Democrats Had Their Own Joe Rogan. His Name Was Joe Rogan. | Bobby Burack

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Joe Rogan, an independent podcaster, is arguably the most influential voice in media today. For weeks, television hosts and journalists have lamented Rogan’s influence on the 2024 election, following his endorsement of Donald Trump.

“We went from Walter Cronkite, basically, to this guy, Joe Rogan, who believes in dragons,” Joy Behar whined last week on “The View.”

Others at NBC, MSNBC, and the New York Times say Rogan’s influence proves the left must establish an equivalent. “Liberals need to BUILD THEIR OWN JOE ROGAN,” Elie Mystal of the Nation magazine wrote on X.

Here’s the kicker: the left had their own Joe Rogan. His name was Joe Rogan.

Rogan is not a conservative, at least in the traditional sense of the term. He had never voted for a Republican presidential candidate until this month. He voted for Barack Obama twice and supported Bernie Sanders in 2020. 

Rogan supports abortion by choice, higher minimum wage thresholds, widespread legalization of marijuana, and governmental health care – beliefs that historically align more with the Democratic Party.

But the party shifted.

OutKick published a column last week detailing how the Democratic Party’s unhealthy fixation on stopping Donald Trump drove the party out of touch with reality, leaving the median voter behind.

For Rogan, it was the Democrats’ embrace of draconian Covid measures, censorship, neo-Marxism, and open borders that pushed him away. For others, it was promoting transgenderism, America second polices, and BLM.

As Bill Maher frequently wails, he didn’t change. The Democrats changed.

“This is one thing that keeps coming up like, ‘We need our own Joe Rogan’ right?” Rogan joked on his podcast Tuesday. “But they had me, I was on their side.”

The party’s shift leftward didn’t only alienate former supporters like Rogan, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Financial Times found that the average voter agrees: the Democratic Party moved too far left.

Put simply, Trump didn’t radicalize the Republican Party. He radicalized the Democrats who were trying to destroy him.

Strategically, the Democrats should not be in the business of “building their own Joe Rogan.” Rather, Democrats should look at themselves in the mirror and come to grips with the realities that lost them people like Rogan in the first place.

Of course, the party will not do that. Nor will its loyal allies in the legacy, leftist media. Already, they are doubling down on the mistakes that cost them the moderate vote, as in the gaslighting, fear porn, and baseless accusations of racism, sexism, and misogyny.

And for that reason, a true left-wing equivalent to Joe Rogan will not emerge.

See, Rogan’s influence didn’t grow because he turned on Democrats. Rogan hosts the No. 1 podcast for the same reason that Rush Limbaugh dominated the radio airwaves for decades: he now provides an alternative voice.

There was no need for a Rush Limbaugh of the left because NPR, the New York Times, and the Washington Post had already oversaturated that voice.

Fox News has always had more talented hosts than CNN and MSNBC. However, Fox News also filled a much-needed market demand by representing middle America. Meanwhile, CNN and MSNBC echoed the same talking points as ABC, CBS, and NBC – just in a more cartoonish tone.

Likewise, the guests who would appear with the “Joe Rogan of the left” are the same guests who show up on late-night television, award shows, “GMA,” and “Today.” Rogan is unique because he gives a platform to the most ostracized voices, like Alex Jones and Edward Snowden, an actual hero.

The legacy media can’t replicate alternative media because the success of alternative media is a symptom of the legacy media’s ills.

Still, Kamala Harris held a significant advantage over Donald Trump in terms of media and messaging. 

While “conservative” podcasts are powerful, they don’t reach more voters than the legacy media as a unit, as in all three broadcast networks, two cable news channels, and nearly every major newspaper publication.

The number of celebrities who endorsed Harris outnumbered Trump by at least three to one, even if they were paid to do so.

Harris held an equally substantial advantage in terms of social media. Harris had Facebook, Google, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok on her side. Trump had X, though his support here was more original than algorithmic. According to Pew Research, X is more ideologically balanced (more X users identify as “Democrats” than “Republicans”) than its majority-left social media rivals. 

Kamala Harris didn’t lose the election because of Joe Rogan. Harris lost because she was a second-rate candidate, her party detached from working-class Americans, and she prioritized abortion and Jan. 6 over the economy, border, and safety of Americans.

A Joe Rogan of the left would not have solved those problems. The Democrats’ issues are much larger.