Joe Rogan Is Still Trying to Explain Why Due Process Matters

Despite officially endorsing President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 elections, Joe Rogan isn’t going to toe the party line when it comes to the Fifth Amendment. 

Right now, the United States is in the midst of one of the most important constitutional crises in its history as the Executive Branch continues to wage war on the Bill of Rights and the checks and balances that are supposed to protect America from tyranny. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled in an unambiguous 9-0 decision that the Trump administration must facilitate the return of Maryland resident Ábrego García to the United States after federal immigration officials deported him to a prison in El Salvador without trial, a ruling that the president and his Justice Department have roundly mocked and openly defied to the dissatisfaction of one of his most powerful political allies.

While Rogan has no reservations in supporting the dismantling of vital federal agencies under Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” and has generally defended the Trump agenda on his show and on social media, the most influential comedian on the planet cannot abide the violation of due process during Trump’s mass deportations. During an episode of JRE released late last week, Rogan admitted that the Trump’s critics have a point when they protest the president snatching people off the streets and sending them to a Salvadorean prison camp before they can even call their lawyer.

Shortly before the above viral clip started, Rogan defended the Republican agenda and specifically praised the massive cuts made by the unelected Musk and his team of coders by repeating the anti-science lie that past administrations funded studies on “transgender animals,” a demonstrably incorrect talking point that Rogan and other Republican mouthpieces who don't know what the word “transgenic” means have been parroting all year. 

“But then there is also legitimate arguments on the other side,” Rogan admitted. “The other side is making a very legitimate argument about the right to due process, if you get processed, and shipped out of the country and put in a prison in El Salvador. … I think due process exists for a reason, and the reason is, it is horrific for someone to be accused of something they didn’t do, be imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit, and then live in a cell, live in a cage."

However, Rogan stopped short of actually criticizing his good friend and podcast guest who is proudly and stubbornly pushing to deny people like García their right to due process. “Also, you have to deal with the fact that the current administration is dealing with the past administration allowing known gang-members and terrorists to go right through the border unchecked,” Rogan caveated, though neither he nor Jamie ever pulled up the supposed Biden-era executive order mandating either an open border policy or a “Get Into America Free” day for murderers.  

This past presidential election cycle saw Rogan and the greater comedy Manosphere play a larger part in the political process than any group of vaguely and inconsistently conservative comedians have ever played before. After hosting once-and-future-President Trump on The Joe Rogan Experience for one of the most-watched episodes in the history of the world’s most popular podcast, Rogan tweeted a full-throated endorsement of the president just the day before the election, reasoning that anyone with whom his best bud Musk is aligned must be worthy of the White House.

While Rogan clearly understands that abuses of constitutionally enshrined human rights and the eradication of due process are anathema to the founding principles of this country, he remains unable to admit that such illegal overreach is unacceptable behavior from the executive branch and unwilling to endanger his close relationship with the most powerful person in the world. 

Or, as one listener in the Rogan subreddit argued, “Joe’s problem is that he thought he was fighting monsters while he was becoming one.”