Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 29, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS)
In one sense, Donald Trump’s interview on The Joe Rogan Experience was an old record, played too often. The three rambling hours of Trump’s conversation with arguably the most popular and powerful podcaster in the US were filled with boasts of his own popularity, intelligence and “deal-making” skills. America’s mainstream liberal media — which, even in its reporting, seems to be writing editorials against the Republican nominee for president — promptly fact-checked the interview: CNN, for example, pointed out 32 lies repeated by Trump in the interview.
Around the same time as Trump was asking Rogan for his endorsement (he didn’t get it) in Austin, Texas, Kamala Harris was at a Houston event, with Beyonce rallying with and behind her. On the face of it, an endorsement by one of the world’s biggest stars is better than airtime with a podcaster. After all, Harris’s message in Houston was to the point (women’s choice and safety) and Trump’s meandering answers — the “weave”, as he called it, which was meant to bring in stories but just made him go off on unnecessary tangents — seemed to be answering questions Rogan did not ask. But in all the things he said to Joe, Donald revealed something about himself.
Donald Trump is in love — and not just with himself.
The man who would be president is desperate for the approval of the ultimate bro. In that desperation, there is an authenticity that explains how a billionaire with little political experience has become a hero to lonely men. And in politics, looking authentic is more important than being truthful: The YouTube video of the interview had 25 million views in less than 24 hours — a record. Apart from Trump’s usual diatribes — against migrants, “crooked Hillary” and “stupid Kamala” — what stood out was his obsession with the male body and beauty. In a Freudian nightmare, he discussed the length of Abraham Lincoln’s bed and how his tall son Barron would fit in it, the beauty of MMA fighters’ bodies and the virile handsomeness of fighter pilots. This adulation of manly men was peppered with compliments for Rogan, a comedian, MMA commentator, conspiracy theory enthusiast and vaccine sceptic. Trump even said he would reveal the conspiracies behind the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr if elected President, much to Rogan’s (and some of his audience’s) delight.
All this may seem pathetic — counterproductive, even — to people who think that strength is what the American (or for that matter, any) male is looking for in a leader. But they are wrong. And the answer to Trump’s desperation for his approval may also be the one to Rogan’s popularity.
The interview — in both its content and popularity — is a symptom of the completely shifting vote bases of America’s two major parties. As Fareed Zakaria pointed out, the Republican Party’s base is now, largely, working-class, rural and small-town men without a college degree (increasingly cutting across race), while urban, educated upper-middle-class Americans are with the Democrats.
The difference between the two parties now, though, is that Trump and his gang seem to be aware of this shift, while Harris and her camp are slower on the uptake.
For his audience, Rogan has credibility. He is curious and often intelligent but not “intellectual”. He is obsessed with fitness but enjoys (on the podcast) revelry with his friends. He is a comedian, an “outsider”, who is also a fighter and a millionaire. He’s rich, but not a champagne-and-caviar guy. Most of all, he owes much of his success to the failure of America’s liberal media.
Take the hypocrisy of the establishment media’s conniptions about the Ukraine conflict and its attitude towards Gaza. Or, the fact that too many journalists have bought into the archetype of the combative interview, where they want a “gotcha” moment rather than draw out their subject into shooting themselves in the foot. Rogan allowed Trump to speak and was clearly sympathetic. But he was the same way with Bernie Sanders in 2020.
For many men, lobotomised by video games, reels and pornography, Rogan is an ideal. Clearly, he is that for Trump as well — for all his claims of being loved by everyone, there certainly seemed to be an insecurity there.
Politically, though, it’s far from certain that the interview helped Trump. Many of the 25 million YouTube viewers (and the millions on other platforms), like this writer, were likely curious about Trump: To see him speak, without editorialisation — not as a caricature or a villain about to “destroy democracy” but as he wants to be seen. And there’s little more there than the caricature, even at his best.
Trump’s interview may have gone down well with a male base of a particular kind. It had nothing, however, for people on the fence — for women, free market champions, minorities and centre-right liberals. For the non-bhakts, the former president’s Joe Rogan experience is a bit cringe-worthy at best, and laughable at worst. And the Donald knows, better than most, that a punchline can destroy a political career (he coined such classics “sleepy Joe Biden” and “crooked Hillary Clinton”).
Unfortunately, Rogan gave us a glimpse of “simp Donald Trump”.
But then, it’s not like Kamala Harris’s rally broke a YouTube record — even with both Beyonce and Taylor Swift on her side.
aakash.joshi@expressindia.com
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 30-10-2024 at 16:35 IST
