Joe Rogan, the millionaire idiot who runs the world’s hottest podcast, introduced his option to run within the 2024 presidential election on Thursday. Predictably, Rogen favored to be regarded as an unconventional man, and he would go along with a really unconventional man: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Rogan mentioned on this week’s podcast that Kennedy is the one candidate who “is sensible.” “I am a fan. He is the one one which means something to me,” Rogan mentioned. “He’s the one one who doesn’t assault folks. He assaults actions and concepts, however he’s extra rational and clever. He’s a authorized particular person,” he added. “
Rogan additionally claimed that social gathering politicians “incited” and “manipulated” voters, and that the one candidate who didn’t do that was Robert F. Kennedy. “That is politics. They do it on the left, they do it on the precise. They gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote a story, and the one one that’s not doing that’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” Rogan reiterated.
On Friday, Kennedy responded to Rogan’s assist. “From one ‘legit’ particular person to the following, thanks @JoeRogan for at all times placing substance first,” the candidate mentioned through X.
After all, Logan is not alone. A sure proportion of the inhabitants helps Kennedy, and nationwide polling by FiveThirtyEight at the moment places him at about 5 p.c of the vote. At first look, it is likely to be somewhat laborious to know why. The candidate’s shortcomings are lengthy: He talks like a crow, is claimed to have been a serial playboy, has been caught (a number of instances) posing with lifeless animals, and has frolicked with Jeffrey Epstein and Invoice Cosby Hanging out, admitting {that a} worm as soon as ate a part of his mind after which died, spreading baseless conspiracy theories, and earlier this week he admitted that he had a complete freezer stuffed with “roadkill meat”. Sure, he’s an odd man. However the foundations of his candidacy lengthen past the candidates themselves.
The rationale third-party candidates are so engaging to voters is as a result of our two-party system sucks. The Simpsons memes say all of it. However the issue with voting for a third-party candidate is that they will not win. No third social gathering has been capable of win the White Home in trendy historical past, which implies these candidates nearly at all times function spoilers for one or one other actually viable candidate. Voting for them actually simply means you are voting for the Democrat or Republican who can be least harmed by their candidacy.
The query going through Robert Kennedy now could be whether or not he’ll take extra votes away from Trump or Biden (and now Harris). Whereas some polls present Kennedy doing extra harm to Trump, different polls present he’s chipping away at Democratic assist in key battleground states. Kennedy additionally obtained funding from the identical individuals who bankrolled Trump and was inspired to run by Trump allies comparable to Steve Bannon. Kennedy has just lately mentioned endorsing Trump and even floated the concept of serving within the subsequent Trump administration if he wins. Kennedy’s model appeared intentionally designed to attraction to disaffected Democrats. His standing because the black sheep of a as soon as nice political “blue” dynasty appears to swimsuit left-leaning voters who really feel alienated from the present Democratic Social gathering.
Rogan’s endorsement is simple to miss, but it surely’s value remembering that he has greater than 14 million Spotify listeners, lots of whom are younger and male. In a decent race the place each vote counts, Rogan’s affect is not essentially insignificant.
In 2020, Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. Rogan then mentioned he would reasonably vote for Trump than Biden. Rogan later admitted that he truly voted for liberal candidate Joe Jorgensen. In 2016, Rogan additionally voted libertarian, tweeting: “I voted for Gary Johnson and I lean much more left than proper.” In 2009, Rogan tweeted that he The vote was for Obama, however solely “as a result of actual Republican Ron Paul wasn’t on the poll.” Ron Paul was once more extensively thought of a libertarian and ran for president in 1988 on the Libertarian Social gathering line.
In brief, Rogan might not toe the social gathering line, however there is not any doubt he loves selecting losers.
