Joe Rogan endorsed Trump and attended his inauguration, but his latest comments about MAGA supporters have the movement turning on him fast

Joe Rogan is facing quick backlash from some MAGA Republicans after he called parts of the movement “unintelligent” on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. This is a notable moment for the podcast host, who endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 election and attended his inauguration.

According to Newsweek, Rogan was talking with comedian Dave Smith when the conversation turned to politics, specifically the MAGA movement. He and Smith noted that the American right seems to have split into traditional conservatives and MAGA conservatives. 

Rogan was blunt about the “Make America Great Again” slogan, saying flat out, “that phrase sucks.” He continued, “America is great. Make America greater, I’m down. But ‘make America great again,’ and then it becomes a movement of a bunch of f—ing dorks?”

Rogan has a long history of crossing political lines and not sticking to one side

He went further, saying “a lot of them are dorks. A lot of them are really weird, f—ing uninteresting, unintelligent people that have got something they cling to.” He did add some balance, saying that while “a lot” of the MAGA movement consists of “genuine patriots,” they often get “lumped into this one group, and you’ve got to accept the dorks too? F— that.”

He also mentioned online bots pretending to be MAGA supporters and posting “crazy” things, noting it happens on both sides. This is not the first time Rogan has said things that go against what people expect from him. 

He has always described himself as “an American” rather than a Republican or Democrat. During the 2020 election, he voiced support for Democratic Socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. More recently, he has criticized Trump over how the Iran war is being handled and Trump’s repeated calls for Canada to join the United States.

The clip went viral quickly, especially on X, with one post from user @amconmag getting over 3 million views. The reactions were fast and mixed. One user, who identifies as a conservative, asked, “When did Joe become an elitist? You only matter to Joe if you’re an amazing, accomplished, intelligent person.”

Another MAGA supporter responded, “He isn’t wrong but they aren’t true MAGA, there are a lot of dork grifters.” Another user weighed in with, “Yeah, I feel like you’re not allowed to be a republican without being MAGA these days.”

During the same conversation, Rogan and Smith both praised and criticized the Trump administration. They were critical of the Iran conflict, where the US has been deploying elite airborne troops to the Middle East, but praised Trump’s hard stance on border control. So the discussion was not entirely negative toward Trump.

However, the specific comments about “unintelligent people” in the MAGA movement clearly struck a nerve, and have started a fresh debate about where Rogan actually stands politically and who his audience really is.