Joe Rogan sits down for a podcast with Michael Douglas. Then he goes on an all-guns-blazing rant about the Democrats: ‘I’m not going to vote for that’

Ledes: Rogan has backed candidates from both major parties in the past

Actor Michael Douglas joined Joe Rogan for a Wednesday episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. The conversation turned to politics when Douglas, known for his long identification as a Democrat and his role in the movie Falling Down, brought up Rogan’s earlier endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Rogan noted that he had dropped that support the previous month.

The two then talked about Rogan’s pattern of backing candidates from both major parties over the years. From there, Rogan explained the reasons he no longer felt aligned with the Democrats. He said the party’s actions on several fronts had left him thoroughly disgusted.

Rogan listed his main objections in sequence. He focused first on immigration policy, then moved to the way the party has chosen its presidential nominees, and also addressed its handling of Covid-19 measures.

Rogan details objections to border handling and election processes

On immigration, Rogan stated, “First of all, the open border was INSANE.” He described steps that went beyond simply leaving the border open, including providing instructions for entry and arranging transport to cities where people were housed in hotels.

“It was really clear that a game was being played,” he said. Rogan added that people could speculate about motives such as seeking cheap labor or converting arrivals into long-term voters for one side, but concluded, “I don’t know what it is. But it was something.”

He continued with a direct address to the party: “If you want me to be a Democrat while you’re just letting people fly in, I’m like ‘Hey! Fix that! It seems crazy to have 10 million people of unknown origin enter into your country over a period of four years.” At several points during these remarks, Douglas responded with “yeah, yeah.”

Rogan next turned to candidate selection. He pointed to “the fact that they haven’t had a primary since 2012.” He described a process in which the priority of winning led the party to set normal procedures aside.

“If it’s like, ‘We have to win, so we’re just going to push that aside, and here’s your candidate!’ What the F–k are you doing? That’s not how it’s supposed to be done, and if you want me to vote for that – I’m not going to vote for that. That seems crazy. That seems dangerous.”

He also spoke about the period when Joe Biden held the presidency. “You know Biden wasn’t the F–king president for four years. It’s really clear his mental ability was severely declined,” Rogan said. He suggested that others had been directing decisions behind the scenes because of that decline. Rogan has previously raised concerns about Trump’s age as well.

Rogan expressed further disapproval of what he called the party’s “coercion” on Covid-19 vaccines and related rules. “It was all crazy!” he said, gesturing with his arms as he spoke. These combined issues, he explained, prompted his support for President Donald Trump. He added, however, that he has not approved of every step Trump has taken, including the decision to launch the Iran war despite promising none, a topic he has raised more than once on the show this year.