Joe Rogan wants you to know that calling Robert Kennedy Jr. the “only” presidential candidate who “makes sense” it wasn’t an approval.
It looked like Rogan was endorsing the independent presidential candidate when, during a Thursday episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he named 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 “gas you, they manipulate you, they push narratives,” adding, “The only one who doesn’t doing it is Robert F Kennedy Jr.”
Kennedy Jr. embraced Rogan’s praise in a post on X, writing, “From one ‘legit’ guy to another, thank you @JoeRogan for always putting the bottom line first.”
But by Friday, Rogan backed down after facing a meltdown from the MAGA booth and direct attacks from Donald Trump himself.
“For the record, this is not 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 decency 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 the shot is one of the dirtiest American things of all time.
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 loud Joe Rogan gets the next time he steps into the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote in a Social Truth post shortly after Rogan publicly defended his support for Kennedy.
In Rogan’s post, Trump allies continued to insult Rogan’s intelligence and credibility. some suggested that the only way Rogan could redeem himself would be to host Trump for an interview on his massively popular podcast.
“Looks like you just realized that most of your listeners are Trump supporters,” one user wrote in response to Rogan responding to 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 Friedman’s podcast, Rogan said that he has repeatedly declined Trump’s requests to be on his show and indicated that he is “not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form,” added: “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 upcoming election. While Rogan has sometimes been painted as a conservative figure for his controversial statements about COVID-19 and his support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he has not officially endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant, told the New York Times that Rogan’s support for Kennedy Jr. “comes directly from Trump’s base.” While Kennedy Jr. has embraced his campaign as a “spoiler” for both Biden and Trump, political consultant James Carville has predicted that his candidacy would hurt Trump’s campaign more than the Democratic ticket.
In July, it appeared briefly that Kennedy Jr. would drop out of the race and endorse Trump himself. However, a possible deal between the two – in which Kennedy Jr. would receive a cabinet position in exchange for his approval – failed.
Attacks by Trump allies have recently prompted other conservative figures to back away from criticism of the former president.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who became beloved among conservatives after being acquitted of killing two men during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2021, said last week that Trump “has bad advisers, making him bad for the Second Amendment,” the BBC reported.
“If you can’t be completely uncompromising on the Second Amendment, I’m not going to vote for you,” BBC Rittenhouse said on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, adding: “I stand by my decision and I have no recourse.”
Within 12 hours, after a barrage of sharp attacks from Trump supporters, the BBC reported that Rittenhouse reversed course, writing in a separate post that he had had “a series of productive conversations with members of Trump’s team and I am confident that he will to be the strong ally gun owners must protect our Second Amendment rights.”
Representatives for Kennedy, Trump and Rogan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.