Joe Rogan in contrast Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “the Gestapo” within the newest episode of his in style podcast Tuesday, brazenly breaking with President Donald Trump on his administration’s immigration enforcement ways.
Rogan, one of many greatest podcasters on the planet, had endorsed President Donald Trump within the 2024 election simply days after holding a three-hour interview with him on “The Joe Rogan Expertise.” The present, which has persistently retained its No. 1 spot on the Spotify podcast charts, has greater than 20.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
However on Tuesday, Rogan, who has been more and more crucial of Trump’s mass deportation agenda in latest months, expressed concern over ICE’s actions in an episode that includes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. He mentioned that “most individuals” imagine regulation enforcement ought to arrest criminals, however that lots of the identical folks additionally imagine ICE is “working illegally.”
“I can even see the viewpoint of the folks that say, ‘Yeah, however you don’t need militarized folks within the streets simply roaming round snatching folks up, lots of which prove to really be U.S. residents that simply don’t have their papers on them,’” Rogan mentioned. “Are we actually going to be the Gestapo? ‘The place’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”
Viral movies of ICE brokers behaving aggressively whereas detaining folks on streets, in public areas and at immigration hearings have flooded social media over the previous yr, stoking outrage and worry in cities throughout the nation. Stories of brokers arresting authorized residents and U.S. residents, in addition to of alleged abuse at detention facilities, have additional eroded public belief and tolerance as protests escape in areas with ICE exercise.
Rogan additionally criticized final week’s deadly capturing of a girl, Renee Nicole Good, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Trump and Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem have alleged that Good was attempting to run the agent over along with her automotive, with Noem calling it “an act of home terrorism.” These claims, nevertheless, have been thrown into query by movies and eyewitnesses.
Rogan mentioned it was “very ugly to observe somebody shoot a U.S. citizen, particularly a girl, within the face.”
“It simply appeared horrific to me,” Rogan mentioned. “I imply, when individuals are saying it’s justifiable as a result of the automotive hit him, it appeared like she was form of turning the automotive away.”
The DHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Rogan is a part of a circle of comic podcasters — lots of whom are usually not overtly political however have mass enchantment with conservative-leaning audiences — that Trump courted to spice up his visibility and enchantment throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Final yr, focus teams of 18-to-29-year-old Trump voters — noticed by NBC Information as a part of the 2025 Deciders collection, produced by Syracuse College and the analysis companies Engagious and Sago — discovered {that a} handful of voters mentioned podcasters like Rogan helped to influence them to vote for Trump.
However in latest months, many podcasters in that circle have expressed open discontent with the administration they helped propel into workplace.
Rogan has referred to as ICE’s deportations “f—ing loopy,” saying in a single podcast episode that he “actually thought they have been simply going to go after the criminals.”
Andrew Schulz, host of the “Flagrant” podcast, has equally turned on the president, saying he felt duped. Schulz, who interviewed Trump on his present forward of the 2024 election, expressed remorse for his vote inside six months of Trump’s inauguration.
“Every thing he campaigned on, I believed he wished to do,” Schulz mentioned in a July episode. “And now he’s doing the precise reverse factor of each single f—–g factor. … I voted for none of this. He’s doing the precise reverse of every thing I voted for.”
And “This Previous Weekend” host Theo Von, who additionally interviewed Trump in 2024, had declared his help for the president whereas attending Trump’s inauguration final yr. However when the official DHS X account used a clip of him to advertise ICE arrests in September, Von said that he didn’t consent to be featured within the now-deleted DHS video.
“I do know you recognize my handle so ship a test. And please take this down and please maintain me out of your ‘banger’ deportation movies,” Von wrote on X. “In terms of immigration my ideas and coronary heart are much more nuanced than this video permits. Bye!”
