Joe Rogan, one of the world's biggest podcasters, has issued a stark warning to the US public, saying they're 'in dark territory' in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination.
On the latest episode of his infamous podcast with long-time producer Brian Redban, Rogan made a terrifying apocalyptic warning in light of the dangerous rhetoric that has now been normalized across the political divide.
On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being a full-blown civil war, the 58-year-old said the response to the death of conservative commentator Kirk 'might be like step seven on the way to a bona fide civil war'.
Kirk, 31, was shot dead on September 10 in Utah while he was holding a debate with college students. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson has since been charged with his murder and is awaiting trial, which is expected to begin next year.
Advert
The last time that brother took up arms against brother in this country, a horrifying 2.5 percent of the population (700,000) is estimated to have died - which would be 8.5 million if scaled up to the current population of the country.
Rogan, who backed President Trump in the 2024 election and has trended rightward in recent years, pointed to how some 'regular people' had celebrated Kirk's murder 'in front of their wife and kid on television in front the whole world.'
The influential podcaster added: "As soon as you celebrate that, like man, you’re in dark territory."
Recent Politico polling has shown an upward trend in sections of the population expressing support for political violence, with 24 percent agreeing that it is sometimes justified.
This proportion rises to around one in three for people aged under 45.
But while Rogan had hard words for the way that regular citizens responded to the shocking assassination, he continued to give Trump the benefit of the doubt for his role in inflaming political rhetoric.
He slammed the BBC for editing two sections of Trump's infamous January 6 speech to make it appear that the president was clear in calling on supporters to storm the Capitol, because 'if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore'.
However, despite his reticence, it does appear that a gulf is growing between Rogan's powerful podcast and the Trump sphere, though the podcast host made sure to step carefully.
Despite calling the BBC edit 'crazy', Rogan said that Trump's rallying call to 'cheer on our brave senators' was clearly sarcastic and an attempt to get the crowd to 'scare' the congress and intimidate senators to not certify the results of the 2024 election.
He also said Trump's claims that the election was stolen required more proof, without going so far as to say that he was lying: "If you say that, you've got to have some really good evidence that you can give out."
This isn't the first time Rogan has criticized Trump, with him previously saying of the Trump administration's militarized mass deportation campaign: "I really thought they were just going to go after the criminals."
This was in reference to Trump 'ripping parents out of their communities'.
Regarded by his fans as a politically independent arbiter of free speech, Rogan stopped short of fully attacking Trump in this latest episode, later admitting that Trump has 'got a lot of things going on', with a short, vague, reference to his continuous scandals and cryptocurrency moves.
Topics: Joe Rogan, Podcast, Politics, Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump
William Morgan