Joe Rogan made a surprise appearance at the White House last Saturday, standing behind Donald Trump as the president signed an executive order aimed at loosening restrictions on ibogaine. It is a psychedelic that has shown promising results in treating serious mental illness.
Critics say that on the surface, it seemed like a win for Rogan, who has long advocated for the medical benefits of psychedelics. But look a little closer, and the picture tells a very different story.
Trump signed a piece of paper recommending that research begin on ibogaine. That is essentially all that happened. And in exchange, he secured the endorsement of the most listened-to media personality on the planet, on live television.
Rogan, whether he acknowledges it or not, handed Trump a massive credibility boost at a moment when the president’s approval rating sits at a record low. Even Tucker Carlson recently went on record saying those who supported Trump share responsibility for where things currently stand.
Carlson stated, “You and I and everyone else who supported him. I campaigned for him. We’re implicated in this for sure. It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind’ Or like, ‘Oh, this is bad. I’m out’ It’s like in very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now.”
Rogan, meanwhile, has gone in the opposite direction. Rather than reflecting on his role, he appeared on his podcast with comedian Luis J. Gomez and framed the public backlash as an internet culture problem.
Rogan said, “I don’t fault them for getting whatever hot take, getting mad at me for whatever reason. Go ahead. That’s your thing. You’re allowed to. You’re supposed to.”
The issue is that Rogan has never exactly been known for taking criticism gracefully, which makes the sudden nonchalance feel more like performance than genuine indifference.
Rogan still insists he is politically homeless, a label he has been attaching to himself for years. “I’ve been politically homeless for a long time,” he told Gomez. “Neither one of them make any sense to me.”
Yet he openly texts Trump regularly, socializes within that circle, and now has physically stood in the Oval Office while Trump signed legislation Rogan personally lobbied for. The gap between what Rogan says and what he does has become too wide to ignore.
There is also the uncomfortable reality that ibogaine is unlikely to reach the people who need it anytime soon. Trump will in all likelihood be out of office before the treatment ever becomes widely available.
What Rogan framed as a meaningful policy victory may amount to little more than a symbolic gesture, one that cost Trump almost nothing while earning him a great deal in return.
Some of Rogan’s closest peers seem to be reckoning with difficult questions about their own political alignments. Theo Von has reportedly been getting candid about where he stands. Rogan, by contrast, appears to be moving further into the presidential orbit, which puts him in an increasingly awkward position with an audience that is paying close attention.
When Trump signed the executive order, he admitted on camera that he could barely remember the name of the treatment he was signing into policy. That alone says quite a bit about what this moment actually was.
