During a recent episode of JRE, Joe Rogan sat down with Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and spoke about Donald Trump’s comments regarding Canada becoming the 51st state, his own feelings toward Canada as a country, and a phone conversation he said he had with Trump directly on the subject.
Rogan opened the topic by framing it as a widely discussed narrative stateside. “So, there’s a narrative in America and the narrative is that you were about to win and your party was about to win, but then Trump came along and said he was going to turn Canada into the 51st state and everybody went crazy. Is that accurate?” he asked Poilievre.
When Poilievre responded that it was “a crazy thing to say,” Rogan agreed. “Understandably. Yeah. I mean it’s a crazy thing to say,” he said.
Rogan then revealed he had spoken with Trump directly about the 51st state remarks. “I talked to him on the phone about it. It was like so funny. He’s like at first I was joking but then people were like it’s a good idea,” Rogan said, before adding his own assessment: “That’s not a good idea.”
Later in the episode, Rogan tied Trump’s comments directly to Poilievre’s electoral outcome. “I wonder what would have happened if he didn’t go along with that 51st state nonsense. You know, I mean that that is the narrative in this country. Like I said, that if he didn’t do that, you would have won,” he told Poilievre.
Throughout the episode, Rogan made clear that his grievances were with the Canadian government, not the country or its people.
“I love Canada. Like I just say I don’t go up there anymore, but it’s because I think the government went horribly wrong over the last, you know, x amount of years. But the people are amazing,” he said.
He described Canada in notably warm terms. “It’s like America with like 20% less as*holes. Like every time I would go up there like people are so nice,” he said, noting he had been attending the Montreal Comedy Festival since 1993 and considered it one of his favorite places.
Rogan also revealed he had stopped attending UFC events held in Canada as a personal protest against the Trudeau government.
“I’ve avoided it just because of the government. Just because of what was going on as a protest,” he told Poilievre. He ended the episode with a conditional promise: “Well, if you win, I’ll go up there.”
