On Thursday, Joe Rogan, the millionaire lunkhead who operates the most popular podcast in the world, introduced his alternative for the 2024 presidential election. Predictably, Rogan, who likes to be regarded as an unconventional man, goes with somebody fairly unconventional: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
On his podcast this week, Rogan stated that Kennedy was the one candidate that “is smart.” “I’m a fan. He’s the one one to make sense to me,” Rogan stated. “He’s the one one which doesn’t assault folks. He assaults actions and concepts, however he’s rather more cheap and clever.” He added: “He’s a reputable man.”
Rogan additionally claimed that get together politicians “gaslight” and “manipulate” voters and that the one candidate who was not doing that was RFK. “That’s politics. They do it on the left, they do it on the correct. They gaslight you, they manipulate you, they promote narratives, and the one one who isn’t doing that’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr,” Rogan reiterated.
On Friday, Kennedy responded to Rogan’s endorsement. “From one ‘reputable’ man to a different, thanks @JoeRogan for at all times placing substance first,” said the candidate, through X.
After all, Rogan isn’t alone. A sure share of the inhabitants is all in on Kennedy, and FiveThirtyEight’s nationwide polling common at the moment has him pulling round 5 percent of the vote. Upon first look, it might be sorta onerous to know why. The checklist of the candidate’s foibles is lengthy: He talks like a crow, is reputed to have once been a serial philanderer, has been caught (a number of instances) posing with useless animals, frolicked with Jeffrey Epstein and Invoice Cosby, has admitted {that a} worm as soon as ate part of his brain and then died, has unfold baseless conspiracy theories, and, earlier this week, admitted that he retains a complete freezer full of “roadkill meat.” Yeah, he’s a bizarre man. However the foundation for the power of his candidacy goes past the candidate himself.
The rationale that third-party candidates are so interesting to voters is as a result of our two-party system sucks. That Simpsons meme says all of it. However the issue with voting for a third-party candidate is that they’re not going to win. In modern history, no third get together has ever managed to take the White Home, which implies that such candidates just about at all times perform as a “spoiler” for one really viable candidate or one other. Voting for them actually simply implies that you’re voting for the Democrat or Republican who’s harm least by their candidacy.
The ongoing question with RFK has been whether or not he’ll take extra votes away from Trump or Biden (now Harris). Although some polls declare Kennedy hurts Trump extra, others present him chipping away at Democratic assist in key battleground states. Kennedy has additionally acquired funding from the same people funding Trump, and was inspired to run by Trump allies, like Steve Bannon. Kennedy not too long ago discussed endorsing Trump and even floated the concept of taking a job in the next Trump administration, ought to he win. Kennedy’s model appears deliberately designed to attraction to disaffected Democrats; his standing because the black sheep of a once-great, politically “blue” dynasty appears geared in the direction of left-leaning voters who really feel alienated from the present Democratic Occasion.
Rogan’s endorsement is simple to dismiss, however it’s price remembering that he has over 14 million Spotify listeners, a lot of which skew young and male. In a decent race the place each vote counts, Rogan’s affect isn’t essentially insignificant.
In 2020, Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. Later Rogan stated that he would rather vote for Trump than Biden. Rogan later admitted that he had really voted for Jo Jorgensen, the libertarian candidate. In 2016, Rogan additionally voted libertarian, tweeting: “I voted for Gary Johnson, and I lean FAR extra left than proper.” In 2009, Rogan tweeted that he had voted for Obama, however solely “as a result of Ron Paul, a REAL republican wasn’t on the poll.” Once more, Ron Paul is broadly considered to be a libertarian and ran for President on the Libertarian Occasion line in 1988.
In brief, Rogan could not observe a celebration line however with out fail, he loves to select a loser.
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