Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images
With the 2024 presidential race at a dead heat since the little momentum of a historically insane summer cooled off, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are doing some historically unusual media hits to get in front of alleged voters who might not be watching MSNBC or Fox News. Invariably, with podcasts more popular than ever, the candidates and their VP picks are hitting the circuit of top shows — many of which appeal to young men who want to hear comedians and influencers make jokes and talk about women.
The Trump-Vance campaign, so far, is winning this strategy. In June, Trump appeared on the show of YouTube prankster turned WWE star Logan Paul; surrounded by Paul’s merch (a sports drink called Prime), he dunked on then-candidate Joe Biden and talked about aliens. In July, Vance appeared on the Nelk Boys’ show, riffing with the Canadian YouTube pranksters; surrounded by their merch (spiked seltzer), he defended himself against the “weird” allegations coming from Democrats. In August, Trump went on comedian Theo Von’s podcast, leading to a much-shared clip of the former MTV reality star explaining to the former NBC reality star how cocaine will “turn you into a damn owl, homie.” In a Gen-Z pivot inspired by his youngest son, Trump went on the stream of Adin Ross, where the 24-year-old gave Trump a Tesla Cybertruck with a full vinyl wrap of the most traumatic moment of his life. In October, Trump went on Andrew Schulz’s show, where the comedian laughed in his face when Trump said he was “basically a truthful person.” On Tuesday, Trump went on Barstool Sports’ popular Bussin’ With the Boys, where he told its former-NFL-player hosts that he didn’t like playing football because he didn’t want a “guy from a bad neighborhood” tackling him. The day before, Trump went on with the Nelk Boys too. Surrounded by their merch (spiked seltzer and jerky this time), he teased an appearance on the podcast crown jewel: The Joe Rogan Experience. “I think I’m doing it,” he said.
For years now, Rogan has often been the most popular podcast in America, reaching tens of millions of mostly male, mostly young listeners with its regular formula of guests: celebrities, UFC fighters, comedians, scientists, and billionaires. There have been many controversies— COVID misinformation, antisemitism, saying the N-word a lot — but the show is as popular than ever. For the guests fortunate enough to have caught Rogan’s stoner attention span, an appearance can drive book sales or launch a comedy career or cause streaming numbers to skyrocket on Spotify.
Apparently, both candidates hope it could be a campaign booster as well. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Harris campaign has been in talks to get on The Joe Rogan Experience. Though campaign sources said that nothing has been confirmed yet, a guest spot on the show could help Harris get in front of the same voters Trump has been courting all summer. (So far, the closest Harris has come is her appearance on Call Her Daddy, the ultra-popular advice and comedy show spun out of the Barstool Sports universe; despite being a politically diverse “non-legacy ” audience, it is also a majority female one.)
Trump has also said he’s “considering” going on The Joe Rogan Experience. With Trump’s propensity to say anything at all without backing, it’s possible that Harris has a lead in this race. If either made it down to Austin for the program, it would be a departure for Rogan, who has hosted presidential candidates including Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders, but never a major-party candidate who won a primary. It could also be a little awkward. Rogan has recently complimented both Harris and Trump during the race, but he has also been clowning on both of them for years. If either of the candidates appear on the show, it would be a big win for their newfound media policy. For Rogan, it might just be another day of going from his home gym to his home studio to talk to someone who would benefit from talking to him. At least he would have the opportunity to ask two of his most powerful guests ever about one of his favorite topics: Jeffrey Epstein.
