Jealous? Bernie snags coveted Joe Rogan endorsement, Democratic establishment cries ‘problematic’

Sanders posted a clip of Rogan’s “endorsement” — hardly an official statement — to Twitter on Thursday, sending the democratic socialist’s rivals into paroxysms of jealousy. Unlike many so-called “influencers” in mainstream media, the UFC commentator has a truly massive audience, with almost 7.3 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel alone and millions more downloading through platforms like iTunes.

While Sanders appeared on Rogan’s show himself last year, the talk-show host didn’t lock in his support for the Vermont senator until earlier this week, during an episode featuring the abrasive New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, which became one of the most-disliked episodes in the history of his show for reasons that had nothing to do with Sanders and (judging by the comments, at least) everything to do with Weiss. The Sanders endorsement went largely unnoticed – until the candidate’s team unearthed the choicest morsels and unleashed them on his social media followers.

The woke brigades (and, one suspects, a liberal sprinkling of Sanders haters) immediately declared Rogan “problematic,” insisting the candidate disavow him.

The talk show host deserved to be “canceled,” the prevailing wisdom went, because he had “platformed” such wrongthink perpetrators as Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos – two conservative figures officially declared “haters” by Facebook — and made un-PC jokes about topics including gender and race. Of course, Rogan has also had progressives on his show — Sanders, for example — and indeed one of the reasons for his popularity is his willingness to listen to voices from all over the political spectrum. Suddenly, however, this openness was not OK.

Sanders supporters marveled at the outbreak of hypocrisy, noting that former Sanders rival had appeared on the decidedly un-PC Howard Stern show — to crickets…

…and that other candidates have appeared with much more objectionable figures without their fans complaining.

More tellingly, many of Sanders’ political rivals have apparently tried and failed to get invited on Rogan’s show — suggesting the outpouring of Sanders hate has more to do with jealousy than any genuine moral umbrage. “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the second-most downloaded podcast on the iTunes charts.  

Rogan ironically referenced the many failed hit jobs on Sanders in the clip itself, marveling that the “insanely consistent” candidate didn’t seem to have any deep dark secrets to weaponize. “Look, you can dig up dirt on every single human being that’s ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment and you magnify those moments and you cut out everything else and you only display those worst moments,” Rogan said.

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With even the most popular news network – Fox News – averaging just 2.57 million prime time viewers last month, it’s no surprise Sanders’ rivals are panicking at the massively popular Rogan’s support for one of the few candidates willing to seriously challenge the status quo. Even the New York Times claimed only 9.3 million daily readers as of 2016. Between podcasts and YouTube views, Rogan’s “problematic” show could apparently dwarf both, with millions of views and downloads per episode – just one of his channels racked up over two billion views in two years. No wonder they want him cancelled. 

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