Joe Rogan, who backed Trump in 2024, faults Iran war, ICE bonuses

Podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed President Trump on the eve of the 2024 election, said Wednesday that some of what Mr. Trump stood for “turned out to not be real,” pointing to the war with Iran and the rapid hiring of immigration agents.

Mr. Rogan made the remarks on “The Joe Rogan Experience” while talking with actor Michael Douglas, 82, a lifelong Democrat promoting his memoir. Mr. Douglas asked how the host feels about the president now, the Daily Beast reported.

Mr. Rogan said voters understood Mr. Trump’s campaign as a promise to end foreign wars.

“What Trump stood for, some of it turned out to not be real,” Mr. Rogan said. “Like ’no wars.’ We’re at a war with Iran, so that wasn’t real. And it’s nuts to just give someone a $50,000 ICE signing bonus, you train them for seven weeks and then give them guns, and you have a militarized force running through the f—ing city streets. It seems crazy.”

Mr. Rogan said he supports removing violent criminals. He said he understands why agents mask up because they get targeted. But he warned that masked, unidentified agents entering cities sets a precedent that will lead people to call it an overstep.

Mr. Rogan’s seven-week figure differs from the numbers in the official debate over ICE training. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, asked about moving the requirement from 42 days to 72, told lawmakers in June that all training starting July 1 would return to 72 days. That announcement came months before Mr. Rogan’s remarks. DHS has said no training hours were cut under the shortened program.

ICE added about 12,000 agents and officers in a year of hiring that more than doubled its ranks, according to DHS figures NPR reported. The agency also offered signing bonuses of up to $50,000.

The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. On Oct. 8, Mr. Trump said the U.S. will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterms while a blockade stays in force, according to The National News Desk. A late-September AP-NORC poll found 69% of Americans say the war has not been worth fighting.

Mr. Rogan has criticized the war since March, when the White House defended the strikes as consistent with an “America First” approach. The administration has still courted him. He appeared in the Oval Office in April when Mr. Trump signed an executive order speeding federal review of psychedelic drugs, Axios reported.