Joe Rogan's path to a once-improbable Trump interview

Republican statesmanlike campaigner Donald Trump is astir to bash 1 of the biggest interviews of his statesmanlike run - with America’s fig 1 podcaster, Joe Rogan.

With 14.5 cardinal Spotify followers and 17.5 cardinal YouTube subscribers, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE for short) has built a massive, mostly male, assemblage since it archetypal launched 15 years ago.

Confirming media reports of the upcoming interview, acceptable to beryllium taped connected Friday, Trump described his counterpart arsenic "a bully guy" with whom helium expected a "very interesting" conversation.

"I bash a batch of shows,” helium told Fox News Radio connected Wednesday. “Good, atrocious oregon indifferent. I bash a batch of shows and they travel retired good."

That effect makes airy of the Trump campaign’s calculated media strategy, which has focused connected podcasts fashionable with younger men implicit accepted media outlets similar 60 Minutes.

And it underplays conscionable however large a woody this could beryllium for the erstwhile president, long-time listeners say.

"Rogan is astir to person the astir listened-to podcast successful quality history," says Matthew Foldi, a blimpish writer and self-styled JRE adept who has spent thousands of hours listening to the full catalogue - successful chronological bid and astatine 3.5x velocity - since 2020.

A New Jersey native, Rogan began his vocation arsenic a stand-up comedian successful the Boston country earlier relocating to California successful the 1990s. He featured successful 2 sitcoms - Hardball and NewsRadio - and gained nationalist vulnerability arsenic big of the US variation of the Fear Factor crippled show.

He became 1 of the archetypal comics to task into podcasting successful 2009, rapidly gathering an assemblage with his easy-going speech benignant and consciousness of humour. By 2020, helium had signed 1 of the largest licensing deals successful the business, with Spotify, wherever helium has dominated the podcasting ranks.

Known for discussing everything from existent affairs and authorities to aliens and cause use, Rogan hosts an ideologically divers premix of guests – from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to comedians similar Chris Rock and Kevin Hart - successful lengthy hours-long interviews.

Part of his appeal, says Kat Rosenfield, a freelance civilization writer and novelist, is his willingness to speech to anyone, astir anything.

"He is precise people curious. He wants to inquire questions. He wants to cognize what's up with his guests and helium has bully instincts to marque it an engaging listen."

But his willingness to sorb contrarian perspectives has besides landed him successful blistery water.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, helium was criticised for promoting vaccine scepticism, starring to a conjugation of aesculapian experts to telephone retired Spotify for allowing “false and societally harmful assertions” to spread.

In 2022, musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from Spotify successful protestation implicit Rogan’s usage of the level to dispersed alleged Covid misinformation. The institution yet took down immoderate 70 previously-released episodes.

Also that year, Rogan came nether occurrence erstwhile a video compilation of him repeatedly utilizing racially insensitive connection connected his amusement made the rounds connected societal media. He has since apologised.

Ms Rosenfield casts Rogan's idiosyncratic authorities arsenic being libertarian - precise socially liberal, arsenic seen successful his enactment for same-sex matrimony and cosmopolitan cause legalisation, but besides idiosyncratic who treasures escaped code and weapon rights.

In 2020, helium endorsed Bernie Sanders for president aft the then-Democratic campaigner appeared connected his show.

"Rogan seemed similar a refreshing alternate astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile audiences benignant of mislaid their spot successful galore [mainstream media] outlets," Ms Rosenfield argues.

"He doesn't deliberation he's smarter than his audience, which I deliberation is rather endearing to radical who perceive to the show. He doesn't speech down to radical and helium ever says 'don't perceive to me, I don't cognize anything'."

Trump and Rogan person not ever seen eye-to-eye.

As precocious arsenic 2022, the podcaster said helium did not privation to "help" Trump electorally due to the fact that helium was "an existential menace to democracy".

Earlier this year, helium praised Robert F Kennedy Jr, past moving arsenic an autarkic statesmanlike candidate, arsenic "the lone 1 that makes consciousness to me".

That didn’t spell down good with Trump, who said Rogan would get “booed” the adjacent clip helium was astatine an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event.

But it’s besides their shared emotion of the UFC, and mixed martial arts successful general, hints astatine immoderate of the communal crushed they whitethorn person during the interview.

Rogan is simply a long-time colour commentator and interviewer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events. Trump, too, is simply a instrumentality of the sport, which helium has discussed astatine magnitude connected different podcasts.

The 2 are some long-time friends of UFC CEO Dana White, who lauded Rogan this week arsenic "the champion combat sports commentator of each time" and has lavished praise connected Trump arsenic "the eventual American badass".

They besides stock 2 different allies - RFK Jr and Elon Musk, some of whom person precocious got down Trump.

Rogan spoke fondly of Trump connected a caller amusement arsenic a "wheeling, dealing billionaire quality that everybody enjoyed" whose deregulation docket had helped the economy.

He added that the wars successful Ukraine and Gaza "scared the [expletive] retired of him” – 2 wars Trump has vowed to extremity if elected, though helium has not provided specifics connected how.

Mr Foldi, the blimpish writer and Rogan ace fan, says the attraction that Trump volition get from this podcast could assistance him predominate the closing days of the run and triumph implicit straggling undecided voters.

“This is the astir viewed amusement connected earth, and the eyeballs that you're going to get… is 2nd to none.”

Like Mr Foldi, who is 28, Rogan’s listeners are overwhelmingly young and male. Almost 80% are men, and fractional are betwixt the ages of 18 and 34, according to Edison Research, which produces survey-based information connected podcasting successful the US.

Such figures suggest Rogan's assemblage is portion of a important voting bloc to whom the Trump run has made wide it is trying to reach. In August, the run told reporters it is focused connected persuading a radical of voters it says makes up astir 10% of the electorate successful cardinal plaything states. This radical is disproportionately young, antheral and racially diverse.

Cancelling accepted media interviews with the likes of CBS and NBC, Trump has alternatively spent clip with podcasters who entreaty to predominantly antheral audiences, including comedians Andrew Schulz and Theo Von, societal media influencer Logan Paul, retired wrestler Mark Calaway (AKA The Undertaker) and YouTube pranksters The Nelk Boys. But successful sheer assemblage size and taste reach, JRE is arguably the lynchpin of this podcast tour.

Harris excessively has made podcasts portion of her media blitz, albeit to a lesser extent. She sat down earlier this period with Call Her Daddy - the top-ranked amusement among women - and spoke astatine magnitude with big Alex Cooper astir reproductive rights, the apical contented galvanising Democrats and peculiarly pistillate voters this year.

In spite of objections from immoderate corners, Harris’s squad was successful talks with Rogan’s unit astir a imaginable appearance, according to Reuters, but her run confirmed connected Thursday that she would not marque an quality owed to scheduling conflicts.

About the aforesaid clip that Rogan’s occurrence is airing, Harris is scheduled to beryllium down with famed societal scientist Brene Brown for her podcast, Unlocking Us, which is fashionable with pistillate listeners.

The Harris run has besides confirmed a sit-down with Club Shay Shay, a play podcast hosted by NFL fable Shannon Sharpe that is fashionable among achromatic men. Polling suggests that voting bloc's enactment for her is not arsenic robust arsenic for erstwhile Democratic candidates.

As anticipation for the Trump interrogation builds, Americans connected societal media are fantasising astir the questions they would similar Rogan to pose, connected everything from alien declassification to documents astir Jeffrey Epstein.

If Rogan stays existent to form, Mr Foldi says, nary taxable volition beryllium retired of bounds.

"For Trump, I spot precise small drawback because, immoderate you deliberation of the guy, he's intelligibly comfy successful who helium is," helium adds.

"The lone mode that you crumble connected [JRE] is if helium asks you astir the halfway of who you are and you don't person a comfy answer."