Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Joe Rogan now realizes voting works - but only because Trump won

Rogan, who hosted the former president on his podcast, endorsed Trump on Election Day

Ariana Baio
Thursday 07 November 2024 21:56 GMT
Comments
Trump reacts to Joe Rogan endorsement

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Joe Rogan elevated an election integrity conspiracy theory while celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential win, suggesting if the former president had not won the election, it may have been “rigged”.

“So, turns out voting works. It’s real,” Rogan said with delight on Thursday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.

His comment came hours after the Associated Press called the 2024 presidential election for Trump, who had been lagging narrowly behind Vice President Kamala Harris in most national polls.

Podcast host Joe Rogan celebrated Donald Trump’s win on his podcast after endorsing the former president
Podcast host Joe Rogan celebrated Donald Trump’s win on his podcast after endorsing the former president (PowerfulJRE / YouTube)

Media outlets, election pollsters and others predicted Harris would win the election but that it would be very close and difficult to determine the outcome for several days. The actual results showed the opposite, Trump won by a comfortable margin less than a day after polls closed.

“As much as we f***ing thought they had it rigged, as much as we thought there was shenanigans and bulls*** and it’s just a puppet show and there’s now way anybody can buck the system – turns out, voting is still real,” Rogan said.

He added, “Clearly he was too big to rig” – repeating a slogan Trump has adopted at rallies in encouraging supporters to turn out for him.

Rogan’s claim that “voting is still real” insinuates that at one point, voting was not real. That claim can be tied to the widespread false claims of voter fraud that the former president espoused after the 2020 election when he lost to President Joe Biden.

There was no evidence of mass voter fraud or that the 2020 election was “rigged” by Democrats. X users were quick to point this out when sharing the Rogan clip.

Despite that, the former president continues to assert he lost 2020 unfairly. He began to tee up similar claims before the 2024 results, seemingly preparing to make similar claims had the election not swung in his favor.

Rogan accused “the media” of gaslighting the public into believing Harris would win the election with preliminary polling numbers and accusations that Trump is dangerous.

Later on in the podcast, Rogan theorized that something was skeptical about the 2020 election because it seemingly had higher voter turnout, specifically in favor of Biden, than previous elections including 2024.

Donald Trump appearing for an interview with Joe Rogan during his campaign
Donald Trump appearing for an interview with Joe Rogan during his campaign (Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube)

Votes are still being counted in the 2024 presidential election so there is no way to currently tell if election turnout is higher than it was in 2020. Additionally, voter turnout was exceptionally high four years ago because the pandemic made voting more accessible with mail-in ballots.

Voter turnout, and voter party demographics, change every four years and while millions of voters rallied behind Biden in 2020 those same voters may have voted for a different candidate, or not voted at all, in this election.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in