6 Key Takeaways on the Joe Rogan-Donald Trump Interview
I just finished the Rogan-Trump interview, I wanted to share my thoughts with it still fresh in my mind.
Let’s not bury the lede here to start: This will be the most impactful political interview of my lifetime, including before and after. Attempts will be made to emulate it moving forward, because it will be the model moving forward, just as the JFK-Nixon debate in 1960 was a generational harbinger. But whatever comes next will take a back seat to this precedent-setter for the following reasons:
1) Rogan arguably has the largest reach of any singular show since Oprah. But it’s also whom his audience largely is—men who view themselves as some form of truth-seeker but also distrusting of the existing political/informational paradigm. For better or for worse, more discipleship of the next generation of male headship in this country is done via Rogan than the church (by the latter’s choice).
Breaking News. Spirit-Filled Stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now!
2) Trump is arguably now the most famous living person in human history. And yet the largest platform in the country was still able to grant him the opportunity to counter so many misconceptions of who he actually is, what he actually think and the resistance movement he represents. This interview alone won’t erase nearly a decade of malevolent corporate journalism, but it’s a D-Day invasion-level event. The marriage of the largest alternative media platform yet devised and the biggest living threat to the current media-political-industrial complex has established a beachhead in the enemy’s occupied territory. Just as June 6, 1944, forever shifted the momentum in the last great war, it is quite possible Oct. 25, 2024, will be seen by future generations as the great momentum shifter in the great information war.
3) The beneficial effect of this to candidate Trump would be the greatest (and most expensive) media ad buy in world political history. And thus a buy that probably isn’t possible given the resources needed and the perfect pithy message also required to maximize it and capture the attention/imagination also needed. Meanwhile, this could be the most-watched interview in all of human history. And it featured a candidate—whose previous two presidential campaigns were decided by less than 130,000 total combined votes in the decisive swing states—being granted an unfettered opportunity to redefine himself to millions right as the election is happening.
4) More epistemological damage was done to the spirit of the age threatening to destroy Western civilization in this interview than what the combined efforts of the weak, anemic and effeminate Christian church that gave birth to Western civilization in the first place has systemically attempted in a generation. And it was just two dudes who each have some confused and funky beliefs by the biblical worldview standard just daring to pursue truth, common sense and common good. You can see why the spirit of the age tried to assassinate Rogan’s platform during the scamdemic and is literally trying to assassinate Trump now. Thus, you can also see why it’s not trying to assassinate many of our pastors. Sadly, most of them are nowhere near the threat these two guys holding this conversation are (or, even sadder, even want to be).
5) The greatest example of this, IMO, was the conversation about environmentalism. Trump displayed an impressive command of the issue and in this interview did more damage to a key cog of the Left’s religion than I have ever seen done in one setting. And, again, given the post-partisan makeup of most of Rogan’s audience, consider the opportunity there. This was a form of cultural evangelism. Trump was literally debunking the Left’s climate hoax/occult religion the way John of Damascus did to Islam or Francis Schaeffer deconstructed the counterculture. Once again, this is a great threat to the spirit of the age. If Trump-Rogan are able to repackage common sense and have it transcend the (mostly fake) partisan divide, that is a far more existential threat to the darkness than the current collective state of the church (sadly). Consider the contrast of this conversation happening amid the backdrop of Leftists burning down the Washington Post and LA Times for not rubbing their bellies.
6) A marker was also laid down here of where the culture war will likely head post-Trump. With the church transing itself and thus self-castrated, something must inevitably emerge to confront the darkness. Do I think God would prefer to use our family-values pastors of little vice and less profane speech? Of course, but Gideon blew the trumpet for battle, and the church has mostly decided it’s got better things to do. So men like Rogan and Trump it is, then. That doesn’t mean as believers we compromise our core principles, because we are not permitted such a thing. But it does mean we recognize where the battle is raging, and go there and fight alongside those willing to wage it with us. Not all the men on those boats headed to the beaches of France that June morning were Spirit-filled believers by any means. Cast aside your sweater vests and furrowed brows, and join the battle while we still can.
Because this interview confirms, once and for all, this battle will be had—with or without us.
Steve Deace is a conservative talk show host and author. His program, “The Steve Deace Show,” can be found on the Blaze Media network.
Join Charisma Magazine Online to follow everything the Holy Spirit is doing around the world!
