdown Impacts," Transportation Security Administration, March 25, 2026.
- "Jimmy Kimmel's Late-Night Evolution from Apolitical Funnyman to Dem Activist," Fox News, September 19, 2025.
- "ICE Deployed to Some U.S. Airports as Long Security Lines Persist During Partial Shutdown," CNBC, March 23, 2026.