Donald Trump and Joe Rogan covered a broad array of topics in a highly-anticipated episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience,” which quickly went viral, amassing over 22 million views within 24 hours.
While this impressive view count doesn’t place it among YouTube’s most-watched videos in a day, it still marks a notable cultural moment.
The record for a 24-hour view count is held by BTS’s “Butter,” which garnered 108 million views on release, while Taylor Swift’s “ME!” reached 65.2 million.
Throughout Friday’s interview, Trump revisited many themes he’s highlighted in his campaign.
He claimed that the war in Ukraine would never have started if he were president, criticized debate moderators for allegedly failing to fact-check Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, and called for a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15%.
He also repeated his unproven claim that the 2020 election was “stolen,” a belief that has continued to be a central talking point.
“I want to talk about 2020 because you’ve said you were robbed in 2020,” Rogan probed. “How do you think you were robbed? Nobody ever lets you finish.”
Trump responded by reiterating conspiracy theories, alleging that mail-in ballots were not secure and that the Democrats “used Covid to cheat.”
He went on to claim that “judges didn’t have what it took to overturn an election.”
The conversation then took a series of unexpected turns, venturing into topics like marine life, space exploration, and historical anecdotes.
Trump shared an unusual story about Abraham Lincoln’s supposed fear of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
“Lincoln had a, I don’t know … it was a phobia, as golfers would say, about Robert E. Lee,” Trump recounted. “He thought, ‘I can’t beat Robert,’ because Lee won many battles in a row.”
The dialogue shifted to extraterrestrial life, where Trump expressed doubt about aliens but shared accounts he’d heard from military pilots who had seen “very strange” objects in the sky.
“I’ve never really been a believer,” Trump said, “but some of these pilots, they’ve seen some pretty interesting things.”
Discussing the possibility of life on other planets, Trump entertained the idea, saying, “There’s no reason not to think that Mars and other planets couldn’t have life.”
Rogan then reminded him, “Well, Mars – we’ve had probes and rovers there, and it doesn’t seem like there’s life there.”
The interview highlighted Trump’s willingness to dive into both political controversies and fringe topics, from aliens to the Civil War.
While Rogan’s conversational approach offered a freewheeling exchange, it underscored Trump’s distinctive style and focus on unconventional themes, which continue to draw attention from millions.