Joe Rogan Experience #2565 brought actor Michael Douglas into the studio ostensibly to discuss his new memoir, but the conversation veered sharply into politics, with Rogan launching an extended breakdown of why he turned away from the Democratic Party. Rogan delivered it directly to Douglas, a lifelong self-identified Democrat.
The exchange began when Douglas noted that political affiliation is often generational.
“We have a real problem with having two distinct different parties only,” Rogan said in response, before adding, “I don’t think it’s healthy for us. I think it enhances this tendency that we have to be very tribal and to have this us versus them thing and to ignore all the craziness that our side is doing because it’s our side.”
From there, Rogan itemized his grievances. On immigration, he said, “it was insane to just not only leave the border open, but give people instructions on how to get in and also transport them to cities and then put them up in hotels.”
He speculated about motives ranging from cheap labor to padding congressional districts. He concluded, “It’s crazy insane to have 10 million people of unknown origin enter into your country.”
He moved to the 2024 Democratic primary process. He stated, “You also got the fact that they hadn’t had a primary since 2012… The whole thing is supposed to work a very specific way and if it’s like we have to win so we’re just going to push that aside… Here’s your candidate… What are you doing? That’s not how it’s supposed to be done.”
Rogan then turned to Joe Biden’s fitness for office: “You know that Biden wasn’t the president for four years. It’s really clear that his mental ability was severely declined. He was compromised.”
He added that unnamed figures were actually running the country. Rogan stated, “And then they gas lit us for four years while whoever is behind the scenes unelected is actually running the country,”
He also criticized COVID-era policy, saying, “I didn’t like the whole COVID vaccine mandatory thing that they were pushing for those four years. I didn’t like the coercion. I didn’t like keeping people from flying.”
Douglas, for his part, mostly listened and redirected, later steering the conversation toward his own concerns about Ukraine, Russia and nuclear disarmament, telling Rogan he hoped Donald Trump might pursue a Nobel Peace Prize by brokering a reduction in nuclear stockpiles.
Rogan called it “a great utopian idea” but was skeptical any nation would actually give up its arsenal.
Michael Douglas is a longtime, self-identified Democrat who has supported the party and its presidential candidates over the years, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Beyond electoral politics, the Wall Street actor has been an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament and serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace.
