During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan expressed interest in hosting a debate between President Trump and Joe Biden. The President quickly agreed to the proposal.
The unexpected offer came about at the two-hour mark of The Joe Rogan Experience’s 1,535th episode, when retired MMA fighter and Army Ranger Tim Kennedy bluntly asked Rogan, “Would you do a debate?”
The Green Beret then elaborated upon his question, specifying that he was referring to Rogan moderating a debate between the 2020 presidential candidates.
“I would want that,” said Joe Rogan, before detailing his terms for overseeing a formal policy discussion between the candidates. “First of all, I’d want no one else in the room. … Just the three of us. And you would have to stream it live so no one could edit it. And I would want them in there for hours,” continued the longtime UFC commentator.
“Ideas, we get to hear what they actually believe in,” responded the two-time Strikeforce title challenger Kennedy. “What they’re gonna do, who they’re gonna appoint, what judges are gonna be coming in. What policies, from gun control to – all of it. Why can’t we have that?”
Rogan, who recently relocated to Austin, Texas, noted that modern technology would make a Trump-Biden debate relatively easy to pull off. The 53-year-old also doubled down upon his desire to oversee the policy-centered dialogue: “If they wanted to do that, they both wanted to come here in Austin, sit down, and have a debate, I would 100 percent do it.”
Moments later, Rogan questioned whether the Democratic presidential nominee would be willing to participate.
“I don’t think that Biden can handle [it] … People get mad at me for saying this, but I think there’s something wrong. And I don’t think there’s something wrong because I’m guessing, or because I’m pro-Trump. I’ve seen him [Biden] fall apart,” stated Rogan.
“I’m not trying to be biased in any way, shape, or form,” the former Fear Factor host concluded, before reiterating his past support for the presidential bids of Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard.
Later, Tim Kennedy took to Twitter and recapped the outlined debate, writing in part: “It would be four hours with no live audience. Just the two candidates, cameras, and their vision of how to move this country forward. Who wants this?”
The President posted a brief response to the message – “I do!” – the following morning, but the Biden-Harris campaign didn’t reply. Separately, a Change.org petition calling for Rogan’s involvement in a debate has garnered over 270,000 signatures.
The reactions to the possibility are already pouring in. CNN political commentator Alice Stewart described a Rogan-moderated presidential debate as “just what we need,” though The View co-host Sunny Hostin pushed back against the (admittedly unlikely) possibility. Spotify, for its part, would almost certainly welcome the sit down and its massive audience. But portions of the suggested four-hour-long debate could be censored.
As it stands, Biden and Trump are slated to participate in the first of three scheduled presidential debates on the evening of Tuesday, September 29th.