To phrase this carefully: I’ve been saying that the people behind the scenery, who are actually in charge of this current regime, are going to need a new “face” when the current, orange one dies. Somebody brash, charismatic, well-versed in keeping people entertained, and their attention on himself. Somebody just like, oh, say, Joe Rogan.
I’m not predicting that Rogan will be the next “face” of MAGA, but this move is consistent with what I would expect if he were positioning himself to be it: Hedging his bets, putting a little bit of distance between himself and the administration so as to be outside of the blast radius in case public sentiment turns, but supporting it enough to be a credible successor in case public sentiment holds.
Somebody just like, oh, say, Joe Rogan.
This feels like the speculation I saw about Tucker Carlson or Mark Zuckerburg running for office. I think it misses how much of Rogan’s popularity is artificially inflated, how much of his job is merely to market crypto and blue chew, and how much he wouldn’t actually want the job of running for office to begin with.
These bloated egos inevitably do put their toes in the water. But trying to separate a few million dipshits from their wallets is a radically different task than trying to win a plurality of the 150M+ voting poll (heavily weighted across states full of people who don’t listen to podcasts). You’re going to send Joe Rogan to Iowa to eat a stick of fried butter while telling a gaggle of fifty year old hog farmers how much he loves soybeans and he’s going to do a worse job of it than Rick Perry.
this move is consistent with what I would expect if he were positioning himself to be it: Hedging his bets, putting a little bit of distance between himself and the administration so as to be outside of the blast radius in case public sentiment turns
The sentiment won’t turn. It’s the same sentiment that’s been building since the Bush Administration, and one of the big reasons the GOP fell apart in 2006 and then again in 2012 and 2020. The GOP can’t afford to be moderate on immigration, on social politics, or on social welfare programs. Because as soon as you stop delivering the red meat, the knives come out.
Republicans aren’t going to run a milquetoast moderate podcaster face for the party like Rogan the next time the top spot opens up. Look at the line up in 2024 against Trump - Nikki Hailey, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchenson, and Vivek Ramaswamy are the party’s future. These are the people piling into the governorships and congressional seats under Trump and they’re going to be the pool that dictates his replacement.
That’s not turning on him. That’s using kid gloves to softly not be seen agreeing with him.
He deserves all the flak, but we need to accept and encourage people who are changing their mind or we’re all fucked.
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He isn’t changing his mind. This is part of his strategy and has always been so. This is to please the “but he also invites non-right wing guest” crowd. He is and will remain a right wing influencer who carries a large responsibility for the current situation with his right wing propaganda platform.
“I’m sorry. You all tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen. I was wrong”
We can talk about forgiveness and acceptance when he gets to this point.
I’m not gonna look at gift horse in the mouth. Let’s stick to criticizing what he does, not what you believe he is thinking.
Positive praise until trump is out of office then arrest.
I didn’t watch the podcast, just saw a clip from others reporting on it.
I didn’t hear him say anything about trump, at all. He just said a mildly reasonable thing about the deportations without due process.
Is this headline sensationalized or am I wrong? Sounded like the most vanilla sugar coated “turns on trump” he could be. Stark contrast from during the election when he practically had a rock hard energized erection for trump.
Show me when he actually says he was wrong blatantly and says fuck trump on his shitty podcast, I’ll eat my shoe.
Bit late buddy. 👹
Fuck you, Joe. We all told you that he is a monster, and you helped elect him. Don’t pretend you have any morals now.
What a spineless two-faced coward. He constantly attempts to cover up his fascism by saying non-committal stuff like this.
no taksies backsies, you are responsible for turning many men into trumpers.
Joe’s stocks went down, hasn’t it?
Joe, you’re already the monsters.
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Recklessly endangering the health of an entire democratic system for short term monetary gain is definitely little e evil.
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His entire job as an MMA commentator is to interview people who were recently concussed into a pulp. That’s about where he’s at — able to converse with people who are struggling to stay lucid enough to not get carried out on a stretcher. Something something DMT and gorillas, Jamie pull that up.
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Had a CTE when I was 8. A very long time ago.
And I just keep getting more progressive as I creep towards inevitable mortality.
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It’s been a very long time, and I’m managing as well as possible. Thank you :)
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I would have agreed a decade ago. He’s evil now though.
Because hos viewers are bigger idiots.
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Some More News did an excellent segment on Rogan. One of the interesting things they noted is Rogan’s tendency to stay in opposition to the running political power. This checks out
He is the embodiment of why they didn’t let just anyone be on TV
He’s at a minimum little “e” evil. I’ve seen him go full far-right and MAGA.
The “wind” being a threat to his profit. I mean, I don’t think Rogan is “Evil,”
That’s textbook Nazis. They were all for it until it wasn’t popular and a threat to their profit.
Unprincipled self-serving assholes ARE evil. If you spread dangerous words that end up motivating people into harming others, YOU are at fault.
That is why we shouldn’t tolerate hateful talk towards innocent people, even when “he’s just joking!”, “she doesn’t really mean it!”. Enough little words together make an avalanche, and his words are not even little.
He’s either woefully ignorant, or he’s a Kremlin asset. The amount of Russian propaganda that comes out of his mouth is next level. He has refused to interview the Klitshkow brothers about Ukraine, and those guys are both prime candidates for that podcast. Former boxers turned politicians that want to speak their side on Ukraine, and he couldn’t be bothered. Instead, he was happy to have Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Pool, and Jordan Peterson on multiple times to spout pure propaganda. It’s infuriating that anyone gives him the time of day to listen to what his podcast has become.
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funny how they all went quiet when it was found out the media company funding the grifters was linked to putins oligarches, roegan probably became one very recently. Tulsi is a given, she has been one since '16, and her being a right wing ASIANs youtube channel was pretty obvious too. she was a guest on that channel just right before trump was elected(like a few weeks before, which was suspicious), she was of course parroting russian backed propaganda.
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He is fine with cashing the checks, building his brand, and having people seek his approval. However, making fun of his height and calling him a nazi, that hurts guys.
Ooooo the mouthpieces see the wall coming
Joe Rogan is an idiot.
Become?