Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is about to give one of the biggest interviews of his presidential campaign – with America’s number one podcaster, Joe Rogan.

With 14.5 million Spotify followers and 17.5 million YouTube subscribers, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE for short) has built a huge, mostly male, audience since launching 15 years ago.

Confirming media reports about the upcoming interview, which was to be recorded on Friday, Trump described his colleague as “a nice guy” with whom he expected a “very interesting” conversation.

“I do a lot of shows,” he told Fox News Radio on Wednesday. “Good, bad or indifferent. I do a lot of shows and they turn out well.”

That response sheds light on the Trump campaign’s calculated media strategy, which focused on podcasts popular with younger men instead of traditional outlets like 60 Minutes.

And it understates how big of a deal this could be for the former president, longtime listeners say.

“Rogan is about to have the most listened to podcast in human history,” says Matthew Foldi, a conservative journalist and self-proclaimed JRE expert who has listened to thousands of hours of the entire catalog — in chronological order and at a rate of 3, 5x. – since 2020.

A native of New Jersey, Rogan began his career as a stand-up comedian in the Boston area before moving to California in the 1990s. He has starred in two sitcoms – Hardball and NewsRadio – and rose to national prominence as host of the US edition of the Fear Factor game show.

He became one of the first comics to venture into podcasting in 2009 and quickly built an audience with his easy-going conversational style and sense of humor. By 2020, he had signed one of the industry’s largest licensing deals with Spotify, where he dominated the podcasting ranks.

Known for discussing everything from current events and politics to aliens and drug use, Rogan hosts an ideologically diverse mix of guests – from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson to the far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to comedians like Chris Rock and Kevin Hart – in long, hour-long interviews.

Part of its appeal, says Kat Rosenfield, a freelance culture writer and novelist, is its willingness to talk to anyone, about anything.

“He’s naturally very curious. He wants to ask questions. He wants to know what’s going on with his guests and he has good instincts to make it an interesting listen.”

But his willingness to absorb contrarian perspectives has also landed him in hot water.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, he was criticized for promoting vaccine skepticism, leading a coalition of medical experts to denounce Spotify for allowing “false and socially harmful claims” to spread.

By 2022, musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell deleted their music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s use of the platform to spread alleged Covid misinformation. The company ultimately removed about 70 previously released episodes.

Also that year, Rogan came under fire when a video compilation of him repeatedly using racially insensitive language on his show made the rounds on social media. He has since apologized.

Ms. Rosenfield describes Rogan’s personal politics as libertarian — very socially liberal, as evidenced by his support for gay marriage and universal drug legalization, but also as someone who cherishes free speech and gun rights.

In 2020, he endorsed Bernie Sanders for president after the then-Democratic candidate appeared on his show.

“Rogan seemed like a refreshing alternative at a time when the public was more or less losing confidence in many (mainstream media) channels,” Rosenfield argues.

“He doesn’t think he’s smarter than his audience, which I think is quite endearing to people listening to the show. He doesn’t talk down to people and always says, ‘Don’t listen to me, not me.’ know something’.”

Trump and Rogan did not always agree.

As recently as 2022, the podcaster said he did not want to “help” Trump electorally because he posed “an existential threat to democracy.”

Earlier this year he praised Robert F Kennedy Jr., who was then running as an independent presidential candidate, as “the only one who makes sense to me”.

That didn’t go down well with Trump, who said Rogan would be “booed” the next time he was at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event.

But it’s also their shared love for the UFC, and mixed martial arts in general, that hints at some of the similarities they may have during the interview.

Rogan is a longtime color commentator and interviewer for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events. Trump is also a fan of the sport, which he has discussed at length on other podcasts.

The two are both longtime friends of UFC CEO Dana White, who this week praised Rogan as “the best combat sports commentator of all time” and lavish praise for Trump as “the ultimate American badass”.

They also share two other allies: RFK Jr and Elon Musk, both of whom recently backed Trump.

Rogan spoke fondly of Trump on a recent show as a “wheeling, dealing billionaire character that everyone enjoyed” whose deregulation agenda had helped the economy.

He added that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have “scared the hell out of him” — two wars that Trump has promised to end if elected, though he gave no details on how.

Mr. Foldi, the conservative journalist and Rogan superfan, says the attention Trump will get from this podcast could help him dominate the closing days of the campaign and win over lingering, undecided voters.

“This is the most-watched show in the world, and the attention you get… is second to none.”

Like Mr. Foldi, who is 28, Rogan’s listeners are overwhelmingly young and male. Nearly 80% are male and half are between 18 and 34 years old, according to Edison Research, which produces survey-based data on podcasting in the US.

Such numbers suggest that Rogan’s audience is part of a crucial voting bloc that the Trump campaign has clearly been trying to reach. In August, the campaign told reporters it is focusing on winning over a group of voters it says makes up about 10% of the electorate in key swing states. This group is disproportionately young, male, and racially diverse.

Canceling traditional media interviews with the likes of CBS and NBC, Trump has instead spent time with podcasters who appeal to a predominantly male audience, including comedians Andrew Schulz and Theo Von, social media influencer Logan Paul, retired wrestler Mark Calaway ( AKA The Undertaker) and YouTube pranksters The Nelk Boys. But in terms of audience size and cultural reach, JRE is perhaps the linchpin of this podcast tour.

Harris has also made podcasts part of her media blitz, albeit to a lesser extent. She spoke to Call Her Daddy — the highest-ranking show among women — earlier this month and spoke at length with host Alex Cooper about reproductive rights, the top issue energizing Democrats and especially women voters this year.

Around the same time Rogan’s episode airs, Harris will sit down with famed social psychologist Brene Brown for her podcast, Unlocking Us, which is also popular with female listeners.

Despite objections from some quarters, Harris’ team reportedly met with Rogan’s staff last week, according to Reuters, but no appearance on the show has yet been announced.

As anticipation for the Trump interview mounts, Americans on social media are fantasizing about the questions they would like Rogan to ask, on everything from alien declassification to documents about Jeffrey Epstein.

If Rogan stays true to form, Mr. Foldi says, no topic will be out of bounds.

“I see very little downside for Trump, because whatever you think of the man, he is clearly comfortable with who he is,” he adds.

“The only way you crumble (JRE) is if he asks you about the core of who you are and you don’t have a comfortable answer.”