Kamal Ghorui
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 “dorks” and “unintelligent”.The exchange, which unfolded across separate podcast appearances this week, shows how far apart Rogan and the administration have grown, especially on immigration policy, the war with Iran and the handling of the Epstein files, issues where Rogan has openly criticised the president and federal agencies rather than offering the earlier broad support he once did.
Rogan’s remarks on MAGA supporters
Rogan made the comments during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, released on Thursday, March 26, while speaking to comedian and political commentator Dave Smith. The podcast, widely regarded as the most listened to in the United States according to Spotify, has increasingly become a space where Rogan has aired criticism of 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 f**king dorks, because a lot of them are dorks.” He went further, drawing a distinction between what he described as genuine supporters and others he was more critical of: “A lot of them are these really weird, fking uninteresting, unintelligent people that have got something they cling to, and there’s a lot of people that are just real genuine patriots, and they’re all lumped into this one group, and you got to accept the dorks, too? F that.” The remarks came during a broader conversation in which Rogan criticised the United States’ military actions against Iran, describing the situation as a “clusterf**k” and suggesting it ran counter to campaign promises to avoid foreign conflicts. In a separate episode earlier two weeks ago, speaking to independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, Rogan said: “It just seems so insane based on what he ran on… I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘No more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”
A shift in Rogan’s stance
Rogan had previously endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but has since taken a more critical tone. 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 figures. He has also criticised the handling of the Epstein files and raised concerns about what he sees as increasingly aggressive or militarised policies, marking a notable shift from his earlier support.
Vance responds: ‘We love our dorks’
Vance addressed Rogan’s comments during an appearance on The Benny Show on Saturday, March 28, hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.The vice president was asked ‘what he thinks’ of Rogan’s remarks and if he ‘considered himself to be a dork’, Vance dismissed the criticism but did not fully reject the premise. “I think we have many, many fewer dorks than the far left, but everybody’s got some dorks,” he said. “We love our dorks. We love our cool kids. We love anybody who wants to save the country.” Johnson also pressed Vance on Rogan’s claim, made in a separate episode with former US 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 rejected it outright:“I did not see Joe say this. I’m going to text Joe because that is definitely wrong.” He went on to defend the administration’s immigration record: “The numbers from the Obama administration or any other administration, they weren’t doing a tenth of what we’re doing. So Joe is wrong on this, we’ve been the best administration in American history at deporting illegal aliens. The problem is we also followed the worst administration at letting them in. So there’s a lot of work to do.” Vance added that the administration was now focused on reversing what he described as the impact of policies under President Joe Biden: “We’re taking the flood of people that Joe Biden led into our country and getting them out.”
