On a Friday in mid-November, Joe Rogan, the most-listened-to podcaster in the country, said aloud what many in his audience had been sensing for months: the Republican defeat in the midterms was not confined to young men who followed him, but reached most of the country. He had spent the days before in a deliberate quiet, insisting he hated politics and wanted no part of it, yet his earlier doubts about the war in Iran and the masked immigration crackdown had been gathering like weather. His words belong to a larger human pattern, in which the voices that once carried a movement into power beg
After Weeks of Silence, Joe Rogan Says Republicans Have Lost the 'Podcast Bros' and 'Most of the Country'
Alex Pretti, a nurse protesting an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, was killed by federal agents in January.
They didn't just lose the podcast bros. They lost most of the country.
Mark
Why does a podcaster's comment about the midterms matter this much?
Mimi
Because Rogan was seen as crucial in bringing young men to Trump in 2024. When he says Republicans lost most of the country, it lands differently.
Luke
Careful, though. "Crucial" is how he was seen, not something measured. The piece doesn't quantify his effect.
Mark
And the vote shift among young men?
Mimi
Men 18 to 29 moved more than 30 points left, and men overall about 17, by the Times's estimates.
Luke
Those are initial estimates, and they show a shift, not why. Nothing here proves podcasters caused it or even reflect it.
Mark
Is this a break with Trump or just frustration?
Mimi
Mixed. He criticized the Iran war and masked enforcement but praised the border closure and the drop in crime.
Luke
Right, and he says people hear clips instead of him. Even he resists being read as a political signal.
Mark
What about the quieter podcasters?
Mimi
Von and Schulz have avoided the election, though both voiced earlier doubts about the war or the crackdown.
Luke
Silence is ambiguous. It could be disillusionment or just a return to entertainment. The article offers both readings and settles neither.
Le Pouls
- Joe Rogan broke days of silence to declare that Republicans lost 'most of the country,' not just podcast listeners.
- His anger points to the Iran war and masked federal agents in the streets, two forces that have unsettled a once-loyal audience.
- Rival voices from Theo Von to Tim Dillon have gone quiet or turned sharp, and Bannon warns of civil war inside the party.
- Young men have swung sharply left in recent polling, and the fracture in the MAGA coalition is now visible in the most unlikely studios.
- Rogan still praises border closures and falling crime, leaving the coalition split between grievance and partial loyalty as the next elections approach.
On a Friday in mid-November, Joe Rogan, the most-listened-to podcaster in the country, said aloud what many in his audience had been sensing for months: the Republican defeat in the midterms was not confined to young men who followed him, but reached most of the country. He had spent the days before in a deliberate quiet, insisting he hated politics and wanted no part of it, yet his earlier doubts about the war in Iran and the masked immigration crackdown had been gathering like weather. His words belong to a larger human pattern, in which the voices that once carried a movement into power begin, one by one, to step back from it and to ask whether the cost has been worth what was promised.
On Friday, Joe Rogan, the country's most-listened-to podcaster, said something he had been avoiding for days. After a midterm wipeout for Republicans, he told his listeners that the party had lost not only the podcast bros but "most of the country." For weeks his show had steered toward strange hominids and dinosaurs, and he had insisted that politics was "all gross."
Rogan had endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, and many believed his influence helped draw young men to the president. Now he pointed to a war "that no one wants to be in," meaning Iran, and to "militarized police in the streets wearing masks" carrying out the immigration crackdown. He spoke of "nice, good people" caught up without the right paperwork. He still gave the administration credit for closing the border and for a sharp drop in crime.
He was not alone. Theo Von and Andrew Schulz, both of whom had hosted Trump, have turned to other subjects, and Schulz had grown alienated after federal agents killed Alex Pretti, a nurse protesting in Minneapolis in January. Tim Dillon called Trump's reaction "wistful," Matt Walsh declared "the Trump chapter is finished," and Steve Bannon predicted a civil war inside the party.
Some see only a return to comedy's wandering curiosity. Others see a deeper drift: polls show young men moving sharply left, and Clay Travis argues that without Trump on the ballot, the midterms felt like scrimmages. Rogan, for his part, bristled at being labeled, insisting that many people listen only to clips and that taking podcasters so seriously is itself a sickness of our society.
On Friday, Joe Rogan, the country's most-listened-to podcaster, said something he had avoided saying for days. Of the Republicans, he said: "They didn't just lose the podcast bros. They lost most of the country." It came after a midterm wipeout for the party and a stretch in which his show had stayed away from politics, favoring Hobbit-like hominids and dinosaurs, which he wanted listeners to know were real.
Rogan endorsed Donald Trump in 2024 and was widely seen as crucial in drawing young men to the president. On Friday he said support had frayed when the administration got "into a war that no one wants to be in," meaning the war in Iran. He also pointed to "militarized police in the streets wearing masks," a reference to the ongoing immigration crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said the crackdown had gone too far, targeting "nice, good people that are loved by the community but they just don't have the right paperwork." He still credited the administration on one point: "they closed the border and then crime dropped significantly. Those are good things."
The comments broke a quiet. Just two days earlier, on Wednesday, Rogan had said of politics, "It's all gross; I hate it," adding that he did not like it at all. In an interview the previous week with Calley Means, a former adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a leader of the Make America Healthy Again movement, he had said Republicans "got destroyed" and that some of the president's policies were "deeply unpopular." His concerns were not new. When the United States and Israel launched their first attacks in March, he expressed shock, at one point likening it to a betrayal: "He ran on no more wars."
Rogan was not the only manosphere figure to go quiet. Theo Von, who hosted Trump in August 2024, put a happiness expert on his show this week. Andrew Schulz, whose podcast "Flagrant" hosted the president a month before the 2024 election, has since covered oral sex after marriage and what Hasidic Jews, Amish and Native Americans know that others don't. Von had questioned the war in April, telling Rogan he was sick of rich people not sending their children to fight, and that if oil was the goal, "I'd rather walk." Schulz had grown alienated after federal agents killed Alex Pretti, a nurse protesting an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, in January.
The shift may be partly a return to form for comedians with wide-ranging curiosities and audiences who often want entertainment. It may also reflect something larger. In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that conservative podcasters were tuning out Trump in favor of topics like the Lindsay Clancy trial and the Senate candidacy of James Talarico, the young Democrat who won in Texas. Early data points the same way: The New York Times's estimates show men aged 18 to 29 moving more than 30 points to the left, and male voters overall about 17 points.
Others have been blunter. Tim Dillon, the comedian with about 1.3 million YouTube subscribers, devoted an hour to the midterms and called Trump's reaction "wistful." "People in America exist in two states, broke or not broke," he said. Matt Walsh declared "the Trump chapter is finished," calling Trump an unpopular 80-year-old lame duck. Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles and Steve Bannon criticized Republicans too, with Bannon predicting a "civil war" inside the party. Myron Gaines wrote on X that "a party that hates its own men is destined to lose."
Clay Travis, a conservative broadcaster, offered a narrower reading: with Trump off the ballot, stakes feel lower, and the midterms are "scrimmages" compared with 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Rogan, who signed a Spotify deal reportedly worth up to $250 million in 2024, also bristled at being labeled. Gallup groups him among right-leaning influencers, alongside Tucker Carlson, who has broken with Trump over Iran. Asked by a guest what he was angry about, Rogan said many people listen to a narrative or a clip rather than to him, and that to many he represents the right or far right. He also downplayed his own weight, saying podcasters are not "press people" and that it is "a sickness of our society" that people take their opinions so seriously.
Citations marquantes
They didn't just lose the podcast bros. They lost most of the country.— Joe Rogan
When Trump isn't on the ballot the stakes feel far lower with most of the audience.— Clay Travis, conservative broadcaster
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