July 22, 2025 - 9:30pm
Last week, an obscure Democratic state representative got an unexpected boost from Joe Rogan. James Talarico, a Bible Belt Democrat who has built a near-million-strong following on TikTok, was given an entire episode of The Joe Rogan Experience to set out his stall.
A committed Christian with a gift for lofty, Obama-style rhetoric, Talarico speaks with the calming certainty of a country pastor. His message is simple: be kind, love others, and drive the moneylenders from the temple. After a two-hour, feelings-heavy conversation, Rogan seemed convinced: “James Talarico, you need to run for president.”
Of such stuff are national careers born. The Democrats, desperate for a star, will be watching closely. But the semi-endorsement also marks quite the turnaround for Rogan, who, just eight months prior, endorsed Donald Trump.
Lately, he has been coming out against the means and manner of Trump’s deportation wave, calling it “horrific” that “people who aren’t criminals are getting lassoed up and deported”.
So it goes. Trump was funny. Trump was a purgative to the system. But Rogan has always jealously guarded his core identity: that of a disappointed Democrat; a 90s man, who still believes in social spending and universal healthcare.
Now, with Trump in the doldrums, many others in the podcast circuit seem to feel it’s time to open up a little healthy distance. Rogan is not alone: Andrew Schulz, who interviewed Trump in October 2024, has lately shown more bite on his own show: “Everything he campaigned on. I believe he wanted to do. And now he’s doing the exact opposite. I wanted him to stop the wars. He’s funding them. I wanted him to shrink spending. He’s increasing it. Everything except immigration.”
Even more so: since the Epstein list fumble, the world of shows built on speculative journalism with kooky dissidents, on the truth being out there, has descended into confused seething. Schulz accused Trump of “insulting our intelligence” while fellow podcaster Theo Von re-posted a clip of JD Vance saying: “We should release the files” on his show last year, with a sarcastic: “Yeah what changed?”
The cultural energy of that world has run one way for so long; suddenly its leading lights are in difficult second album territory. Which way do they go?
As time goes by, the minor differences of style will increasingly magnify. It’s notable that Schulz is attacking Trump from the Right, while Rogan is tackling him from the Left.
Unlike Steve Bannon-style headbangers in the adjacent but unrelated MAGA sphere, the Rogan-type podcasters are at their best whenever they can switch it up. Importantly, they are religious observers of all kinds of vibe shifts, not just the most recent one. After all, they have advanced YouTube analytics for every minute of every show — the best kind of market research there is.
So rather than trying to reverse-engineer their own version of the manosphere, Democrats might be wiser to simply watch and wait. The ecosystem of podcasters, influencers, and alt-media figures isn’t easily bought or co-opted, but it is highly responsive to cultural drift. When the mood shifts, when the faith fractures, when even the most loyal personalities start asking uncomfortable questions — that’s the moment to hammer down on those issues. If you find mush, you must push.
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