US Vice President JD Vance has responded to criticism from podcast host Joe Rogan after Rogan described supporters of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as “stupid” and “intelligent”.The exchange, which unfolded in separate podcast appearances this week, shows how far apart Rogan and the administration have grown, particularly on immigration policy, the war with Iran and the handling of the Epstein files, issues where Rogan has openly criticized the president and federal agencies rather than offering broad support as before.
Rogan’s comments maga supporter
Rogan made the comments during an episode of The Joe Rogan ExperienceReleased on Thursday, March 26, talking to comedian and political commentator Dave Smith. The podcast, which is widely listened to in the United States according to Spotify, has increasingly become a venue where Rogan has criticized the Trump administration. Discussing the MAGA movement, Rogan said: “That phrase sucks… ‘Make America Great Again,’ and then it becomes a movement of a bunch of idiots, because there are a lot of them idiots.” He went on to distinguish between those he described as genuine supporters and those about whom he was more critical: “There are a lot of them who are really weird, yet not interesting, goofy people who have something to cling to, and there are a lot of people who are actually true patriots, and they’ve all lumped into this one group, and you have to admit the idiots too? F that.” The comments came during a wide-ranging conversation in which Rogan criticized the United States’ military actions against Iran, describing the situation as a “clusterf**k” and suggesting it runs contrary to campaign promises to avoid foreign conflicts. In a separate episode two weeks ago, speaking to freelance journalist Michael Shellenberger, Rogan said: “It seems pretty crazy based on the premise he ran on… I mean, that’s why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘No more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have a war that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”
Change in Rogan’s stance
Rogan previously supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but has since taken a more critical stance. In recent episodes, he has questioned the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, arguing that raids can target individuals without serious criminal records and describing the issue as more complex than simple deportation statistics. He has also criticized the handling of the Epstein files and raised concerns about increasingly aggressive or militarized policies, marking a marked change from his earlier support.
Vance responded: ‘We love our dorks’
Vance addressed Rogan’s comments during an appearance benny show on Saturday, March 28, hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.Asked by the Vice President ‘what he thinks’ about Rogan’s comments and whether he ‘considers himself a fool’, Vance dismissed the criticism but did not completely dismiss the premise. “I think we have a lot less dorks than the far left, but everyone has some dorks,” he said. “We love our kids. We love our good kids. We love everybody who wants to save the country.” Johnson also pressed Vance on Rogan’s claim, made in a separate episode with former U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Bill Thompson, that former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were “better at deporting people” than Trump. Vance said he had not seen the comment directly, but dismissed it outright: “I didn’t see Joe say it. I’m going to send a message to Joe because it’s definitely wrong.” He defended the administration’s immigration record, saying: “The statistics of the Obama administration or any other administration, we were not doing even a tenth of what we are doing. So what’s wrong on this is, we have been the best administration in American history at deporting illegal aliens. The problem is that we have also followed the worst administration at letting them in. So there is still a lot of work to do.” Vance said the administration is now focused on reversing what he described as the effects of policies under President Joe Biden: “We’re taking the flood of people that Joe Biden led into our country and taking them out.”