Joe Rogan reveals 'major factor' that pushed him to host Trump on his podcast right before 2024 election
WASHINGTON, DC: In a newly surfaced interview from earlier this year, Joe Rogan explained what finally pushed him to host Donald Trump on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' just before the 2024 election, a move that ultimately played a significant role in shaping the outcome.
Speaking on Gary Brecka’s 'Ultimate Human podcast,' Rogan recalled a series of political and media developments that changed his thinking after previously resisting the idea.
The late October 2024 episode, which now has over 59 million views, aired during what some have dubbed the "podcast election," a media landscape where traditional outlets were sidelined in favor of informal yet far-reaching conversations with influencers and independent hosts.
Trump’s appearance on Rogan’s show became a defining moment in the final stretch of his campaign.
Joe Rogan blasts Donald Trump charges as ‘insane'
Joe Rogan told Gary Brecka that one of the major turning points for him was what he described as politically motivated legal efforts to discredit Donald Trump through “lawfare.”
"First of all, there was the lawfare," Rogan said. "There was these lawsuits that they were trying to pin on him. They were trying to convict him and turn him into a felon, and they were doing it so blatantly and obviously."
He pointed to the controversial Manhattan DA case, where Trump was charged with 34 felonies related to bookkeeping practices.
"The case with the bookkeeping error or the bookkeeping, whatever it was. The misdemeanor that they had charged him with 34 felonies for, which isn’t even a felony. It’s a misdemeanor, and it’s also past the statute of limitations. None of it made any sense. And people were cheering it on. ‘He’s a convicted felon.’”
Rogan warned listeners about the broader implications: “Hey, they can do that to you. Do you understand that? If they can do that to a former president, a former f*****g president who’s rich as s***, they can do that to him, they can do that to you, too. You can’t cheer this on. This is insane.”
Joe Rogan says Trump assassination attempt felt like ‘JFK 2.0’, pushed him to do interview
Joe Rogan went on to say that the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, also weighed heavily on his decision. He likened it to a potential historical echo of John F Kennedy's assassination.
"The assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania was another major factor," he told Gary Brecka. “It could have been a 'Lee Harvey Oswald 2.0.’”
He also cited overwhelming media bias as a final tipping point. Rogan expressed concern that Trump was being misrepresented by mainstream outlets, which often relied on out-of-context clips and adversarial interviews.
"There's no real conversations with him where you're just treating him like a human being. Like everything, he's being grilled and then everything's taken out of context and I'm seeing him being taken out of context on the campaign trail and like it was just gross. It was just so anti-American."
Rogan emphasized the need for voters to assess candidates fairly. "If you're an American and you believe in our justice system and if you believe in our system of electing representatives, it should be [that] the best people should have this opportunity to express what their plan is, ‘This is what I want to do. This is where I stand on the issues. This is how I think I could pull it off.’ And then the American people are supposed to look at this person saying it and decide."
Joe Rogan’s surprise endorsement and viral interview reshaped final weeks of Trump’s 2024 campaign
Donald Trump’s October 2024 appearance on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' marked a major shift in campaign media strategy. The episode, recorded in Austin, became one of the most viewed political interviews in internet history. Political analysts and campaign insiders cited it as a crucial moment that helped galvanize undecided voters and young men.
The 2024 presidential election was often dubbed the “podcast election,” with Trump strategically using platforms like Rogan’s show, 'The Nelk Boys,' and Patrick Bet-David’s 'PBD Podcast' to bypass traditional media and speak directly to the public. No single appearance was seen as more consequential than Rogan’s.
After the interview aired, Rogan publicly endorsed Trump on the eve of the election, a move that shocked liberal critics but was welcomed by free speech advocates and Trump supporters.
