The Daily Populous Friday April 10th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by superdouradas

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Joe Rogan said on the Wednesday episode of his popular podcast that he thinks President Donald Trump may have started the war in Iran to distract the U.S. public from the Epstein files.

During the episode, Rogan's guest, Arsenio Hall, claimed that "misdirection" is "the story of American politics."

Rogan agreed with Hall and argued that former President Bill Clinton started "bombing some other countries" — a reference to the 1999 bombing of then-Yugoslavia — to distract Americans from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The podcast host then claimed the U.S. war in Iran was the latest example of politicians using war to distract from domestic issues.

“Look, the Epstein files comes out — we go to war with Iran. It’s a good way to get people to stop talking about certain things,” Rogan said.

“You give them a new problem to think about.”

open image in gallery Joe Rogan insinuated that President Donald Trump used the war in Iran to distract the American public from the Epstein files during the Wednesday episode of his podcast ( Getty )

Trump was referenced numerous times throughout the Epstein files, and his former friendship with the disgraced financier and accused child sex trafficker is public record.

The president has not been accused of or charged with any crimes relating to Epstein and has insisted that he broke off his friendship with the sex offender long before Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution, including from a minor.

Rogan endorsed Trump in 2024, but his opinion of the president has degraded rapidly since the war in Iran began.

The podcaster has criticized Trump's "Operation Epic Fury" in Iran, warning that it could drag the globe into World War III. He also questioned Trump's age, fearing the 79-year-old may act recklessly because he "doesn't have much to lose."

“That’s spooky. That’s spooky. You’re making decisions for babies and children and the future of the world, and you’ve only got 10, maybe 10 years left on Earth if everything goes great,” Rogan said during his March 11 podcast.

open image in gallery Joe Rogan has become increasingly critical of President Donald Trump since the start of the Iran war ( The Joe Rogan Experience/Spotify )

During the same episode, Rogan said Trump's supporters felt "betrayed" by his decision to go to war.

"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," Rogan said.

While Rogan and more moderate Republicans may have felt betrayed by Trump's attack on Iran, polling had shown that the president's MAGA base overwhelmingly support his decision.

Rogan doesn't consider himself MAGA and recently called Trump's base "f****** dorks" bent on fulfilling Biblical end-times prophecies.

On March 26, Rogan complained about Trump's slogan, saying it "sucks" and that "America is great."

"Make America greater? I'm down," Rogan said, before turning his ire on Trump's MAGA followers.

He said that MAGA has become "a movement of a bunch of f****** dorks because a lot of them are dorks. A lot of them these really weird, f****** uninteresting, unintelligent people that have got something they cling to and 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!”

Rogan continued, complaining that "crackpot Christian nationalists" had joined the MAGA movement and were boosting the war in Iran "as a way to get Jesus to return on a white horse."

The Independent has requested comment from the White House.

Tremor_Sense on April 10th, 2026 at 02:14 UTC »

Man, if only Rogan once had a chance to ask Trump some tough questions instead of those interviews where they just throw softballs at him, huh?

DS3M on April 10th, 2026 at 02:10 UTC »

You’re complicit, Joe, congrats

joeyGibson on April 10th, 2026 at 02:08 UTC »

No shit, Joe.