Don’t Be Surprised Joe Rogan Said He Doesn’t Like Trump—Breaking Down Their Complicated History

Topline

Podcast host Joe Rogan made waves this week when he publicly repudiated former President Donald Trump, but the relationship between the two figures largely beloved by the right is less chummy than you may think.

Key Facts

During a Monday appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Rogan claimed he’s turned down requests for the former president to appear on his immensely popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast “more than once.”

“I don’t want to help him,” Rogan said about Trump, explaining he’s “not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form.”

Rogan’s outright dismissal of Trump is his strongest critique of the president yet and came as a surprise to many given the admiration for Rogan on the right.

However, Rogan has kept Trump at an arm’s length for a while, endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president in 2020 and voting for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen in the 2020 election.

Trump has been much warmer toward Rogan, calling Rogan an “interesting and popular guy” in a February statement supporting Rogan after a clip circulated of him using the n-word several times, calling those who criticized Rogan as the “Fake News and Radical Left maniacs and lunatics.”

Contra

Despite Rogan’s distancing from Trump, his fans largely also support the former president. A survey of 442 Americans who self-identify as “avid” Rogan fans conducted in February by Morning Consult found that 52% of Rogan fans voted for Trump in the 2020 election compared to 21% for Joe Biden. Some 46% of Rogan fans identify as Republicans, 31% as independent and 23% as Democrats, according to the poll.

Key Background

Rogan and Trump are perhaps best linked as the two most notorious spreaders of Covid-19 misinformation. Rogan has advocated using the antiparasitic drug ivermectin as a treatment against Covid-19 despite the Food and Drug Administration considering it an unauthorized and dangerous drug for the virus, while Trump pushed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment despite the drug not being proven effective against Covid-19. Spotify came under fire in January for allowing Rogan to share potentially harmful Covid-19 misinformation unchecked, leading the company to place a content warning to Rogan’s show. In March, Trump appeared on the Full Send Podcast that also attracts a largely conservative young male audience, but YouTube took down the episode after he discussed his false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

Big Number

At least $200 million. That’s how much Spotify paid Rogan for the exclusive rights to his podcast, the New York Times reported in February. The deal announced in May 2020 lasts through next year at an annual value of over $60 million, sources told the Times.

Further Reading

Joe Rogan Is Too Big to Cancel (New York Times)

Joe Rogan Says He Repeatedly Rejected Donald Trump As Podcast Guest: “I’m Not Interested In Helping Him” (Deadline)