Trump talks Xi, tariffs and aliens in freewheeling Joe Rogan podcast

Former President Donald Trump said he’d consider entirely replacing income taxes with tariffs, conceded he had botched senior staff appointments, and teased a possible revelation about extraterrestrial life during a freewheeling three-hour podcast with comedian Joe Rogan on Friday.

It was an unorthodox - and lengthy - conversation for a presidential candidate, underscoring the Republican nominee’s outreach to young male voters and quest for wave-making spectacle during the closing days of the presidential campaign.

The podcast, recorded Friday during a visit to Austin, Texas, is the latest effort by Trump to broaden his electoral appeal beyond his fervent conservative base with polls showing him deadlocked with Democrat Kamala Harris. 

Trump opined on a number of topics, defending his populist economic agenda while offering strong praise for billionaire Elon Musk - who he labeled “out of this world” - as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping. Throughout his bid to return to the White House, Trump has teased a resumption of the tit-for-tat trade war that he waged with Xi in his first term.

The conversation stretched long enough that Trump ended up hours late for a rally in swing-state Michigan, where hundreds of supporters trickled out of the venue as temperatures dropped while waiting for him to arrive.

But Rogan, widely considered the most popular podcaster in the world — boasting 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 15.7 million on Spotify — offered a unique platform for the former president to reach not only a massive audience, but one full of the type of independent voters both campaigns have said could decide the election.

Harris has also sought to tap into the growing popularity of non-traditional media venues, appearing on podcasts including hit Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper. Her campaign said scheduling difficulties kept her from appearing on Rogan’s show.

Here are the key highlights from Trump and Rogan’s conversation:

‘Biggest mistake’

Asked by Rogan what his “biggest mistake” was in office, Trump responded that he “picked some people that I shouldn’t have picked.”

“Neocons or bad people or just disloyal people,” he added.

Trump singled out two former officials — both of whom have been turned into prominent critics, former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Kelly has accused Trump of saying that he wanted the kind of generals that Adolf Hitler had and of praising the former Nazi leader as having done some good things — allegations Trump has denied.

The former president called Kelly a “bully” and dismissed Bolton as “an idiot.”

‘Most beautiful world’

Trump again defended his populist economic agenda focused on renewing expiring tax cuts, offering fresh tax reductions and benefits and sweeping tariffs on foreign nations that he says will help bolster domestic manufacturing in the US. 

The Republican nominee called the word tariff “the most beautiful word” in the dictionary. 

“It’s more beautiful than love. It’s more beautiful than anything,” he said. “This country can become rich with the use — the proper use — of tariffs.”

Rogan asked if Trump would consider replacing income taxes with tariffs. Trump responded, “Yeah, sure. Why not?” and proceeded to argue that the US was wealthiest when it had strong tariffs in the late 19th century.

Trump has dismissed claims from most economists that the tariffs would spur inflation and that the levies would fail to produce the revenue he predicts.

Call from Pichai

During the interview, Trump said he had received a call from Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, who said that interest in the Republican nominee’s photo op at a McDonald’s in swing-state Pennsylvania had spiked online.

“He said, ‘This McDonald’s thing, I want to tell you, it’s one of the biggest things we’ve ever had on Google.’ It just hit,” Trump said.

The Republican nominee visited a McDonald’s on Sunday, donning an apron at the french fry station and handing out food to people, part of an effort to discredit — without evidence — Harris’ claims that she worked at the fast-food chain when she was younger.

Trump has had a contentious relationship with Alphabet’s Google search engine, claiming it obscured results for people trying to find information about him and saying previously that he called Pichai to complain.

‘Brilliant’ Xi

Trump hailed China’s Xi Jinping, as a “brilliant guy,” and pointed to the leader’s strong grip on his country.

“He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist,” the former president said. “I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.”

Trump regularly claims that he earned the respect of foreign leaders and insists his good relationships with them — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — can help bring peace.

‘Go to the beach’

Trump played up his rapport with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, sharing a story in which urged the nation’s leader to stop building nuclear weapons.

“You’re always building nuclear. Just relax. You don’t have to do it. Let’s build some condos on your shoreline.” Trump said. 

The former president said the North Korean leader told him he needed the weapons for his own security.

Conspiracy theories

Rogan and Trump repeatedly delved into conspiracy talk, with Trump insisting that the 2020 election was stolen while the podcast host prodded him on if he would provide evidence to support his allegations.

Trump instead said that he believed the media had not fairly covered the material recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop, and that pandemic changes to voting procedures were illegal.

Rogan was generally amenable to Trump’s framing of the election issue, but balked later when Trump praised the value of the polio vaccine. 

Toward the end of the episode, Rogan asked the former president about the possibility of alien life.

Trump said he had done “an interview” with three or four unnamed officials who he described as “solid, beautiful people” on the issue.

“They said, ‘Sir, there’s something there,’” Trump said, without elaborating.

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