Podcaster Joe Rogan appeared to jokingly throw out the possibility of the United States looking to annex Mexico after taking control of Canada, an idea that President-elect Donald Trump has suggested numerous times lately.
Rogan was hosting a podcast with fellow comedian and podcaster Theo Von, who asked him what he thought about Canada possibly merging with the US.
“Do you think that they’ll take Canada in to be the 51st or 52nd state, whichever one it is?” Von asked.
“Here’s what I think. I think we take Canada, and then we go right into Mexico,” Rogan responded.
Explaining himself, Rogan went on to say that the move might be the best in the interest of safety and joked that it could solve the border crisis.
“Everybody keeps sneaking over. How about we just let them stay here,” Rogan continued. “Just like, how about we go into that? How about what I said? How about … instead of trying to, like, let all the bad stuff in, how about we make this like totally lockdown safe and then expand safety? Expand it. But you got to do it without stripping people of their rights.”
On Tuesday, Rogan appeared to show support for Trump’s idea of annexing Canada, posting a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post in which he said, “Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State.”
Rogan commented on the post by saying, “I say we let Mexico in too.”
Trump has put several other countries and territories on his wish list for American expansion, saying earlier this week that the US would look into regaining control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
When asked if he would vow not to use the military in his efforts, he refused to, saying he couldn’t rule anything out.
“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you have to do something,” Trump said at the press conference. “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China, China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China.”
Trump also floated the idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” something that sparked a response from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“I mean obviously ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ the name, is recognized by the United Nations. An organism of the United Nations. But next, why don’t we call it ‘Mexican America’? It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Sheinbaum said at a news conference, The Hill reported.
As for Rogan’s comments, it’s not clear if he was totally joking or if he actually would support the idea of annexing Mexico.