Joe Rogan, the conspiracy-peddling podcaster who endorsed Donald Trump for president and attended this week’s inauguration, insisted this week that he’s not a Republican and that he’s not aligned with any party.
“I don’t consider myself a Republican. I don’t consider myself a Democrat either,” he declared on The Joe Rogan Experience. “I consider myself an American.”
Saying that “there’s a lot of things that the Democrats believe that I believe,” he added that “there’s a lot of things” the Democratic Party backs “that make a lot of sense to me.” At the same time, he said many of the positions the GOP supports are ones that he believes in too.
“And the idea that I have to ignore things that make sense to me because it’s coming from the wrong team is just stupid,” he noted.
While also calling Trump’s inauguration — which he witnessed in person — “bizarre,” the comic and UFC commentator argued that people who are only loyal to one political party are making a mistake.
“These are bad faith arguments where you have to have a conversation with someone and pretend that what they’re saying is not logical because they’re supposed to be your opponent,” Rogan concluded. “That, to me, is just dumb. That doesn’t benefit me at all. That doesn’t benefit anyone listening at all. It’s just stupid. It’s a stupid way to think.”
Just ahead of this last presidential election, Trump sat down on Rogan’s uber-popular show for a three-hour interview, which was part of his concerted effort to appeal to young male voters by appearing on comedy podcasts. During their friendly chat, Rogan chuckled while Trump failed to explain how the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Rogan also brought on Vice President JD Vance days before the election, gushing along with Vance about how much better Trump looks now than he did in 2016. Rogan, who has long been criticized for his anti-trans rhetoric, didn’t have an issue with Vance claiming teenagers become “trans” to bolster their chances of getting into Ivy League schools.
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was unable to come to an agreement with Rogan on the conditions around an interview, prompting plans for her to appear to fall apart. On the eve of the election, Rogan announced that he was endorsing Trump, resulting in UFC owner Dana White personally thanking Rogan after the president’s victory.
Since then, Democrats have discussed creating their own left-leaning version of Rogan. He has claimed he was “on the ‘Democrats’ side” before they drove him away, explicitly citing Tim Walz’s selection as Harris’s running mate as a key reason for his involvement in the election.
During the 2020 election, Rogan endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. However, after Joe Biden won the party’s nomination, Rogan said he was more likely to vote for Trump than Biden. In the end, Rogan revealed that he voted for neither, instead picking Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson.
Rogan also seemingly endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s independent 2024 presidential campaign, only to quickly backtrack amid an outcry from his MAGA fanbase. Kennedy is now Trump’s pick to run the Health and Human Services Department.
