Joe Rogan says nonstop negative media coverage of Trump has 'programmed' people against him

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Podcaster Joe Rogan sparked fresh debate over media coverage of President Donald Trump after arguing that years of relentless negative narratives have “programmed” people into hating the president to dangerous levels.

During a Thursday, May 7, conversation with Rep Tim Burchett, Rogan discussed the multiple attempts on Trump’s life and claimed media rhetoric has played a major role in shaping public hostility toward him.

Joe Rogan rejects claims Donald Trump staged Butler shooting to gain public sympathy

The conversation revisited the 2024 shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, as well as more recent security scares involving the president.

Rogan pushed back hard against theories suggesting the Butler incident had been staged to gain sympathy for Trump, calling those claims unrealistic and uninformed.

“There’s a lot of people running around out there saying that that first Trump assassination was a setup, and that it was a hoax, and that Trump did it to try to get people to be more sympathetic to him,” Rogan said.

“Anybody who says that doesn't know anything about guns,” he added.

Joe Rogan dismisses theories surrounding Butler shooting incident

Rogan spent part of the discussion explaining why he believes theories questioning the Butler shooting do not make sense.

The bullet in the 2024 incident famously grazed Trump’s ear instead of causing a fatal injury after the president turned his head while looking toward a chart about immigration.

Rogan argued that no person would willingly risk death in such an unpredictable situation.

“There is not a person on Earth that could nick your ear at 140 yards, reliably,” Rogan said.

The podcaster mocked the suggestion that Trump would intentionally place himself inches away from being killed simply to gain public sympathy.

Rep Tim Burchett also weighed in during the conversation, saying the security failures during the Butler incident were too severe to simply be described as mistakes.

Burchett argued what happened was not a normal “breakdown” in security but rather a “complete capitulation.”

“If Tim Burchett sneaks into the back of a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert and gets close to the stage, that's a ‘breakdown,’” Burchett said.

“What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a complete capitulation,” he added.

Joe Rogan says media narratives have radicalized people against Trump

As the conversation continued, Rogan shifted focus toward the media and what he described as years of nonstop anti-Trump coverage.

According to Rogan, many Americans become emotionally influenced by headlines and political narratives because they do not have enough time to deeply research every issue themselves.

“People hate him so much and the narrative in the media, this Trump Derangement narrative that you see in the media is so strong and people are so programmed by it,” Rogan said. 

He argued that everyday people juggling work, family and responsibilities often rely heavily on mainstream coverage without digging further into complicated political stories.

“For the average person that has a very involved job, you're working all day, and then you have a family, and you have a life,” Rogan said.

“You don't have time to really go into depth about what's real and what's not real,” he added.

Joe Rogan brings up Russia collusion coverage during discussion

Rogan also criticized years of media focus on allegations surrounding Trump and Russia, arguing the coverage helped intensify public anger toward the president.

“You got that Russia collusion stuff shoved down your throat by mainstream media for years, and you believe all of it 100%,” Rogan said. 

He claimed that many viewers were repeatedly told Trump was “a terrible person” and “a Russian agent,” leading some people to develop extreme hostility toward him.

Rogan then made his strongest argument of the conversation, suggesting nonstop political messaging can push unstable individuals toward dangerous thinking.

“So you really believed he's a terrible person, Russian agent, all these different - so you want someone to kill him,” Rogan said.