Influential podcaster Joe Rogan this week questioned President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran, saying that some supporters of the president feel “betrayed” by the war.
Speaking about Iran with conservative author and writer Michael Shellenberger in a podcast episode released Tuesday, Rogan said that the military operation “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,” the podcaster, who hosted Trump on his program two years ago and endorsed him on the eve of the 2024 election, added.
Shellenberger responded to Rogan, saying that, on the campaign trail, Trump “said he’s against endless wars.”
“They’re all endless,” Rogan responded, pointing to comments former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made in 2003, at the start of the Iraq War.
“It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months,” Rumsfeld said at the time about the war, which lasted nearly nine years.
Earlier in the podcast episode, Rogan also called the U.S. military action in Iran, “nuts,” while comparing it to an operation in Venezuela earlier this year where U.S. troops captured then-President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to face criminal charges.
“That one was, at least, clean. They go in, kidnap him, get him out. This one’s nuts,” Rogan, whose podcast has almost 21 million subscribers on YouTube, said.
He and Shellenberger went on to discuss the president’s possible motivations for striking Iran, with Rogan questioning whether Trump was influenced by Israel or “war hawks around him.”
Later in the podcast episode, Rogan pointed to the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, telling Shellenberger, “to add [Iran] to the pile, it genuinely feels like there’s a real possibility that we might be entering World War III.”
In response to an NBC News request for comment on Rogan’s remarks, a White House spokesperson defended the president, saying that the decision to strike Iran is “as America first as it gets.”
“President Trump is courageously protecting the United States from the deadly threat posed by the rogue Iranian regime — and that is as America First as it gets. The entire administration is working together to end Iran’s ability to possess a nuclear weapon, use or develop ballistic missiles, arm proxies, or use its now-defeated navy,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
“The President has called attention to the Iranian regime’s threat prior to ever holding office, and his predecessors have talked about doing something for 47 years. Thankfully, President Trump had the courage to finally do something about it, and Iran is being completely crushed under the weight of the United States Military,” Kelly added.
Rogan and other “manosphere” podcasters like Andrew Schulz, Theo Von and the Paul brothers, were credited last year for helping Trump make gains among young men in the 2024 presidential election after they hosted him on their podcasts, which regularly generate viral moments and garner millions of views.
In his election night victory speech in 2024, Trump even thanked some of these podcasters, mentioning them by name.
But Rogan’s criticism of the president this week isn’t the first time in Trump’s second term that the podcasters who helped him in 2024 have spoken out about his policies. In recent months, Rogan, Von, Shawn Ryan and others publicly spoke out against the president’s mass deportation agenda, his administration’s support for Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein records and Trump’s attacks on comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
During a January episode of his podcast, Rogan said he could “see the point of view of the people” who question ICE tactics, adding, “Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”
Trump responded to Rogan’s comments during an interview with NBC News’ Tom Llamas last month. Calling Rogan a “great guy,” Trump said he spoke with the podcaster about his criticisms.
“I think he’s a great guy, and I think he likes me, too,” Trump said, adding, “And, you know, liking me isn’t important. What happens is that — I think we do a phenomenal job, but I don’t think we’re good at public relations.”
Young men’s support of Trump across the country started to wane in public polling and focus groups last year, a trend that has continued this year. A February Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 33% of men aged 18-29 approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, compared to 43% of the same group who said the same in 2025.
A majority of registered voters in the U.S. disapprove of how the president is handling the situation in Iran, an NBC News poll released last week found. Some of the president’s most vocal supporters, like former Fox News host Megyn Kelly and conservative activist Jack Posobiec, have questioned how the Iran offensive lines up with Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran earlier this month, seven U.S. service members have died and Iran has responded by launching strikes against Israel, nearby U.S. bases and other targets in Middle East countries.
The president in recent days has wavered when speaking about how long the war could last.
Last week, he suggested it could take a month or longer, but added that the military was prepared to continue the operation, “as long as necessary.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the war would end “when the commander in chief determines the military objectives have been met fully realized, and that Iran is in a position of complete and unconditional surrender, whether they say it or not.”
On Wednesday, Trump predicted that the war in Iran would end “soon,” and that there is “practically nothing left to target,” in an interview with Axios.
He added, “The war is going great. We are way ahead of the timetable. We have done more damage than we thought possible, even in the original six-week period.”
