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Podcast host Joe Rogan said he is refusing to welcome ex-President Donald Trump on his show.
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Just last week, Rogan said Trump nemesis Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would make a good president.
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Rogan also called President Joe Biden a “dead man” in reference to his age.
Joe Rogan, the world’s number 1 most listened to podcaster, hosted numerous controversial figures on his show.
But he draws the line at former President Donald Trump — someone he called an “existential threat to democracy itself.”
“I am in no way a Trump supporter,” Rogan told Lex Fridman, a computer scientist and podcast host, on his show “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Monday. “I’ve had the chance to have him on my show more than once, and I’ve said no every time.”
“I don’t want to help him, I’m not interested in helping him,” he added.
Rogan made the comments despite Trump defending him in February. The former president said: when Rogan should not have to must continue to apologize to his critics after a video montage of him with racist comments went viral.
Rogan’s latest comments also seem to contrast with comments he made in 2020, when he said: he would rather vote for Trump than for Joe Biden. Rogan said this despite holding several politically liberal positions and supporting independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as president.
Trump’s post-presidential office did not immediately respond to questions about the comments or confirm the number of times Trump had asked to appear on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
On Monday, Rogan predicted that Trump, 76, running for the White House again† The former president continues to hint that he will, but has not made any official announcements yet.
“He’s going to run again, things get weirder, he’s running into a dead man,” Rogan said, referring to Biden, who is 79.
“Did you see H im on Jimmy Kimmel the other day? He was just walking,” Rogan said of Biden. “If he was anyone else, a Republican, if it was Donald Trump doing that, every goddamn talk show would be screaming to be off the air.”
Although Rogan has shunned Trump, he does have a favorite Republican. He said a week ago that he thought Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “would work as a good president.”
DeSantis, 43, is seen more and more as one of the biggest threats to Trump becoming the GOP nominee for president in 2024. The governor was re-elected in Florida in November and somehow hasn’t said whether he sees the White House in his future.
Rogan drew his red line on Trump during a wider conversation about the divisions in American politics. He said the Trump era would be “one of the weirder times when people historically look back at the divisions in this country”.
Fridman predicted that Rogan would change his mind about hosting Trump, saying that Rogan tended to host controversial figures, such as rapper Kanye West.
But Rogan made a distinction by saying that West was “an artist” and that “doing well or not doing well does not change the course of our country.”
“Do you really take responsibility for the course of our country based on a conversation?” Fridman asked.
Rogan replied, “I think you can revitalize and rehabilitate someone’s image in a way that’s pretty shocking.”
Fridman urged Rogan to change his mind, saying he thought Rogan could force Trump to open up.
But Rogan pointed out that Trump was not taking drugs — which he says helps some of his other podcast guests open up during their conversations — and said he would need to do significant research to prepare for the Trump interview.
“I don’t think he would really be there,” Rogan said. “I think he would give a performance.”
Read the original article Business Insider