Joe Rogan explains why he turned down interviewing Donald Trump for his podcast, twice

There’s little doubt that The Joe Rogan Experience is the biggest podcast in the world. His podcast is so influential that it literally affects elections, and Joe Rogan admitted to that. However, despite holding such sway, Joe Rogan refused to interview President Donald Trump while he was still in office. And now, the host has opened up about the reason for his decision.

Over the years, Joe Rogan has had numerous high-profile and interesting guests on his show, including Elon Musk, Mike Tyson, Kanye West, and even Alex Jones. Therefore, his listeners are aware of his massive pull and are always curious about his next guest. Turns out that he even had a chance to interview former President Donald Trump, not once but twice. But, he turned it down both times.

The reason why Joe Rogan turned down a Trump interview

In an interview with Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Joe Rogan explained exactly why he turned down the chance to interview the former President. Trump could have been the biggest guest to ever appear on the show, but that didn’t impress Rogan at all. When asked if he actually considered having Trump on the podcast by Krystal, Rogan said:

Not really no.

And part of the reason why that is so is because:

They wanted me to do it at the white house…

The hosts then asked Rogan if he would have considered interviewing Trump while the host lived in LA. To that, Rogan responded:

Maybe I would have thought about it in LA like to do a real 3-hour thing. But the problem is, it’s a real problem in that I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable. And I don’t think it’s my role. Like if I’m talking to someone like him, there’s some uncomfortable things that have to be addressed.

Saagar further emphasized how Trump is never easy to interview, saying he’ll “get pissed” whenever you push him. Moreover, Trump’s staff make sure that the interview is edited and mostly concluded after 15 minutes when Trump has said what he wanted to say. He revealed that the former head of Fox News Bill Shine nudged Saagar to wrap the interview up after 15 minutes. And that was unacceptable to Rogan as well, who didn’t consider 20-minute podcasts as a podcast, as the host said:

The whole thing is not what I’m interested in, it’s not what I do. The idea of going to the White House and doing a 20-minute podcast is not a podcast.

He didn’t want to help either of the candidates of the 2020 US Presidential Elections

Furthermore, Joe Rogan mentioned that the number of views he could have gotten with Trump never bothered him. Rogan explained his motivations behind inviting certain guests:

I just like don’t ever do things saying this is gonna be a big episode there’s going to be a lot of numbers. I do things if I think someone’s cool. If I’m interested in someone, or I think their position is fascinating.

Moreover, Rogan emphasized that he had no interest in helping either of the 2020 US Presidential Elections candidates. He continued:

I don’t wanna help anybody in this race. I certainly don’t wanna help (Donald Trump) and I certainly don’t wanna help Biden.

That said, as far as Joe Rogan could recall, Biden’s team didn’t approach him for an interview. And it became virtually impossible after Trump tweeted from his account a clip of Joe Rogan where he said having Joe Biden is like having a flashlight with a dying battery while going for a long walk in the woods. You can watch the segment of Rogan’s interview below:

Related: Spotify removed 42 controversial Joe Rogan podcast episodes including Chris D’Elia