Joe Rogan wants you to know that calling Robert Kennedy Jr. “the only” presidential candidate who “makes sense” wasn’t an endorsement.
It sounded like Rogan was backing the long shot independent presidential candidate when, during a Thursday episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he called Kennedy Jr. a “legitimate” guy and described himself as “a fan.”
When discussing a hypothetical debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris with his guest, Bob Gymlan, Rogan said politicians “gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote narratives,” adding: “The only one who’s not doing that is Robert F Kennedy Jr.”
Kennedy Jr. embraced Rogan’s praise in a post on X, writing: “From one ‘legitimate’ guy to another, thank you @JoeRogan for always putting substance first.”
But by Friday, Rogan walked it back after facing a meltdown from MAGA stans and direct attacks from Donald Trump himself.
“For the record, this isn’t an endorsement,” Rogan said in a post on X over a clip of him praising Kennedy Jr. “This is me saying that I like RFKjr as a person, and I really appreciate the way he discusses things with civility and intelligence. I think we could use more of that in this world.”
Rogan added: “I also think Trump raising his fist and saying ‘fight!’ after getting shot is one of the most American fucking things of all time. I’m not the guy to get political information from.”
But his post was too little too late to appease Trump and his allies, who continued to attack the podcaster online.
“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social shortly after Rogan publicly hedged his support of Kennedy.
On Rogan’s post, Trump allies continued to insult Rogan’s intelligence and trustworthiness. Some suggested the only way Rogan could redeem himself would be to host Trump for an interview on his massively popular podcast.
“It sounds like you just realized that most of your listeners are Trump supporters,” one user wrote in response to Rogan walking back his comments about Kennedy Jr. “Maybe you should support them as much as they support you.”
Rogan and Trump’s shared demographics
In a 2022 appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Rogan said he has repeatedly turned down Trump’s requests to be on his show and indicated he is “not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form,” adding, “I’m not interested in helping him.”
According to a YouGov poll, Rogan’s audience is 81% male, with more than 56% of listeners under 35 — a key demographic for Trump in the coming election. While Rogan has sometimes been painted as a conservative figure for his controversial statements about COVID-19 and his support of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he hasn’t officially endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant, told The New York Times that Rogan’s support of Kennedy Jr “takes straight from the Trump base.” While Kennedy Jr. has embraced his campaign as a “spoiler” for both Biden and Trump, political consultant James Carville has predicted his candidacy would harm Trump’s campaign more than the Democratic ticket.
In July, it briefly appeared that Kennedy Jr. would drop out of the race and endorse Trump himself. However, a potential deal between the two — in which Kennedy Jr. would receive a cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement — fell through.
Attacks from Trump allies have recently caused other conservative figures to backtrack from criticizing the former president.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who became a darling among conservatives after he was acquitted of killing two men during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2021, last week said Trump “has bad advisers, making him bad on the Second Amendment,” BBC reported.
“If you cannot be completely un-compromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you,” BBC reported Rittenhouse said on X, the social platform formerly Twitter, adding: “I support my decision and I have no take-backs.”
Within 12 hours, after a barrage of pointed attacks from Trump supporters, BBC reported Rittenhouse reversed course, writing in a separate post that he’d had “a series of productive conversations with members of the Trump’s team and I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights.”
Representatives for Kennedy, Trump, and Rogan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
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