The Democratic Party may have a serious problem on its hands.
Podcast host Joe Rogan, who in January endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2020 primary campaign, says he would rather vote for President Trump in the fall if the only other option is former Vice President Joe Biden.
Though Rogan’s remarks were not made as an explicit warning to the Democratic National Committee, which has long backed Biden for president against other 2020 primary candidates, including Sanders, who is still running, the organization probably should take it as such. That is, if someone like Rogan, who is both insanely popular and not particularly interested in politics, has zero intention of supporting Biden, and may even support the Republican incumbent, then the Democratic Party may be in for a world of hurt come November.
Rogan’s comments about supporting Trump came Friday amid a broader discussion with Thiel Capital Managing Director Eric Weinstein.
“I think that in general, people, when they are given no choice at all, express themselves moronically,” Weinstein said.
The host of the Joe Rogan Experience answered, “When they are given no choice at all — how so?”
“I want a choice of an actual president that’s viable,” said Weinstein. “I don’t have one. Now you’re going to ask me which of the nonviable people do you like best?”
Rogan, who is no partisan ideologue and cannot rightly be considered a conservative or a liberal, at this point launched into his thoughts on the current state of the 2020 presidential election.
“This is the real issue with the Democratic Party,” said the host. “They’ve essentially made us all morons with this Joe Biden thing. … I can’t vote for that guy.”
This is the part where DNC operatives should take note. If they are losing previously interested voters from that bloc of people who are only mildly interested in politics and losing them to the point where they may even vote Republican in November, then the Democratic Party’s problems going into the 2020 election may be greater than previously suspected.
“I’d rather vote for Trump than [Biden],” said Rogan. “I don’t think [Biden] can handle anything. You’re relying entirely on his cabinet. If you want to talk about an individual leader who can communicate, he can’t do that.”
The host added, “And we don’t know what the f— he’ll be like after a year in office. The pressure of being president of the United States is something that no one has ever prepared for. The only one who seems to be fine with it is Trump, oddly enough. He doesn’t seem to be aging at all or in any sort of decline. Obama, almost immediately, started looking older. George W. [Bush], almost immediately, started looking older.”
As of this writing, the YouTube video of their discussion, which was posted online on April 3 by the official Joe Rogan Experience account, has been viewed by more than 2.2 million people. That is more than 2 million views in less than 72 hours, none of which is good news for Biden, who has been confined to campaigning from his home.
If the Democratic Party was not worried already about a lack of enthusiasm for its presumptive 2020 nominee, Rogan’s flip should change that.
