MMA analyst and political commentator Luke Thomas took direct aim at the bro-comedy podcast world during a recent episode of his show, arguing that figures like Tim Dillon, Andrew Schulz, Joe Rogan, and Theo Von played an outsized role in elevating figures who later proved damaging, and that their current backpedaling falls well short of any real accountability.
Thomas pointed to the interview between Dillon and JD Vance as a central example, noting that both the podcasters and their audiences were swept up in a sense of self-importance.
“They thought that those guys were being very, very disruptive in a good way, disruptive to the mainstream media’s ability to control conversations,” he said. While acknowledging that the free-form podcast format offers real advantages, such as longer discussions and the freedom to explore topics traditional outlets might avoid, he argued those benefits were ultimately undermined by a lack of pushback.
“JD Vance gets up there and just says a bunch of lies about what they were going to do and what the problems of America were,” he said. “He says some truthful things too, but he says a bunch of bulls**t and never gets called out on any of it. There’s no pushback at all. They just gave these guys runway to take flight.”
Thomas was equally critical of how these figures are now responding. “You’re seeing guys like Schultz backpedal,” he said. “You’re seeing Dillon massively backpedal. Rogan to a degree is trying to backpedal, although I think he’s trapped. Theo Von trying to backpedal. And I mean, the list goes on and on.”
His central argument was not that changing one’s position is inherently wrong, but that none of them have taken ownership of their role.
“None of them have come out and said, you know what, I messed up,” he said. “I facilitated these people in a way that I shouldn’t have. I asked questions and I avoided questions because I wanted to have a loose fun atmosphere.”
He went further, calling out what he sees as selective criticism: “Tim Dillon just berates middle America constantly for their slovenly behavior without reflecting on his role,” he said. “And Andrew Schulz is very, very quick to criticize the Trump administration without reflecting on his role.”
Thomas also pointed to a second layer of responsibility tied to timing, arguing this was not simply a case of being misled early on.
“This was the second crack these guys had,” he said. “Like you got to watch the first crack and then you got to watch January 6, and then they still decided to go all in.” He added that by the second campaign, structural changes had already been identified and reported on by left-leaning media, making the eventual outcome more predictable.
“There was no denying what was coming,” he said. “And then these guys are like, how did this happen? It happened because you guys are grossly, grossly, grossly out of your depth.”
He closed by drawing a firm line on accountability: “If you’re going to make an error and you know you made an error, the only way to really get back is to say, I made an error. Let’s set this right,” he said. “And they won’t even do that.”
