The White House is doing damage control with prominent manosphere podcasters amid Donald Trump’s fallout with major figures in right-wing media over the Iran war. Joe Rogan is its chief target.
Rogan was a key supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign, but as the Iran war spiraled into the largest foreign-policy quagmire of Trump’s presidency, the podcaster with an audience of more than 11 million listeners became vocally critical of the administration. Rogan’s past support for Trump — and his role as a connective tissue between the campaign and the so-called manosphere — was seen as a critical pillar of the president’s campaign media apparatus. Rogan, who is also a UFC commentator, said earlier this month that he was “confused” and felt “betrayed” by the administration’s decision to launch a conflict against Iran.
“It just seems so insane based on what he ran on. This is why a lot of people feel betrayed. He ran on no more wars and these stupid, senseless wars. And then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” Rogan said of the war.
When Trump launched a tirade against some of his most prominent supporters turned Iran critics on April 9, Rogan’s name was not listed among those who the president deemed “nut jobs” and “losers,” like Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly, and Candace Owens.
Instead, the administration is actively, and aggressively, trying to curry favor with Rogan, according to a Monday report from Axios. Sources told Axios that the president is “frequently” in touch with Rogan, and that Vice President J.D. Vance paid him a personal visit in Austin last month. Over the weekend, Rogan visited the White House to attend the signing of an executive order that would help ease federal approval for the use of psychedelics as a treatment for severe mental illness.
During the ceremony, Rogan told reporters that the executive order had come together after he texted Trump some information about ibogaine, an experimental psychoactive drug that has shown promise as a potential addiction treatment.
“The text message came back, ‘sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.’ It was literally that quick,” Rogan told reporters.
Throwing Rogan a bone to potentially mollify his criticisms of the administration isn’t just about controlling the tone of podcast clips circulated on social media. Rogan has an active working relationship with the White House, and the podcaster has been tapped to deliver commentary for the upcoming White House UFC fight. As his criticism of the administration escalated, Rogan’s disillusion with the bizarre sporting event — and his potential role in it — became more public.
“I’ll be there but I’m not thrilled about it. It doesn’t seem like a wise idea,” Rogan said in a March interview. “I know it’s going to be very high-security and high-stress and weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a fucking war. I would hope the war will be sorted out by June, but quite honestly, I’m not confident that’s going to be the case.”
The White House is also hoping to sort out the war as soon as it possibly can, but much like the global fuel economy, some of the damage Trump has leveled on his standing with the right’s formidable media apparatus may be permanent.
