By Stephen Kokx
In a highly anticipated interview with Joe Rogan, Trump rebuked ‘gender transitions’ for minors, said there must be voter ID and no mail ballots in the future, affirmed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be part of his administration, and vowed to end the war in Ukraine.
Debunking claims from the Harris campaign that he is “exhausted,” Donald Trump sat down with popular podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday for an extensive, though not entirely earth-shattering, three-hour interview.
During the recording at Rogan’s Austin, Texas-based studio, Trump made no major missteps; nor did he or his interrogator tread new ground. Instead, the two held a relaxed conversation about issues Trump has addressed over the past several years, though some remarks about aliens were new.
Rogan initially asked Trump what it was like becoming president. Trump said it was a “surreal” experience while also praising the grandeur of the White House, explaining that he was especially in awe of the Lincoln bedroom. He then went on one of his famous “weaves” or tangents about how President Lincoln had “the yips” when it came to fighting Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Trump admitted to Rogan – as he has to others previously – that he hired “many people” he shouldn’t have, like Bush-era neocon John Bolton. He reiterated that he was a “New York guy” all his life and not a D.C. guy, so he had to rely on others to help him appoint his cabinet. Trump has recently said elsewhere that he knows how “the swamp” works now and that he wouldn’t make the same staffing mistakes if re-elected.
The most interesting parts of the interview didn’t come until the 2-hour mark, when Rogan praised Trump’s embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Rogan asked Trump how he plans on “making America healthy again” with Kennedy, to which Trump responded by saying Kennedy has lots of ideas and that his presence in the campaign has many executives in Big Pharma worried. Regardless, he said Kennedy will 100 percent be part of his administration and will be able to do “whatever [he] want[s],” though not with environmental issues.
Rogan also asked about vaccines, though he didn’t press Trump on his controversial Operation Warp Speed initiatives. Trump seemed to agree with what Rogan was saying about how vaccines can cause adverse health issues, but the two disappointingly didn’t pursue the topic at length. Still, Rogan reminded Trump that the U.S. is one of only two countries that allows pharmaceutical drugs to be advertised on television.
“What a lot of these drugs do is act to mitigate the effects of poor metabolic health. Most of these problems that these people are suffering from wouldn’t exist if we put an emphasis on metabolic health,” he said. “If people got healthier… a whole host of these problems that people are having would go away. And the problem with that from the pharmaceutical drug standpoint is they wouldn’t be able to sell drugs to these people… If we can send $175 billion to Ukraine, we can do something to fix a lot of the health problems the United States has.”
Trump agreed that there are many “side effects” to certain drugs and that he would “never take” some of them.
Trump told Rogan that his teenage son Barron has helped him with his podcast strategy, as he has appeared on a number of shows watched primarily by young men, also called “Zoomers,” in recent weeks. The approach has resulted in a massive uptick in favorability among male voters under 25 years of age. Rogan notably told Trump that “the media, to a large extent, acts as a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.” He said that independent media is how you get around that.
Rogan further commented on the political realignment taking place under Trump. He said that “the rebels” are “Republicans now. You want to be a rebel? You want to be punk rock? You’re want to like buck the system? You’re a conservative now.”
“And then the liberals are now pro-silencing criticism,” he added.
Rogan spend a large chunk of the rest of the interview asking Trump to provide more evidence of 2020 election interference. Trump, who has repeatedly discussed the topic before, especially during his debates with Biden and Harris, brought up the Russia collusion hoax, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and how states changed voting laws in the lead-up to the election and said that, in the future, there must be voter ID and no mail-in ballots.
Rogan agreed with the voter ID proposal while adding that he’d like to see debates change so the candidates sit down and simply discuss issues on their own without moderators.
The last half hour of the conversion proved to be the most relevant for religious and conservative Americans. After telling Rogan that Kamala Harris, who he called a “very low IQ person,” would be “lying on the floor comatose” if she appeared on his show, Trump hit back at her for claiming he is Hitler, saying that she is losing badly.
Trump also received praise from Rogan for his “comedic” timing and sensibilities, especially at his rallies. Rogan said that in order to do well in politics one should approach it with that sort of mindset at times. He praised Trump especially for his performance at the Al Smith Dinner earlier this month.
Trump also criticized pollsters, calling many of them “probably fake,” while also rebuking “sex change” surgeries for minors without parental consent and the Democratic Party’s push to ensure gender-confused males are able to compete in women’s sports. Rogan called that idea one of the most “bizarre and polarizing ideas of the left.”
The remainder of the interview was spent talking about the JFK files, extraterrestrials, and the war in Ukraine. Trump said, as he has before, that his CIA director at the time Mike Pompeo as well as other “good people” asked him to not release all of the JFK files. But Trump appeared to say he would release the other 50 percent of them so the nation could have a “cleansing.”
Rogan then asked Trump about aliens. Trump cryptically referred to them as “people coming from space” while recalling that he has spoken with pilots in the military who have told him they have seen objects in the sky that could not be operated by human beings.
Before ending the podcast Trump told Rogan that he will meet with both Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy and end the war in Ukraine immediately.
Trump said that he will ensure the U.S. is respected again if re-elected and that the Chinese in particular are “dreaming” about a Harris presidency because they will take advantage of America if she is in office.
“She can’t put two sentences together … these guys are very smart; they’re very streetwise and they’re very tricky and evil and dangerous. And if she becomes the president of the United States — which I cannot believe can happen — I don’t think this country’s going to make it. I think really bad things will happen to our country.”
Following the interview, Trump flew to the battleground state of Michigan for a rally that began after 10 pm.
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