Joe Rogan’s still settling into his new Texas digs after welcoming former MTV VJ Adam Curry as his first guest in the new studio. And things are getting political, although that’s not due to any recent episode from Rogan, but rather, the popular podcaster gaining multiple instances of facetime on the Twitter account of the U.S. president. Yes, that’s still weird in 2020, but to back up slightly, Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders earlier this year before it became clear that Sanders wasn’t in the 2020 cards. He then admitted that he’d “rather vote for Trump over Biden,” which isn’t a resounding endorsement. It seems to be more based upon Rogan’s distaste for Joe Biden, but Trump will take it.
For sure, Trump wants Rogan’s largely male, blue-collar audience on his side, rather than risk them wavering due to what seems to be a lukewarm endorsement, at best. First, Trump (for no apparent reason) retweeted an MMA account that had posted a clip from Rogan’s episode with Mike Tyson.
Later (and without any added commentary), Trump posted a clip from a fall 2019 Joe Rogan Experience episode, in which the host (while speaking to author and investigative reporter Matt Taibbi) used less than flattering words to describe the former VP. “Biden, to me, is like having a flashlight with a dying battery and going for a long hike in the woods,” Rogan told Taibbi, who appeared to be amused. “It is not going to work out. It’s not going to make it.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2020
Of course, Trump does not acknowledge (and maybe he doesn’t even realize or care) that Rogan has heaped criticism upon Trump during his presidential term. Here’s a clip of Rogan discussing Trump’s habitual lying.
And in April 2020, Rogan criticized Trump fans while telling Thiel Capital’s Eric Weinstein that Trump’s discourse “puts things into some very digestible form that morons love.” He added, “I’m not saying that all people who are Trump supporters are morons, but there’s a lot of people who are morons that like him because he’s talking in this frequency.”
In short, Rogan would sure love it if Bernie Sanders had made a comeback, but he’s conceded that he dislikes Trump less than he dislikes Biden. That appears to be good enough for Trump to make a bid for millions of Joe Rogan Experience listeners who might be on the line. You can watch the JRE Eric Weinstein episode below.