Buckley vs. Vidal. Frost Vs. Nixon.
Smith vs. Murray?
Everyone is still talking about the extended debate between Libertarian comic Dave Smith and author Douglas Murray on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
The Spotify superstar set the chat in motion, knowing the two had extremely different views that would make for a compelling exchange. It’s a sad sign of the times when a debate between two well-meaning adults is increasingly rare in pop culture.
The chat did more than let both pundits share their views. It reminded Rogan of an old saw that Uncle Ben taught a budding web-slinger long ago.
With great power comes great responsibility.
<div id="attachment_909815" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah6kirkSwTg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909815" class="size-large wp-image-909815" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-23-PM-2662-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com</div>
The underlying message in the chat? Rogan’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah6kirkSwTg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hugely popular show</a> has been letting some cranks share his podcast microphone. That might not have mattered a few years ago, but now “The Joe Rogan Experience” has the power to shape the political landscape.
Many pundits suggest Donald Trump’s appearance on the show, along with Kamala Harris’ unwillingness to do the same, played a role in the real estate mogul’s victory.
Letting “historians” in Rogan’s studio who resist that label, spread erroneous facts, and refuse to take on their critics, may not be the best way to flex his podcast muscle.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-rogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rogan</a> has played podcast footsie with conspiracy monger Alex Jones for some time. Now, he’s expanding that practice to the format’s detriment. Think Ian Carroll and Darryl Cooper as two recent examples.
The latter called Winston Churchill, <a href="https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/cooper-koureas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The chief villain of World War II.”</a>
“I feel you’ve opened the door to quite a lot of people who now got a big platform, who have been throwing out counter-historical stuff of a very dangerous kind,” Murray said early in the conversation. “These guys are not historians. They’re not knowledgeable about anything.”
“I just think, ‘I’d like to talk to that person.&#8217;” Rogan said of his guest choice.
The far-Left Hollywood Reporter, sensing a weakness in Rogan’s podcasting armor, called the podcaster’s recent tilt, “Dangerous.” That’s overstating it, but <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/joe-rogan-douglas-murray-podcast-1236192416/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it’s neither healthy nor helpful.</a>
A week later, Darryl Cooper arrived to perform his act, which can be described as offering outrageous provocations he then half walks back so he can repeat them all again tomorrow. In September, Cooper had appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast to say that Churchill was the real villain in World War II and that Nazis didn’t want to kill Jews in concentration camps; Jews only “ended up dead” because Germany didn’t have the resources to take care of them.
Murray and Smith didn’t name call or insult one another during the often-tense exchange. Rogan proved an avuncular host, trying to keep the parties on an even keel. The two sparred over foreign policy, the Ukraine war, and, most passionately, the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Murray’s silky-smooth delivery and impeccable grasp of the facts mattered. Smith brought an Everyman’s perspective to the party, often appearing overmatched in the dustup.
<div id="attachment_909817" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909817" class="size-large wp-image-909817" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-13-PM-5832-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com</div>
Who “won” depends partly on who you were rooting for prior to the exchange. Both landed some blows, from Murray detailing the horrors of October 7 to Smith sharing the devastation in Gaza from the extended conflict.
It’s increasingly rare to watch these kinds of debates play out on the pop culture landscape. Hollywood’s near total domination by the Left means there’s little appetite for these healthy exchanges. 
Consider today’s late-night hosts. They all sing from the same progressive hymnal and invite progressive guests on to nod along with the audience. The host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” just raged against President Donald Trump in a Rolling Stone interview. Here’s part of his <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/jimmy-kimmel-trump-late-night-future-interview-1235315906/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jeremiad against all things GOP</a>.
&#8220;There’s no decency. It’s just a bunch of animals [emphasis added], and it’s disgusting… I mean, on the Fourth of July, I still put up a flag, and I’m never going to stop doing that, because I’m never going to let them have that symbol.&#8221;
Does that sound like someone willing to host a free and fair debate on his platform? Why can’t Kimmel invite someone like Dr. Jordan Peterson or Greg Gutfeld on his show for a civil conversation? It would make for compelling TV and might boost the show’s ratings.
Plus, audiences might take away something valuable from it beyond demonizing those with whom they disagree. It’s increasingly clear folks on the Left aren’t interested in that kind of exchange.
There is an exception, though. Classical liberal Bill Maher, both on his HBO talk show and “Club Random” podcast, routinely invites Right-leaning guests to talk out their differences. Think Dave Rubin, Kid Rock, and actor Zachary Levi, to name just three.
<div id="attachment_909819" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909819" class="size-large wp-image-909819" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: YouTube/Club Random Podcast. " width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-36-PM-7260-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: YouTube/Club Random Podcast.</div>
Rogan probably didn’t like to hear someone like Murray, well-regarded in many circles, dressing him down on his own show. He needed to hear it all the same. It’s reminiscent of another pivotal moment from the show’s past.
Rogan invited then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on his show for what appeared to be a tepid chat that let Dorsey slink away from his platform’s censorious ways. Rogan got an earful from his fans who felt he had let the CEO off too easily. So he invited Dorsey back on the show, but brought backup.
He added journalist gadfly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZCBRHOg3PQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tim Pool to the conversation</a>. Pool brought some unflattering receipts, and the exchange proved far more illuminating than the first interview.
Perhaps Rogan needed a reminder of why his show matters and the consequences of having one of the biggest podcasts in the country.
Uncle Ben would be proud if he took that lesson seriously.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073

Joe Rogan’s Smith-Murray Debate Shows The Power And Risk Of Platforming

comedian

Conservatives

Debate

Douglas Murray

Entertainment

Joe Rogan

Libertarian Party

Podcast

Pro-Israel

Pro-Palestinian

Spotify

Ukraine-Russia War

Winston Churchill

World War II

YouTube

Author and columnist Douglas Murray, a staunch supporter of the state of Israel, questioned podcast host Joe Rogan about his streak of guests with an anti-Israel tilt, as he has consistently had clearly anti-Israel personalities on his show.
“Can I ask you something?” Murray began during an appearance on Rogan&#8217;s podcast, where he was also joined by comedian-turned-political analyst Dave Smith. “Since the war in Israel began, and since the war in Ukraine began, you’ve had quite a lot of people who are very against both, in different ways. Do you think you’ve had enough people on who are supportive of the war?”
“I don’t know that word &#8216;enough,&#8217; if that’s a good word,” Rogan answered.
“Let’s say enough people who are on the side of Israel, instead of wild critics,” Murray said.
Rogan, after a back-and-forth in which he conceded that his guests tended to &#8220;tilt&#8221; against Israel, defended his selection of guests.
“Well, I’ve had a few; I believe Gad Saad is on the side of Israel,” Rogan said.
“For sure,” Murray agreed.
“Jordan [Peterson] is on the side of Israel,” Rogan said.
“Do you think you’ve tilted one way?” Murray asked.
“Me, personally?” Rogan responded.
“No, no. Just the guests you’ve had,” Murray said.
“Yeah, probably more tilted towards the idea that perhaps the way they’ve done it is barbaric,” Rogan said, referring to Israel&#8217;s war against Hamas terrorists.
“Why do you think that is? Because interesting your selection of guests &#8230;” Murray pointed out.
“I don’t think about it that way. I just think, I’d like to talk to that person,” Rogan said.
Murray then pressed Rogan on why he brings on people who, Murray explained, simply don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about.
“If you’re going to interview historians of the conflict, or just historians in general, why would you get someone like Ian Carroll?&#8221; Murray asked.
“Yeah, but Ian Carroll, I didn’t bring him on for that purpose,” Rogan  said. “I brought him on because I want to find out, like, how does one get involved in the whole conspiracy theory business, because his whole thing is just conspiracies, y’know?”
“There’s been a tilt in the conversations, both conversations, the last couple years, and it’s largely to do with people who have appointed themselves experts who are not experts,” Murray pointed out.
“I don’t think he appointed himself expert in anything,” Rogan protested.
“Who’s that other dude who thinks he’s an expert on Churchill?” Murray asked.
“Daryl Cooper does not think he’s an expert,” Rogan said. “Have you ever absorbed any of his material? Have you ever consumed any of his podcasts or anything?”
Murray replied:
<blockquote>
I tried. It’s pretty hard to listen to somebody who says, &#8220;I don’t know what I’m talking about but now I’m gonna talk.&#8221; Or, “I don’t know about this.” Or, “I’m not capable of debating this historian but I’m just going to tell you what I think.” &#8230; If you throw a lot of s*** out there, there’s some point at which &#8220;I’m just raising questions&#8221; is not a valid thing. You’re not “raising questions.” You’re not “asking questions.” You’re telling people something. 
</blockquote>
Murray concluded, “I think there’s a whole bunch of guys doing that. Dave is doing that, very obviously. Dave’s a comedian, but he’s now mainly talking about Israel.”
The episode continues with a lengthy discussion of the war between Israel and Hamas, the history and purpose of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other foreign policy issues.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Douglas Murray just called out Joe Rogan in a major way. I love Joe, but seeing him squirm here is hilarious 😂😂 <a href="https://t.co/kMYQRflt3e">pic.twitter.com/kMYQRflt3e</a>
&mdash; Britta | NoSoup4Knowles (@nosoup4knowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/nosoup4knowles/status/1910387329656656030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2017

Douglas Murray To Joe Rogan: Stop ‘Just Asking Questions’

anti-Israel

Hollywood star Woody Harrelson torched Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and said Fauci has done some “extraordinary evil s**t” and knows it.
During his recent appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” <a href="https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1893765243815526484">podcast</a>, the 63-year-old actor and host both said they were hopeful that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has been sworn in as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services — could right some of the wrongs they attributed to Fauci.
“Bobby (RFK Jr.), I really hope he’s able to do some good because he’s certainly a man on a mission,” Harrelson said. “And a man who cares deeply. And I think really heroic how much he stood up for things that he didn’t need to talk about … he just took one arrow after the other over it.”
Rogan admitted he once bought into the “propaganda” against Kennedy and said that he too used to think RFK Jr. was a “kook.” He said then he read his book “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health (Children’s Health Defense)” and changed his mind.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WOODY: “AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug. And of course that was the one they picked … That k*lled friends of mine … Fauci did some extraordinarily evil sh*t, and he knows what he did.” <a href="https://t.co/nvxmaukv3X">pic.twitter.com/nvxmaukv3X</a>
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1893464627368919086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;If all these things [RFK] is saying about Anthony Fauci during the AIDS crisis, if that&#8217;s not true, why is he not getting sued?&#8221; the podcast host said. 
&#8220;I would sue the f**k outta him if he lied about me and said that I was vaccinating foster kids with experimental drugs that were killing them,” he added.
&#8220;The Hunger Games” star criticized the fact that “Fauci was able to get these principal investigators from like all these respectable colleges and put them on these committees&#8230;&#8221;
“He [Fauci] started with the AZT thing [to fight AIDS],” the three-time Oscar nominee said. “And, you know, AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug, and of course, that was the one they picked.”
“And so they started using that again, and I don’t know how many people that killed,” he added. “That killed friends of mine. AZT was very toxic and they finally had to yank it. And now they use different chemical cocktails, but like, Fauci did some extraordinarily evil s**t. And he knows what he did.”
The podcast host pointed out that the Matthew McConaughey movie “Dallas Buyers Club” dealt with the AIDS epidemic — and said that the villain in the movie was based on Fauci.
“That was about people trying to seek alternative treatments to deal with AIDS … that’s Fauci, that’s AZT,” Rogan said. “Magic Johnson got on AZT and it was killing him and he got off of it.”
Harrelson pointed out that Johnson is still alive, suggesting it was because he stopped taking the drug.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woody-harrelson-explains-why-he-no-longer-carries-a-cell-phone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woody Harrelson Explains Why He No Longer Carries A Cell Phone</a>

“Triangle Of Sadness” Photocall  – The 75th Annual Cannes Film Festival

‘He Knows What He Did’: Woody Harrelson Torches Fauci On Rogan Podcast

'He Knows What He Did': Woody Harrelson Torches Fauci On Rogan Podcast

AIDS

Anthony Fauci

Celebrities

COVID-19

Matthew McConaughey

movie

Woody Harrelson

On an episode of &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bEehiZxjT9JwGqR8kT8nE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> this week, host Joe Rogan said billionaire Elon Musk is motivated to do the work for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) because he&#8217;s &#8220;a super genius that&#8217;s been f***ed with.&#8221;
Musk, who&#8217;s the head of DOGE at no cost to the American taxpayer, has increasingly become the target of Democrats since expressing his support for President Donald Trump. Specifically, Democrats have accused Musk of being motivated to lead DOGE for his own financial gain, and other nondescript nefarious reasons that culminate in a supposed &#8220;<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/10/musk_doge_federal_government_vittoria_elliott" target="_blank" rel="noopener">constitutional crisis</a>.&#8221;
&#8220;Elon&#8217;s gonna steal everyone&#8217;s money,&#8221; Rogan said mockingly, referring to Democrats&#8217; complaint that DOGE is trying to gain read-only access to the Treasury system in an effort to spot waste. &#8220;He has $400 billion. I&#8217;m telling you, he&#8217;s not gonna steal your money. I&#8217;m telling you, that&#8217;s not what he&#8217;s doing.&#8221;
DOGE, which is effectively auditing the federal government for waste, fraud, and abuse, can only make recommendations based on their findings. Musk and the department are not permitted to make any changes on their own.
&#8220;What he&#8217;s doing is, he&#8217;s a super genius that&#8217;s been f***ed with,&#8221; Rogan continued. &#8220;When you&#8217;ve been f***ed with by these nitwits that hide behind three-letter agencies, and you&#8217;re dealing with one of the smartest people alive, and he helps Donald Trump get into office and he goes, &#8216;I want to find out what kind of corruption is really around&#8217; &#8212; well, you f***ed up.&#8221;
One example Rogan might be referring to is the FAA&#8217;s <a href="https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/elon-musk-calls-for-faa-administrators-resignation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeting</a> of Musk&#8217;s SpaceX. Back in September, Musk called for the resignation of then-FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
FAA Administrator Whitaker made several incorrect statements today regarding SpaceX. In fact, every statement he made was incorrect.
It is deeply concerning that the Administrator does not appear to have accurate information immediately available to him with respect to SpaceX… <a href="https://t.co/OrtMUvnCNI">pic.twitter.com/OrtMUvnCNI</a>
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1838694004277547121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;You f***ed up and picked the wrong psychopath on the spectrum,&#8221; Rogan continued, &#8220;because he&#8217;s gonna f***ing hunt you down, he&#8217;s gonna find out what&#8217;s going on, and that&#8217;s good, that&#8217;s good for everybody.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s how you should be looking at this, like &#8216;Wow, we have a brilliant mind that is examining these really corrupt and goofy systems and bringing in a bunch of psychopath wizards,'&#8221; the podcast host added, noting Musk&#8217;s team of engineers.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨JOE ROGAN: &#8220;People are worried that Elon is going to steal everyone&#8217;s money. He has $400B. Elon&#8217;s not going to steal your money. That&#8217;s not what he&#8217;s doing. He&#8217;s a super genius that has been f**ked with. When you&#8217;ve been f**ked with by these nitwits that hide behind 3-letter… <a href="https://t.co/GtFe8eLBEP">pic.twitter.com/GtFe8eLBEP</a>
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) <a href="https://twitter.com/AutismCapital/status/1889398883786301695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doge-finds-shocking-government-expenditures-not-approved-by-congress-mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOGE Finds ‘Shocking’ Government Expenditures Not Approved By Congress: Mike Johnson</a>

Joe Rogan, Elon Musk

‘A Super Genius That’s Been F***ed With’: Joe Rogan Explains Elon Musk’s Motivation At DOGE

‘A Super Genius That’s Been F***ed With’: Joe Rogan Explains Elon Musk's Motivation At DOGE

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Executive

U.S.

Podcaster <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-rogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Rogan</a> said that former Vice President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kamala-harris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kamala Harris&#8217;</a> campaign team lied about why she didn’t appear on his podcast — and said he had the receipts to prove it.
During “The Joe Rogan Experience” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajaMFv7vJTc">podcast</a>, the host brought up comments made by former Harris campaign insiders in a new book — “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” — <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/joe-rogan-kamala-harris-campaign-lied-show-1236127126/">wherein they accused</a> Rogan of misleading them in efforts to have her on the podcast following then-former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump’s</a> appearance on his show.
“One of the things they said that [wasn’t] true was that we lied about the day that Trump was coming on. No, we just didn’t tell you that Trump was coming on,” Rogan said. “This is how it worked: Trump was really easy to book. Like, super easy. We offered one day. He said, ‘Yes.’ That was it. It was no, ‘What are we going to talk about? How long is it going to be? Is it going to be edited?’ … It was so easy. So he was already booked.”
“[The Harris campaign] never committed to doing the show … They said that the reason why they did the Beyoncé event in Houston was so that they could be in Texas to do my show,” he added. “They never agreed to do the show. None of that’s true … They also said that they sent someone down here to the studio to do a walk-through of the set. That’s not true … These people didn’t have a date, they never agreed to do the show.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is what actually happened with Kamala not coming on the podcast. <a href="https://t.co/XXvmYs6Cgs">https://t.co/XXvmYs6Cgs</a>
&mdash; Joe Rogan (@joerogan) <a href="https://twitter.com/joerogan/status/1886939488145883634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Even after Trump went on, they offered for me to come to D.C. and do a show with Kamala,” Rogan continued. “But even then … it was only like 45 minutes to an hour. And it was not on my set. And I said that, ‘Look, [Trump] did it here. We should probably do it here, if it’s possible&#8217; … By the way we have all the receipts, by the way. Of course, I have a whole list of conversations that took place …”
Rogan also hit back at the &#8220;idea that we f**ked her over and we f**ked her over for Trump&#8221; and said it&#8217;s not true.
&#8220;But I think it’s someone trying to cover their a** for the fact that she never did it, and if she did do it, it might have had a positive effect … things could’ve been different, who knows?&#8221; the podcast host said, noting the massive response Trump got from it. 
Rogan shared some of the crazy demands from the Harris campaign which included having “staff in the room” and “a stenographer,” noting that Trump was just in there by himself. 
“[The Harris insiders are] saying we were difficult to deal with. Not true,” the podcast host said. “We were super easy. But also it’s got to be the actual real show. It shouldn’t be some fake version of it where I’m sitting in a conference room … They wanted it very controlled, and they were really concerned that [the podcast] wasn’t going to be edited.”
A senior Harris aide told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/02/05/media/joe-rogan-kamala-harris-campaign-lied-about-not-making-time-for-ex-vp/">New York Post</a> that “the reason the Vice President didn’t appear on Joe Rogan was simply scheduling.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-gave-them-an-open-invitation-rogan-opens-up-more-about-potential-kamala-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘I Gave Them An Open Invitation’: Rogan Opens Up More About Potential Kamala Interview</a>

Joe Rogan Kamala Harris

Joe Rogan Says Harris Campaign Lied About Her Failed Appearance On His Show, Brings Receipts

Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

Spotify has awarded a <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-01-27/creator-milestone-awards-podcasts/">Creator Milestone Award</a> to “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/the-ben-shapiro-show">The Ben Shapiro Show</a>” after the podcast surpassed 100 million streams.
The awards celebrate creator achievements and will be given quarterly to those creators who reach top engagement milestones on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/spotify">Spotify</a> platform.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-868145" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1-576x576.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/BSS-SpotifyCreatorAward-1x1-1.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" /></div>
These awards are the first time Spotify has publicly revealed streaming numbers for podcasters across the platform. Other <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-01-27/creator-milestone-awards-podcasts/">Creator Milestone Award</a> winners include  “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie,” and Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.”
Hosted by Daily Wire editor emeritus <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/how-ben-shapiro-conquered-maga-verse-trump-1236104674/">Ben Shapiro</a>, the podcast launched under The Daily Wire in 2015 and quickly became one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the world. By 2017, the show was the second-most listened-to podcast on iTunes, surpassed at one time only by Oprah Winfrey’s podcast. 
In 2018, POLITICO described Shapiro’s show as “massively popular.” The reach of the show expanded further in April 2018, when Westwood One began syndicating the podcast to radio. In January 2019, Westwood One expanded Shapiro’s one-hour podcast to three hours by adding a nationally syndicated two-hour radio show. 
By March 2019, Shapiro’s show was being carried by more than 200 stations nationwide, including in nine of the top ten markets. In March 2019, Podtrac ranked “The Ben Shapiro Show” as the second-most popular podcast in the United States. In January 2019, The Ben Shapiro Show won the Best News Podcast Award at the inaugural iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

Screenshot 2023-11-22 at 4.20.37 PM copy

‘The Ben Shapiro Show’ Receives Spotify Creator Milestone Award For 100M Streams

Ben Shapiro

The Ben Shapiro Show

Podcast giant Joe Rogan sharply criticized the Left and media who have spent the last few days accusing billionaire entrepreneur <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netanyahu-defends-musk-after-aoc-leftist-media-smear-him-as-a-nazi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> of giving — and then repeating — a &#8220;Nazi salute&#8221; during one of President Donald Trump&#8217;s inauguration events.
Rogan chalked the furor up to a faction on the Left who &#8220;use woke ideology as an excuse to be an a**hole&#8221; and routinely compare every political opponent to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joe Rogan slams the woke left for virtue signaling over Hitler. <a href="https://t.co/xiKbrnzRFX">pic.twitter.com/xiKbrnzRFX</a>
&mdash; Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1882450697792410103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rogan explained that pretending &#8220;everyone is Hitler&#8221; was a tactic generally employed by the &#8220;broken&#8221; who had no interest in contributing anything constructive to the greater political discourse.
&#8220;This is why they want to conflate and they always want to pretend that everyone’s Hitler,&#8221; Rogan explained. &#8220;The problem with that is, it just after a while, it’s crying wolf and people are like, ‘Oh, this is a bulls**t game you’re playing, and you’re just using it as an excuse.’ Elon has talked about this a lot. He’s absolutely correct.&#8221;
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&#8220;People use woke ideology as an excuse to be an a**hole, and it’s really just people that are a**holes that are attaching themselves to things that make them feel righteous,&#8221; Rogan continued, noting that they used that perceived righteousness as a shield while they continued to attack anyone who disagreed politically. &#8220;So they wrap themselves in this idea to give them virtue and to allow them to say the most awful things about other people that have different perspectives.&#8221;
Rogan went on to say that the repeated and &#8220;horrific, unfounded personal attacks&#8221; did not actually convince anyone, arguing instead that such actions would only make a person &#8220;less and less effective.&#8221;
&#8220;Intelligent, aware people who have control of their emotions recognize that. They’re not going to take your perspective seriously, so you’re going to be less and less effective with what you do,&#8221; he said.
Even Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has come out in Musk&#8217;s defense in the days since the inauguration, saying that he did not believe the SpaceX founder had any ill intent when he made the gesture in question.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netanyahu-defends-musk-after-aoc-leftist-media-smear-him-as-a-nazi">Netanyahu Defends Musk After AOC, Leftist Media Smear Him As A Nazi</a>

Collage Maker-11-Jul-2023-08-30-AM-8706

‘It’s Crying Wolf’: Joe Rogan Blasts The Left For Accusing Elon Musk Of ‘Nazi Salute’

'It's Crying Wolf': Joe Rogan Blasts Dems Accusing Elon Musk Of 'Nazi Salute'

Democrats

Media

Nazis

Politics

Faith-based content has exploded in new media and is increasingly piercing through mainstream culture, culminating in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rosary-in-a-year-podcast-debuts-at-number-one-topping-joe-rogan-dateline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian podcast</a> overtaking top-dog &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; on Apple podcasts.
The Daily Wire has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gods-not-done-with-our-country-the-faith-based-boom-in-new-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracking</a> the faith-based trend for a few years now, which included the rise of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1887889674971108" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Angel Studios</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-couple-more-people-in-heaven-would-be-nice-hallow-ceo-talks-success-of-catholic-app-rise-of-faith-based-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prayer and meditation app Hallow</a> &#8212; and Christian content has only continued to grow, specifically making massive inroads in the podcast space, where there are no gatekeepers.
Ascension&#8217;s prayer-focused podcast &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rosary-in-a-year-podcast-debuts-at-number-one-topping-joe-rogan-dateline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rosary in a Year</a>,&#8221; which is hosted by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ascensionpress/reel/DEfyGOoyaH8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Father Mark-Mary Ames</a>, recently debuted at No. 1 on the Apple podcast charts in all categories, topping even podcast behemoth Joe Rogan, prompting celebratory and good-natured headlines about &#8220;Rosary over Rogan.&#8221;
“I think there are a lot of people out there who are serious about their faith and they&#8217;re hungry and they&#8217;re thirsty for more, and so when there are resources out there that are substantial, they really are drawn to them,&#8221; Fr. Mark-Mary told The Daily Wire in an interview on Monday.
&#8220;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rosary-in-a-year-with-fr-mark-mary-ames/id1776236328" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rosary in a Year</a>&#8221; follows Ascension&#8217;s breakout hit from 2021, &#8220;The Bible in a Year&#8221; podcast, which is hosted by a Father Mike Schmitz, a charismatic priest serving in Minnesota. The listenership for &#8220;Bible in a Year&#8221; is massive, garnering well over 700 million downloads; “Rosary in A Year” could be on track for similar numbers. After debuting in the top spot on the Apple charts, it still remains in the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/charts">top ten</a>. 
And there are many other Christian shows gaining steam in the podcast space. Catholic discussion podcasts “Pints with Aquinas” and Bishop Robert Barron&#8217;s “The Word on Fire” each get millions of views just on Youtube, and Allie Beth Stuckey’s podcast “Relatable,&#8221; which mixes politics and Christianity, gets comparable numbers.
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Hallow, which has been endorsed by stars like Mark Wahlberg and Gwen Stefani, also brings in staggering numbers. The app has over 22 million installs, and around Easter time last year, Hallow landed at the No. 1 spot on the Apple App Store – marking the first time a health, wellness, meditation, or religious app ever accomplished such a feat.
Stand-alone faith-based content is not where it stops, either. Reigning podcast king Joe Rogan has increasingly been bringing on Christian perspective guests. The same week &#8220;Rosary In a Year&#8221; was climbing the Apple charts, Rogan dropped a highly anticipated episode with biblical scholar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwyAX69xG1Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wesley Huff</a>. Just one week later, he brought on outspoken Catholic actor Mel Gibson, who is currently working on a sequel to the massively successful “Passion of the Christ&#8221; film. Moreover, all of this comes as Rogan himself has drastically changed his tone toward Christianity, from openly hostile years ago to seemingly curious in 2025.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Mel Gibson on the Resurrection and Christ&#8217;s rising from the dead to walk among us again: &#8220;Buddha didn&#8217;t do that shit&#8221;. Classic. <a href="https://t.co/w0LRZj6UpY">pic.twitter.com/w0LRZj6UpY</a>
— Mike &#8220;The KingDude&#8221; Church, Talk Radio &amp; TV Host (@TheKingDude) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKingDude/status/1877673271501426764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
The discussion of faith on Rogan&#8217;s podcast is a prime example of faith breaking through the mainstream. &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; audience is mostly male and not particularly religious – and the reach is massive. It&#8217;s the most popular podcast on Spotify, with 14.5 million followers, and episodes average around 11 million views each. Huff&#8217;s episode is already nearing 5 million views on YouTube, and Gibson&#8217;s has racked up more than 7 million views.
Fr. Mark-Mary is not at all surprised about Christian content busting through the mainstream, and isn&#8217;t sure how anyone could be.
“I think it&#8217;s funny how people are kind of being surprised that some of this Christian content is resonating with people and doing so well,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire. &#8220;And it just strikes me as, it&#8217;s a very modern sort of worldview that wouldn&#8217;t view God as mainstream. God, who is the creator of everything &#8230; the idea of this being mainstream is the most reasonable thing in the world to me. And so, I&#8217;m grateful that it&#8217;s sort of breaking through again and reminding us that people are made by God, made for God.&#8221;
While the Christian content trend is undeniable, polling shows a more complex picture.
An average of all 2023 Gallup polling found that about <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/358364/religious-americans.aspx">22%</a> of Americans are not affiliated with religion, which is the highest it’s ever been. And nearly half of all Zoomers, those born between 1997 and 2012, are not religiously affiliated, according to a 2022 YouGov survey. But there&#8217;s also data showing a shift toward religion. A Springtide Research Institute survey from 2023, for example, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-gen-z-going-back-to-church">found</a> that a third of people aged 18 to 25 believe more than doubt the existence of a higher power. That’s an increase from only about a quarter in 2021. 
There are also other signs, like the significant spike in <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/bible-sales-booming-despite-decline-religiosity-first-time-buyer-says-its-about-finding-purpose" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bible sales</a>; or more anecdotal happenings, like the trend online of noticing <a href="https://x.com/JonnyRoot_/status/1874985779690352857">more</a> athletes talking about their <a href="https://cbn.com/news/entertainment/god-moving-football-players-point-jesus-and-field-giving-hope-fans">faith</a>, or arguably the most popular comedian in the mainstream right now, Nate Bargatze, being a clean Christian comic who speaks openly about his faith.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Speaking of vibe shifts, pretty wild to think that the top grossing comedian of 2024 is an unabashed Christian. <a href="https://t.co/EbMT8n6yke">pic.twitter.com/EbMT8n6yke</a>
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) <a href="https://twitter.com/megbasham/status/1877432032181072140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
At the same time, though, it’s undeniable that there’s a more extreme push away from God in the mainstream. A prime example of that is the explosion and normalization of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-how-we-stop-the-festering-disease-called-onlyfans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OnlyFans</a>, which is largely a subscription pornography site.
&#8220;Each person&#8217;s story certainly is going to be unique, but I do think that one thing that can bring many people to God &#8212; and it happens in individuals and it can happen in a society &#8212; is a distaste or a disillusionment of some of the other options out there,&#8221; Fr. Mark-Mary said of the polarity in the culture. 
&#8220;Okay, here are the proposed worldviews, here are the proposed lifestyles &#8212; many young people, or people in general, have tried it a little bit and they&#8217;re like, no, that is just not what I&#8217;m looking for,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;So they go looking somewhere else, and it brings them to the Lord, or to being more serious about their faith.&#8221;
&#8220;I do think that God uses that to bring people to Him,&#8221; Fr. Mark-Mary added.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-couple-more-people-in-heaven-would-be-nice-hallow-ceo-talks-success-of-catholic-app-rise-of-faith-based-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘A Couple More People In Heaven Would Be Nice’: Hallow CEO Talks Success Of Catholic App, Rise Of Faith-Based Content</a>

Rosary in a Year, Joe Rogan

The Christian Content Takeover: Why ‘Rosary Over Rogan’ Is Bigger Than You Think

Angel Studios

Christianity

Religion

World

Last week the news broke that Meta — the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and half the internet — claims it will be pulling back drastically from its censorship policies. Free speech will reign again on Facebook, supposedly. The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, appeared on Joe Rogan a couple of days ago to elaborate on this decision. Much of what he says in the conversation — along with the entire conversation itself — would have been unthinkable four or five years ago. But times are rapidly changing.
Specifically, in the interview, Zuckerberg affirmed that there&#8217;s nothing wrong with a masculine culture in a workplace — and that, in fact, a lot of companies would benefit from it. Imagine that. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Zuck" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aL_ODZpmMCM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Eight years ago, these are the kinds of ideas that would&#8217;ve — and if you recall the case of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fired-google-engineer-james-damore-dropped-his-lawsuit-against-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Damore</a> — did get rank-and-file employees fired at Google. And now the head of a major Big Tech company is saying it.
Of course, the obvious response to this interview is that Zuckerberg doesn&#8217;t actually believe any of this. He&#8217;s just saying it because Trump won the election, and he wants to cozy up with power. And that&#8217;s almost certainly true. But it doesn&#8217;t fully capture what&#8217;s going on — which is that there&#8217;s also been a major shift in American culture this time around. After all, Trump won the election back in 2016, too. And Zuckerberg didn&#8217;t say anything like this. Instead his companies reacted by entrenching themselves even deeper on the Left. Now the exact opposite is happening.
In the interview, Zuckerberg suggested that some of Facebook&#8217;s censorship was the result of pressure by the Biden administration, although he claims to have resisted some of it. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Biden censorship" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0kEGe4pRgTY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Of course, it wasn&#8217;t just &#8220;vaccine side effects&#8221; that the Biden administration wanted Facebook to censor. They also wanted Facebook to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, for obvious reasons. It was a damning account of the Biden family&#8217;s corruption, and no one could really dispute its accuracy because it came directly from Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop. And Facebook went along with that, too, on the ridiculous theory that the laptop was really some secret scheme by Russian intelligence.
It goes without saying that Facebook could have gone public with these concerns at any time in the last several years. They didn&#8217;t need to wait until Trump won a second term. So, no, we shouldn&#8217;t &#8220;trust&#8221; Mark Zuckerberg, now that he&#8217;s made a calculation that telling the truth is in his best interests. He had a chance to do the right thing when it would have required some measure of courage to do so. Although not that much, considering he was and is a multi-billionaire. That provides you a lot of cover that most of us don’t have. But Zuckerberg waited until now. 
There’s a lot of this going around right now. People who are seeing the light and coming out against wokeness, now that wokeness is a punch line and has no political power and little Cultural power. I welcome these people to Team Sanity. But I don’t trust them, and I certainly won’t congratulate them.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1513-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
At the same time, again, Zuckerberg&#8217;s shift is a reflection of a broader change in the culture. And it&#8217;s a shift that&#8217;s quite dramatic in some respects. Here&#8217;s how the New York Times is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/technology/meta-mark-zuckerberg-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reporting</a> on some of the changes at Meta, for example: 
<blockquote>The company removed the transgender and nonbinary &#8216;themes&#8217; on its Messenger chat app. &#8230; That same day at Meta’s offices in Silicon Valley, Texas and New York, facilities managers were instructed to remove tampons from men’s bathrooms, which the company had provided for nonbinary and transgender employees who use the men’s room and who may have required sanitary pads, two employees said.</blockquote>
Yes, tampons have been removed from the men&#8217;s bathrooms at Meta. Presumably the tampons have also been removed from the virtual bathrooms in the Metaverse too, although I don&#8217;t have a &#8220;Meta Quest&#8221; VR headset, so I can&#8217;t verify that at the moment. This is a sudden change that happened virtually overnight, after years of having tampons in the men&#8217;s bathroom. The CEO decides one day to end it. And it ends.
Why did the men’s bathrooms ever have tampons to begin with? Why did he ever think that was a good idea? Did Zuckerberg believe that men could have periods and then see the light after reading a biology textbook? I don’t think so. He knew it was absurd the whole time.
And guess what? There have been no riots at Meta over this change. There have been no massive protests or mass resignations. The Metaverse hasn&#8217;t collapsed. That&#8217;s because everyone at Meta — including the supposedly &#8220;trans&#8221; employees — know that reality is not subjective. They know that men do not need tampons. And now that an adult has told them the truth, they&#8217;re accepting it because they have no other choice.
That&#8217;s all it really takes for a return to sanity. And it&#8217;s happening more and more often.
To give another example — recently a federal court in Kentucky handed the Biden administration a major defeat in a Title IX case. In case you&#8217;re not familiar with Title IX, it&#8217;s a law that prevents sex discrimination in educational programs, including sports, that receive any kind of federal assistance. The Biden administration unilaterally tried to re-interpret Title IX so that it prevents discrimination on the basis of so-called &#8220;gender identity.&#8221; Their rule would have required teachers to use students&#8217; preferred pronouns, among other demands.
From a legal perspective, the Biden administration and trans activists thought they had a winning case. And that&#8217;s because an earlier Supreme Court ruling had held, by a 6-3 vote, that a different provision of civil rights law — Title VII — prohibited discrimination on the basis of so-called &#8220;gender identity&#8221; in the workplace. Gorsuch and Roberts sided with the Leftist judges to come up with that ruling.
But last week, a federal judge in Kentucky held that the same logic doesn&#8217;t apply to Title IX, because Title IX is explicitly focused on sex discrimination — and no other form of discrimination. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25483131-order-in-title-ix-case/?q=eviscerates&amp;mode=document#document/p7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This</a> is from the judge&#8217;s ruling: &#8220;The entire point of Title 9 is to prevent discrimination based on sex. Throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless.&#8221;
This ruling will obviously be appealed, and work its way up the courts. But as it stands, it could lay the groundwork for a new Supreme Court ruling — one that rejects any attempt to conflate &#8220;sex&#8221; and &#8220;gender&#8221; within the meaning of the law.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
A ruling like that would&#8217;ve been hard to imagine a few years ago. But it&#8217;s not hard to imagine anymore. That&#8217;s because, even in places like California — some of the most Left-wing places in the country — there are clear signs that people are tired of this insanity. Consider the eruption of anger over California&#8217;s DEI policies and general incompetence in the wake of these historic fires, which still aren&#8217;t under control.
The corporate press is trying to run the same familiar narrative, where they blame racism and climate change. For example, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfire-pacific-palisades-pasadena-altadena-inequality-63ea76d186740359f7f5dd188896354f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here&#8217;s the AP</a>: 
<blockquote>The California wildfires could be leaving deeper inequality in their wake. .. The fires also burned through a remarkable haven for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere. They have been communities of racial and economic diversity, where many people own their own homes.</blockquote>
The reaction to this article online has been, as you might expect, universal mockery and derision. People aren&#8217;t persuaded by this anymore. Well, people never were persuaded by it. The difference is that now nobody pretends to be. No one talks like this, unless they&#8217;re a journalist for an outlet like the AP. The rest of us are sharing clips like this one, featuring the chief of the Los Angeles Department of Water &amp; Power. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 LA" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4TznyI2d60Q?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
She says: &#8220;The #1 thing that attracted me to this role&#8230; It’s important for me that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice.&#8221;
It&#8217;s reminiscent of the aftermath of the Maui fires, when a top official <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/19/hawaii-official-worried-about-equity-over-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked</a> about how access to water should involve &#8220;conversations about equity.&#8221; These are the kinds of clips that have quickly surfaced in the wake of the California fires. And they&#8217;re surfacing because people are tired of DEI hires running their cities into the ground. People are realizing that lives are at stake now.
That&#8217;s especially obvious after the discovery that a key reservoir was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">empty</a> in the Pacific Palisades when the fires began. From the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Angeles Times</a>: 
<blockquote>Officials said that the [Reservoir] had been closed since about February for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117-million-gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades for nearly a year.</blockquote>
Keep in mind, that&#8217;s the L.A. Times with that exclusive reporting. That&#8217;s the same paper that called Larry Elder &#8220;the black face of white supremacy&#8221; not too long ago. Then (like Jeff Bezos), the Times&#8217; owner withheld the paper&#8217;s endorsement of Kamala Harris, so they&#8217;d focus more on the news. Now they&#8217;re exposing genuine misconduct and incompetence, no matter how embarrassing and damaging it may be for California&#8217;s Democrats.
You won&#8217;t find a clearer sign that wokeness — meaning the suspension of reality to appease the preferred demographic groups of the Democratic Party — is coming to an end. It may be coming to an end in part because of self-interested political actors like Mark Zuckerberg. But it&#8217;s ending, one way or another, because people are tired of it. When Donald Trump won in 2016, that wasn&#8217;t the case. But if there&#8217;s one overriding reason for optimism for Trump&#8217;s second term, it&#8217;s that this time around, no one — not even Silicon Valley mega-corporations like Meta — is pretending to take this nonsense seriously anymore.
* * *
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Interview On The Circuit

Wokeness Is Dying

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Meta CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mark-zuckerberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg</a> revealed during a Friday interview with Joe Rogan that his company is scrapping diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and embracing &#8220;masculine energy&#8221; in corporate culture.
&#8220;A lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered,&#8221; Zuckerberg told Rogan. &#8220;The kind of masculine energy I think is good, and obviously society has plenty of that, but I think corporate culture was really trying to get away from it.&#8221;
He acknowledged that while it&#8217;s important for companies to support women, the notion that &#8220;masculinity is bad&#8221; has become prevalent, which he believes is not the right approach. &#8220;These things can always go a little far,&#8221; he added.
“I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive,&#8221; said Zuckerberg, suggesting that companies should strive to strike a balance between both perspectives. 
 
“It’s one thing to say we want to be welcoming and make a good environment for everyone, and I think it’s another to basically say that ‘masculinity is bad,'&#8221; he said. “And I just think we kind of swung culturally to that part of the spectrum. … It’s like, no. Both of these things are good.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7k1ehaE0bdU?si=neXBsgQuTT2PRdfV" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Zuckerberg’s perspective is reflected in recently announced changes to Meta&#8217;s content moderation policies. According to The New York Times, Meta has also <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/meta-orders-removal-tampons-mens-rooms-amid-zuckerberg-post-election-shakeup-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> the removal of tampons in the men&#8217;s restrooms in multiple facilities, &#8220;which the company had provided for nonbinary and transgender employees who use the men’s room&#8230;&#8221;
Additionally, Meta dropped major diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives on Friday, with an internal memo indicating that the term &#8220;DEI&#8221; had become &#8220;charged&#8221; because it was &#8220;understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.&#8221; The memo&#8217;s release followed Meta&#8217;s announcement that it was abandoning its fact-checking program, citing concerns that fact-checkers were &#8220;too politically biased.&#8221;
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Zuckerberg&#8217;s interview with Rogan comes shortly after he met with President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida estate. Despite past tensions, including Trump&#8217;s previous criticisms of Zuckerberg and threats of legal action, the Meta CEO expressed optimism about the incoming administration. &#8220;I think he just wants America to win,&#8221; Zuckerberg said of Trump.
Zuckerberg expressed that he now feels a &#8220;much greater command&#8221; over Meta&#8217;s policies and dismissed the idea that the recent changes are &#8220;purely political&#8221; due to their timing near the recent elections. He emphasized that the adjustments are part of a long-term strategy to address concerns over bias and content moderation.

Key Speakers At The Acquired Live Podcast Event

Facebook Culture Shift: Zuckerberg Backs ‘Masculine Energy,’ Drops DEI Efforts

META CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mark-zuckerberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg</a> revealed during an interview on Joe Rogan this week that officials from the Biden administration would call his company in a state of rage demanding that they censor content.
Zuckerberg&#8217;s remarks on Friday come after Zuckerberg said in a letter back in August that the Biden administration &#8220;repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor&#8221; content, including scientifically accurate content and memes.
He said that they were trying to &#8220;censor anyone who was basically arguing against&#8221; taking vaccines.
&#8220;And they pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly, were true,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I mean, they basically pushed us and said, &#8216;Anything that says that vaccines might have side effects, you basically need to take down.&#8217; And I was just like, &#8216;Well, we&#8217;re not going to do that. Like we&#8217;re clearly not going to do that.'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that Biden administration officials &#8220;pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly true.&#8221;
They demanded that Facebook and Instagram remove all content that mentioned that vaccines have side effects. <a href="https://t.co/Eo3F0lcljE">pic.twitter.com/Eo3F0lcljE</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1877794615765446912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
Later in the interview, Zuckerberg said that Biden officials would call his team and &#8220;scream at them and curse&#8221; demanding that they censor content.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that Biden Administration officials would call his company and &#8220;scream and curse&#8221; at Facebook and Instagram officials and demand that they censor and remove content, including truthful content and memes <a href="https://t.co/U9vvnLTuhy">pic.twitter.com/U9vvnLTuhy</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1877793077118554259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/massive-maga-win-facebook-reverses-its-censorship">Massive MAGA Win: Facebook Reverses Its Censorship</a>

Key Speakers At The Meta Connect Event

Zuckerberg: Biden Admin Would ‘Scream And Curse’ On Phone Demanding Censorship

Biden Administration

Censorship

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mel-gibson">Mel Gibson</a> gave an update on his upcoming <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">sequel</a> to the hit 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ,” saying filming could begin in 2026.
The 69-year-old actor, director, and writer discussed his plans during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast this week. “I’m hoping next year sometime. There’s a lot required because it’s an acid trip,” Gibson said of the project. He noted that he’s “never read anything like” the script, which he worked on for more than six years along with screenwriter Randall Wallace.
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The title will be “The Resurrection of the Christ,” he confirmed.
“My brother and I and Randall all sort of congregated on this. So there’s some good heads put together, but there’s some crazy stuff,” Gibson went on. “And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go to hell.”
The filmmaker confirmed that he plans to have actor Jim Caviezel reprise his role as Jesus. Gibson also said he might use “a few techniques” to de-age Caviezel since more than two decades have passed since the first film&#8217;s release, and the events will take place three days after “The Passion” ends, when Jesus rose from the dead following his crucifixion. 
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Gibson said the entire project was “very ambitious” and that the story will encompass “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle.”
“It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or obvious,” he said. 
Gibson added, “I think I have ideas about how to do that and how to evoke things and emotions in people from the way you depict it, and the way you shoot it. So I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to require a lot of planning and I’m not wholly sure I can pull it off to tell you the truth, it’s really super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it because that’s what you got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?”
&#8220;The Passion of the Christ&#8221; was a massive hit, earning $600 million against a $30 million budget.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson Gives Update On ‘Passion Of The Christ’ Sequel: ‘It’s An Acid Trip’

Mel Gibson Gives Update On 'Passion Of The Christ' Sequel

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