Podcaster Joe Rogan questioned President Donald Trump’s decision to add partisan plaques to the Presidential Walk of Fame, saying there is “nothing nuttier” than the move.
“He needs, like, a right-hand man who goes, ‘Sir,’” Rogan said on the December 23 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, raising his eyebrows.
“He’s also losing it too, you can tell,” comedian Tom Segura, Rogan’s guest on the episode, replied.
“I think everybody does when you get to a certain age,” Rogan added, nodding to renewed concerns about Trump’s health. The president is now 79. When he returned to the White House in January, he became the oldest person to be inaugurated president.
Why It Matters
Joe Rogan holds outsized influence with a large segment of American voters—especially younger men. He has 20.6 million subscribers on his YouTube channels, and his podcast ranks number one among the most popular on Spotify.
According to last year’s data, 56 percent of the show’s audience were adults ages 18 to 34 and 80 percent were men—demographics that backed Trump in large numbers in the 2024 election, when Rogan invited him on the show.
According to the Center for American Women and Politics, 55 percent of men voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while 43 percent voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
While Rogan’s audience includes listeners from across the political spectrum—32 percent identifying as Republicans and 27 percent as Democrats—54 percent of weekly listeners leaned toward Trump in last year’s presidential election, according to a late October poll cited by EMarketer. Only 26 percent favored Harris.
Rogan had also invited Harris to appear ahead of the election, but the two sides never reached an agreement: Harris wanted a one-hour sit-down interview, while Rogan pushed for a three-hour conversation.
What To Know
On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, Rogan publicly backed Trump, saying he was persuaded after an interview with billionaire Elon Musk, then a close Trump ally.
Trump quickly celebrated the endorsement, and discussion swirled about how much weight Rogan’s support might carry with his listeners—particularly younger men. At the time, Trump described it as “great” news.
But Rogan has repeatedly criticized Trump and his administration since the start of the year, signaling that the endorsement did not translate into unwavering loyalty.
One major point of friction has been Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown and mass deportations in the U.S., including cases involving people with no criminal records.
“I did not ever anticipate seeing that on TV on a regular basis,” Rogan said in an October podcast episode, describing footage of immigration enforcement officers “ripping parents out of their communities.”
“I really thought they were just going to go after the criminals,” he said. “If you have been here for 25 years, you have a family, your kids go to school here, you speak the language…you’re just illegal, but you’re a contributing member to the community that up until now has been protected,” he added. “This is crazy.”
Rogan has also criticized the administration over Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension earlier this year from ABC following comments about the shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, as well as what he characterized as restrictions on free speech at universities.
In the December 23 episode, Rogan turned his attention to Trump’s decision to overhaul plaques in the White House’s Presidential Walk of Fame, replacing them with new descriptions that Rogan and Segura suggested were overtly subjective.
Biden is currently the only president without a portrait, instead displayed with a photo of an autopen signature—an apparent nod to Trump’s frequent claim that the former president was unfit for office by the end of his term.
“There’s nothing nuttier than the plaques under the presidents’ names…How is this real? How are you allowed to do that?” Rogan said. “The autopen photo of Joe Biden? Crazy,” he added.
Rogan suggested the authority to make such changes likely existed for every president, but said it appeared no one had used it this way before.
What People Are Saying
Activist and author Amy Siskind wrote on X: “When you’ve lost the Joe Rogan show.”
Journalist Gretchen Carlson wrote on X, reacting to the Rogan-Segura exchange: “Uh, you guys made it real!”
The Daily Beast posted on X: “Joe Rogan has come to terms with the fact that the man he endorsed for president in 2024 is not all there one year later.”
Segura said on the December 23 podcast: “This presidency, though, does feel like a parody of a real thing. Like, it doesn’t even feel real.”
Rogan responded: “There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t feel real.”
What Happens Next
The bronze plaques Trump installed in the White House’s Presidential Walk of Fame are expected to remain in place through the end of his second term.
During the December 23 episode, Rogan suggested the display should eventually be treated like a museum exhibit. “It should be the facts of his presidency; what happened during his term,” he said. “They should have the Trump wing. This is what happened when he was president.”
