Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan has made a career out of dallying with the far-right and inviting its leaders on his show The Joe Rogan Experience.
But despite those affiliations, in a new interview Rogan insists he's not a supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump.
Rogan made the comments during an appearance on MIT professor Lex Fridman's podcast in which he also claimed he had several opportunities to host Trump on The Joe Rogan Experience and declined each time.
But many of Rogan's critics aren't buying a word of it.
See Rogan's comments below.
\u201cJoe Rogan says he has turned down multiple offers to have Donald Trump on his podcast:\n\n"I don't want to help him. I'm not interested in helping him."\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1657050014
Asked about Trump by Fridman, himself a podcaster who sometimes features figures like Elon Musk who are beloved heroes of the far-right, Rogan said:
"I’m not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form. I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once. I’ve said no, every time."
"I don’t want to help him. I’m not interested in helping him."
Calling Trump a "threat" to America, Rogan went on to say:
"When people look back historically about the division in this country, he’s such a polarizing figure that so many people felt like they could abandon their own ethics and morals and principles just to attack him and anybody who supports him because he is an existential threat to democracy itself."
That condemnation is of course pure double-speak—in one breath Rogan criticizes Trump as a "polarizing... threat to democracy" and then castigates his critics for "abandnon[ing] their own ethics and morals and principals" in opposing him.
That combined with Rogan's recent full-throated support for the expected 2024 Presidential campaign of far-right Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a vocal supporter of Trump who has passed several sweepingly anti-democratic laws in Florida in recent months, has left many rolling their eyes at Rogan's anti-Trump proclamations.
On Twitter, scores of people found his statement unconvincing at best.
\u201cSo he\u2019s okay with Alex Jones as a guest but he draws the line at Trump. Got it.\u201d— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan) 1657050587
\u201c@therecount Considering the number of cooks and monsters Rogan HAS had on his platform this awareness is actually infuriating.\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1657050014
\u201c"I don't want to help him."\n\nMmmmmkay...\u201d— Colin Kaepernick 7\ufe0f\u20e3 Was Exiled Exercising Rights (@Colin Kaepernick 7\ufe0f\u20e3 Was Exiled Exercising Rights) 1657055765
\u201c@therecount Kinda goes against everything Joe has ever said about his show\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1657050014
\u201cam old enough to remember when this guy laughed about pedophilia with milo yiannopoulos on his podcast\u201d— Marlow Stern (@Marlow Stern) 1657053378
\u201cThis is about brand protection. Probably won't have DeSantis on either bc it threatens the plausible deniability that was the whole reason for having Bernie on.\u201d— Matt Lech (@Matt Lech) 1657051498
\u201c"You can revitalize & rehabilitate someone's image in a way that is pretty shocking." - Joe Rogan \n\nCan we stop pretending that Joe doesn't understand what he's doing when he platforms wild conspiracy theorist goofballs? He knows the power he wields! He co-signs bad ideas!\u201d— Brittany Page (@Brittany Page) 1657119256
\u201cBut hey, wanna be authoritarian DeSantis is cool, right Joe?\u201d— DrDinD \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@DrDinD \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1657058320
\u201cBecause he's a DeSantis supporter. \n\nJoe Rogan is an opportunist & a shock jock thru & thru. He's Alex Jones with lower blood pressure .. that's all.\u201d— Joy Will Do! (@Joy Will Do!) 1657109314
\u201c-Wouldn\u2019t have trump on the show \n-co-signs rob desantis for president (a more sinister version of trump) \n\nGot it\ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffe\u201d— THEY GOT AMNESIA (@THEY GOT AMNESIA) 1657065543
Whatever Rogan's feelings about Trump may be, his guest list reads like a who's-who of the Trump-loving right-wing fringe.
He's hosted everyone from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos and far-right provocateur Ben Shapiro.
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