I listened to the whole three hours of the Donald Trump-Joe Rogan interview, which now has over 30 million views on YouTube. For context, the Call Her Daddy podcast with Kamala Harris got about 600,000. Think about that.
What stood out to me is that Trump maintained his energy, his humor, and his mental quickness throughout three hours and then went and did a rally in Michigan. It is easy to forget sometimes that he is 78 years old, and I saw absolutely no signs of cognitive decline some on the left are claiming. None.
Instead, he was fascinating. I really enjoyed the back and forth. Rogan said it was going to be a conversation, not an interview. And that is what it was. As a member of the press, I do interviews. It is a different job. But what Rogan did was really interesting and totally brilliant.
The Range of Topics
He asked Trump about whether he is going to release the JFK files if he gets back into office because he released some but not all when he was president the first time. Trump said he would and gave a little color. He shared that they could embarrass some people, but he didn’t seem to telegraph that there will be something earth-shattering in them.
Rogan asked him if he believes in aliens and life from outer space coming to the United States and shooting at us in the air. Trump, to me, kind of signaled he isn’t necessarily a believer himself, but he admitted he has spoken to these badass pilots who can’t explain what they have encountered up there any other way.
I loved the part when Trump described how he went into the fight against ISIS. He talked about how they flew into some unsafe country at night, and they told them they had to turn off the lights on Air Force One. And Trump was like, ‘Really? Are we in that kind of a situation?’ And he walked us through the moments he got there.
He spoke very admiringly about our military leaders – not Mark Milley and John Kelly – but the actual guys out in the field doing the job with our troops. He talked about how strapping they were and how strong they were. Trump was clearly looking up to them in a way.
They talked about the Afghanistan withdrawal. Trump put a lot of color on exactly how he would have handled that differently. He asked what kind of a moron pulls the troops out first instead of last. He mentioned how he pulled a little kid up on stage at a rally and said, ‘When you are in a bad area and you’ve got the military guys there, should the military leave before the civilians or after?’ And the little kid said, ‘After.’ Trump said, ‘See, even a kid gets it.’
Trump touched a little bit about his debates on the presidential stage. He talked about our debate back in 2015 and my question to him, which he cannot seem to get over.
Trump’s Depth of Knowledge
Anyway, I loved the whole thing because it showed Trump can talk about anything. That is one of the things that impressed me. They spent this whole section talking about UFC fighting, which Trump has a genuine interest in. Rogan brought up wind turbines and what they are doing to the whale population. Trump was informed. He had done his homework.
Rogan was pushing nuclear energy, and Trump revealed his hesitation to it. It was a throwaway line, but he talked about how he worries about how a nuclear plant would be a massive terrorist target. It was great to hear him talk about this. It was a window into what is driving his thought process on energy.
He opened up about what it was like walking through the White House for the first time. He spoke of seeing the Lincoln bedroom and how big the bed was. That is exactly the kind of thing you would want to ask Trump if you got to speak to him at a dinner party. But we never get to speak to him at a dinner party. We only get to hear him across from people like me who start hammering him about the stuff that we are supposed to because we are journalists.
Kamala Can’t Do It
It was really great stuff, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Trump showed such a depth of knowledge on so many subjects, and all I could think – and, of course, Trump said it as well – was there is zero chance Kamala Harris could do this.
We know she is the one who has been turning it down. Rogan revealed he did offer her the platform. It wasn’t Rogan who said, ‘I don’t want her.’ He offered it to her. He asked her again to do it. She won’t because she can’t.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 928 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.