Popular podcaster Joe Rogan has officially endorsed Donald Trump for president — not that it comes as much of a surprise.
Rogan announced his backing of Trump, coming a day before Election Day on Nov. 5, in posting an impromptu episode of podcast with Elon Musk, the mega-billionaire and ardent Trump supporter.
On the podcast, Musk “makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way,” Rogan said in a post on X, which is owned by Musk. “For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump.”
In a June 2021 episode of his show, Rogan had expressed alarm about Trump in the wake of the former president’s supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to disrupt the certification of President Biden’s election. “One of the reasons why I think [Jan. 6] is important is because it highlights the reasons why a guy like Donald Trump is so fucking dangerous,” Rogan said at the time. “Because a guy can incite a bunch of morons to do something really fucking stupid.”
In the post on X, Rogan called the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX “The great and powerful @elonmusk” and wrote, “If it wasn’t for him we’d be fucked.” Musk donated about $75 million to America PAC, the pro-Trump group he helped form this summer.
”Thank you for your endorsement, Joe Rogan — A great honor!” Trump wrote on X. In 2020, Rogan had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president.
Trump appeared on the Oct. 25 episode of Rogan’s podcast, and his running mate JD Vance recorded an episode with the comedian/podcaster that was released Oct. 31. Rogan had said the campaign of Democratic VP Kamala Harris offered to make her available for an interview, but only for one hour and Rogan would have had to travel to her instead of recording it at Rogan’s Austin, Texas, studio.
In August, Rogan was targeted by a backlash among Trump supporters over Rogan’s comments praising Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rogan had said about RFK Jr. that “He’s the only one that makes sense to me” — prompting Trump to lash out, writing in a post on Truth Social, “It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring???” Rogan subsequently said he was not endorsing RFK Jr. for president. Rogan added in a post on X, “I also think Trump raising his fist and saying ‘fight!’ after getting shot is one of the most American fucking things of all time.”
On Monday’s podcast, Musk told Rogan that if “the Dems win this election, they will legalize enough illegals to turn the swing states, and everywhere will be like California… Vote like your future. depends on it, because it does. This is the last chance.”
Musk also noted that women are “outpacing” men in early voting “by a substantial margin.”
“Men need to get out tomorrow and vote,” Musk said. “You should be picking up all your friends and getting to the polls.”
Musk opined that electing Trump, who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results, was crucial to preserving democracy in America. “I view this election as a fork in the road of destiny,” he told Rogan. “The reason I have been politically active this election is because if we don’t elect Trump we will lose democracy in this country and the two-party system.”
Musk, wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt, said Democrats “are doing all the things that they’re accusing Trump of doing. The sheer number of hoaxes that the Democrat party is pushing, over and over again, is insane… You can’t claim to be good if you’re pushing hoaxes that have been debunked thoroughly. When even Snopes says it’s a hoax, and you still push it, like the ‘fine people’ hoax, what the flying fuck?”
Musk was referring to Trump’s remarks in August 2017 in which he said about the violence between white nationalist groups and “alt-left” protestors in Charlottesville, Va., that there were “very fine people on both sides” and said that there was “blame on both sides” for the violence. As noted by fact-checking site Snopes, Trump did not explicitly call neo-Nazis and white nationalists “very fine people” (and he actually said during the same press conference that “they should be condemned totally”); Trump said he was referring to “many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists.”
Last month, during Rogan’s three-hour discussion with Trump, the former president said his biggest mistake during his time in the White House was hiring “bad people, or disloyal people.” Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election, which he lost to President Biden, was “rigged.” When Rogan asked him if he was going to release evidence proving the election was “stolen,” Trump moved on to another subject.
In an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast a few days later, Rogan discussed his positive impressions of Trump. “The problem with the Trump stuff is just that the people look at the inflammatory things he says, the crazy shit, and they define him by that,” Rogan said. “You also have to remember, this is a very bizarre combination of an entertainer and a businessman… He’s like a comedian, man. He says funny shit.”
Rogan also marveled at the fact that Trump didn’t take a bathroom break while recording the interview. “This is what’s crazy,” Rogan said. “Like the podcast was three hours long. The guy didn’t pee before the podcast. He didn’t pee after the podcast. He just left.”
