Joe Rogan’s podcast propelled Trump to victory—and changed the rules of political communication

7 November 2024, 09:22

By Andy Coulson

There was one man absent from the stage during Donald Trump’s historic declaration of victory this morning.

The podcaster Joe Rogan got an honourable mention from his friend Dana White at the Florida lectern, but he should have been top of the President Elect’s thank you list.

Because it was Trump’s mammoth three-hour conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience, which has since racked up a staggering 49.95 million views on YouTube, that may well go down as the key turning point in this election. It may also have fundamentally changed the nature of political communications for the foreseeable future.

For those bewildered by America’s decision to put Trump back into the White House, the answers all lie in this rambling, bewildering, hilarious, terrifying and strategically superb podcast appearance.

Given Rogan’s worldview, it was likely that he was going to get an easy and useful ride when they sat down together on October 25th, but it turned out to be so much more than that.

Rogan had provided Trump with a direct line to an audience of 32 million people and the rare opportunity to speak to both his supporters – who make up 32% of Rogan’s listeners – and undecided or ‘other’ voters, who account for 35%.

Trump was able to cover his waterfront dropping a mix of wild promises, self-serving boasts and enticing teases. All delivered via the Trump ‘weave’ that unique method of communication that has served him so well and that leaves traditional political comms experts flummoxed.

Trump even took the time to explain ‘The Weave’ to Rogan saying: “I like to give the weave ... you have to be very smart to do the weave. We’re talking about little pieces all over here but it always ends at home ... for the right people.”

In other words, only smart people are in on the joke. And only smart people can understand that there’s method in my rambling, often non-sensical, factually suspect monologues.

Those ‘little pieces’ ranged from borders to tariffs (“what a beautiful word), from UFC (“what a beautiful sport”) to UFOs (“I’ve seen the files and maybe they exist”) and from Ukraine (“I’ll call Putin and end the war”) to the Kennedy assassination (“I’ll open the files and you’ll be amazed”). Trump tickled every electoral tummy.

Kamala Harris was offered the same opportunity to access Rogan’s 80% male audience, half of whom are under 34, but she declined. No doubt it would have been a more difficult conversation, but Harris will now be wishing she’d grabbed it.

Because it was for sure her best chance to talk directly to the people who have this morning helped carry Trump into a historic and unlikely second term.

Trump is now President Elect. The Joe Rogan Experience is now one that any politician with ambitions will want to share. And podcasting is now officially the most powerful platform in political communication.

The Rogan moment also gave us a possible glimpse of Trump’s plan to create a dynasty. During the podcast he revealed that it was his son Barron’s idea to take so much valuable time out from the campaign trail to kick back with Rogan.

With that whip-smart piece of son-to-dad advice, Barron, the 6ft 7ins 18-year-old may have helped change the course of American history.

Promoted through the family ranks to be the favoured child standing next to his father on stage, he may have also fired the starting gun on his own political career.

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Andy Coulson is founder of strategic advisers Coulson Partners and host of the Crisis What Crisis podcast.

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