“He’s got to unite people. He’s got to not attack the left, not attack everybody. Let them talk their shit, but unite. Now it’s time to unite everybody,” said comedian, UFC color commenter and podcaster Joe Rogan about former President Donald Trump this week in the wake of his reelection.
Trump is known for making controversial comments and giving political opponents embarrassing nicknames. Recent examples include his vow not to be “nice” after an assassination attempt on his life and calling the U.S. a “garbage can of the world,” due to its immigration policies.
This did not stop Trump from winning the popular vote in the recent election.
Rogan made his recommendation about Trump “uniting” the nation while he was interviewing Libertarian comedian Dave Smith on his popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Thursday. Just before the election, Rogan had Trump himself on the show for a three-hour episode.
“When I was talking to him about what it was like to actually govern for the first time ever – it’s a daunting task,” Rogan told Smith, adding: “He had to trust people that he knew and he didn’t know who was telling him the truth,” to help him with tasks such as political appointments.
While Smith said that he was supporting Trump in the election, he also revealed that he was disappointed in Trump’s appointments the last time he was in office, from 2016 through 2020.
“I think from now until Jan. 20, the pressure should be on Trump to do better on the appointments than he did last time,” said Smith. “He’s got a lot of better people around him than he ever had in 2016 or 2020.”
Rogan and Smith listed some of the people in Trump’s camp who they like: Democrat-turned-Republican U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-Hawaii); former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; Trump’s VP pick, Sen JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former presidential candidate and environmental lawyer. He recently left the Democratic party long associated with his family to become an independent.
Kennedy, Rogan and Smith have all been critical of vaccine mandates.
Smith also added former FOX News host Tucker Carlson into the mix, though Rogan added that Carlson is a little obsessed with demons,” and that he thinks aliens are angels and demons.
“I’m not convinced of that,” said Smith. “But I do think he’s great on war and immigration.”
A person Smith doesn’t want to see Trump pick is former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Republican.
“He was floating out Mike Pompeo as the Secretary of Defense, and he did have Mike Pompeo speak at his final campaign event. And to be clear, Mike Pompeo is Liz Cheney’s pick for defense secretary. It’s Hillary Clinton’s pick for defense secretary,” Smith said.
Trump recently criticized Cheney – a former Wyoming representative who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign even though she’s a Republican – for being a war hawk. He faced backlash for saying that she should face guns trained on her face if she wants to be pro-war.
“Bring in the non-interventionists, man,” said Smith in his own recommendation for Trump. He name-checked U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), calling them “the America first guys.”
Smith, who is Jewish and has spoken out against the ongoing war in Gaza, also said that while he supports Trump’s rhetoric on the war in Ukraine, he thinks “his rhetoric on Israel is very bad,” and that he should distance himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He likened the prime minister to the late John McCain, a war veteran and Republican who served as an Arizona senator and unsuccessfully ran for president against former President Barack Obama in 2008.
“This is like one of the first times ever where there’s a real chance to make real tangible change that’s going to be for the good of everybody,” said Rogan of his hopes for the incoming Trump administration.