"Real Time" host Bill Maher mocked the Democratic Party's attempt to find "their Joe Rogan," pointing out the irony that the podcaster had leaned left until he became disillusioned with the party.
The host explained, "One idea that's getting a lot of attention is the Dems need to find their Joe Rogan, a liberal Joe Rogan." Maher argued that rather than "conjuring up a new Joe Rogan," Democrats should be asking themselves how they lost him in the first place.
Rogan previously endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., in the 2020 election. It wasn't until 2024 that Rogan publicly endorsed President Donald Trump.
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The "Real Time" host lampooned the idea that the real reason why former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election is because "Republicans have a podcast."
"Okay, maybe. Or, you could consider this," Maher jeered. "Instead of conjuring up a new Joe Rogan, ask yourself why you lost the old one, because he used to be on your side."
In 2024, regarding the Democratic desire to find its own Rogan, the podcaster said, "They had me." "I was on their side," he added.
Maher compared Rogan's political transformation to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was also a liberal who ended up being "driven to the other camp by bad attitudes and bad ideas."
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Maher noted that he's watched the political evolution of both Rogan and Musk and their party affiliations didn't switch "overnight."
Maher referenced a 2022 post on then-Twitter from Elon Musk in which he shared a chart depicting his feeling that the Democratic Party had moved too far to the left for him, rather than his ideology moving to the right.
Rogan said that Democrats have moved so far that it "left a basically liberal centrist like him - now labeled a conservative," adding that he related to Musk's post.
Maher also highlighted attempts by the left to cancel Rogan and Musk as a key reason they abandoned the party.
"They tried real hard to cancel Rogan a few years ago - and when Elon hosted 'Saturday Night Live' in 2021, well before he was a Trumper - some of the cast gave him the cold shoulder for the sin of being rich," he recalled. "You think people don't remember when you do this s--- to them?"
The late-night host asserted that while he's never left the party, Democrats need to work hard to get "all the guys in America like Joe and Elon" back on their side, but assured them that it's still possible.
