In a highly anticipated interview, Donald Trump touched on a wide range of cultural and political issues Friday night in a three-hour conversation with Joe Rogan, who hosts one of the biggest podcasts in the world.
The taping went on so long that Trump arrived hours late to his rally that night in Traverse City, Mich. Frustrated at having to wait so long, many people left.
Rogan’s interview is a continuation of Trump’s return to non-traditional media, including podcasts, in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Rogan also invited Vice President Kamala Harris to do an interview, but her campaign has fallen through. Rogan’s podcast has more than 17 million subscribers on YouTube.
Much of the interview, which was released online around 10:00 p.m. Friday night, was a rehash of comments Trump has made throughout the campaign.
He said the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he were president, complained about the moderators not enough fact-checking Vice President Kamala Harris during her debate with Trump, attacked the mainstream media, did things like continued to picture Harris and the Democrats as more. more dangerous than foreign enemies and involved in conspiratorial talk of stealing the 2020 election.
Rogan at one point asked Trump to provide examples of how the 2020 election was stolen, as he has long falsely claimed. Trump delivered a mostly chilling response that touched on election law changes he said did not receive the proper legislative approval.
“They had to get legislative approval to do the things they did, and they didn’t get it,” Trump said, referring to changes that made it easier to vote during the height of the pandemic.
Trump, who is running for his second term in the White House and will not be able to run for a third term if he wins, said it would be his last election “if I win”. He was noncommittal on whether he would run again if he lost.
“If I win, it will be, this will be my last election,” he said. “But I think I owe it to the country. We have to have fair elections.”
Trump has made baseless claims of stealing the 2020 election, a key part of his campaign message during the 2024 election, even though he admitted in September that he lost the race to President Joe Biden by a “whisker.”
Trump’s campaign rhetoric has grown increasingly hostile in the final weeks of the election, with threats to do things like imprison his political opponents and revoke the broadcast licenses of media organizations he opposes making headlines. more regular at campaign rallies.
This has led his opponents to regard Trump as someone with dictatorial instincts, something highlighted last week when his former chief of staff John Kelly told The New York Times that Trump fits the definition of a fascist.
“I was actually the opposite of a dictator,” Trump said Friday, defending himself. “I was a very fair boy.
Trump also told Rogan that he has learned a lot about UFOs.
“There’s no reason not to think that Mars and all these planets don’t have life.” Rogan quickly corrected him about life on Mars.
“Mars, we’ve had probes there and rovers, and I don’t think there’s life there,” Rogan said.
“Maybe it’s life that we don’t know,” Trump replied.
Rogan at one point also appeared to try to catch Trump out of praising Confederate General Robert E. Lee, whom Trump has spoken fondly of in the past. Without giving specifics, Trump said the generals he talks to think Lee was a “genius.” At that point, Rogan asked Trump to clarify that he only meant “strategically,” to which Trump agreed.
Later in the interview, Rogan seemed to anticipate the fact that Lee’s comment about Trump could lead to him being criticized.
“Donald Trump wants the South to win,” Rogan said, mimicking what he thought the criticism might sound like.
The Joe Rogan Experience, which launched in 2009, is one of the most popular podcasts in the United States, especially among young people.
The episodes, which are usually several hours long, feature a wide range of guests from various industries, including entertainment, sports, technology and politics.
Rogan, a former comedian and host of “Fear Factor,” has built a strong following as an unlikely political pundit. But his popularity has come with years of mounting criticism – the presenter has faced accusations of spreading misinformation about Covid, using a racial slur and making anti-Semitic comments on his show.
While he hasn’t shied away from political topics, Rogan hasn’t issued any official endorsements this election cycle.
In August, Rogan said on his podcast that he was a fan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but later clarified in a post on X that he was not endorsing the then-independent candidate. Kennedy Jr. later dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris had also been in talks to do an interview with Rogan, but it didn’t work out. Ian Sams, a spokesman for her campaign, told MSNBC on Thursday, “We talked to Rogan and his team about the podcast, unfortunately, it won’t be running right now because of the scheduling of this campaign period. “
Trump, who is not particularly known for being humble, seemed to acknowledge the importance of being on Rogan’s podcast, at one point referring to himself as “a student of yours.”
On the environment, Trump said environmental regulations are the “biggest tool to stop growth” and went on to attack his long-time nemesis, the windmill, for what he said is its harmful impact on wildlife. In this case, Trump said he was concerned about the impact of windmills on whales.
“I want to be a whale psychiatrist,” he said. “It drives the whales crazy if something happens to them, but they’re washing up and yet the environmentalists they’re not talking about, right?”
He also went on to personally attack Harris, calling him “not smart” and framing him as a greater threat to the nation than even foreign advice.
“If she becomes president of the United States, which I can’t believe could happen,” Trump said. “I don’t think this country is going to make it.”
Trump has increasingly called Harris “stupid” and during a rally Thursday night in Las Vegas, he said her policies “would kill thousands of people.”
However, on Friday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky released a letter urging Harris to tone down the rhetoric. They argued that Trump could face a third assassination attempt as a result of heated campaign conversations.
“Labeling a political opponent a ‘fascist’ risks inviting another would-be assassin to try to rob voters of their choice before Election Day,” the two wrote.
The letter did not mention that Trump has applied that term to Harris on multiple occasions.
As the third hour of the interview approached, Trump said he realized he had to go to a planned rally in Michigan, for which he was late due to Rogan’s extended interview.
“I have to go give a great speech,” Trump said. “And if I’m free tonight, I’ll blame it on you.”