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    • Rogan, Trump talk about aliens, North Korea in extensive interview
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    Rogan, Trump talk about aliens, North Korea in extensive interview

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    This story has been updated to add additional context.

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump taped a nearly three-hour interview with mega-podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday, discussing everything from extraterrestrial aliens and life on Mars to election interference and foreign policy.

    With just days to go before the presidential election, Trump’s appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” marks part of his campaign to target young, undecided male voters. Rogan’s show is Spotify’s top podcast with 14.5 million followers. According to a 2026 YouGov poll, more than 80% of Rogan’s listeners are male and 56% are under the age of 35.

    Throughout the interview, Trump attempted to court the core demographic with references to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, mentions of his sense of humor and plans to abolish taxes.

    Rogan rarely pressed Trump with tough questions about his record during the interview, at one point telling the former president, “I love the idea of ​​working with Robert Kennedy.”

    Rogan expressed his support for Kennedy’s presidential campaign while he was still running as an independent. Kennedy dropped out earlier this year and endorsed Trump.

    Vice President Kamala Harris was in discussions about an appearance on Rogan’s podcast, but a spokesperson for her campaign said that would not be possible due to scheduling issues. Rogan told Trump he still believes Harris could appear on the show.

    Here’s a look at some of the key moments and key takeaways from Trump’s lengthy conversation with Rogan.

    Do aliens exist?

    Rogan asked Trump if he had received information about extraterrestrial life during his presidency. Trump said he had interviewed pilots who said they had seen strange objects in the sky.

    “There’s no reason not to think that Mars and all these planets don’t have life,” Trump said. Rogan pushed back somewhat, arguing that the US has had probes and rovers on the surface of Mars for decades. Scientists have so far found no direct evidence of life on the red planet.

    “I don’t think there’s any life there,” Rogan said, to which Trump replied: “Well, maybe it’s life we ​​don’t know, but maybe it’s a different kind of life.”

    The Pentagon released a 63-page report earlier this year that concluded there was no evidence of aliens or alien technology on Earth. The report shows that there is no reason to believe that the US government is hiding information about aliens.

    “Enemy from Within” vs. Kim Jong-un

    Trump reiterated his concerns that the “enemy from within” poses a more dangerous threat to the country than foreign governments – this time about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

    “I got along well with him,” Trump told Rogan during the interview. Trump was the first president ever to set foot in North Korea.

    “I say to the people: in my opinion we have a bigger problem with the enemy from within. And it drives them crazy when I use that term. But we have an enemy from within,” Trump said later.

    Trump has previously used the phrase “enemy from within” in reference to his political opponents, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is running for Senate.

    A proposal for a replacement income tax with rates

    Rogan and Trump discussed several policy topics during the interview, including taxes and the environment.

    In one instance, Rogan asked Trump if he was serious about his proposal to eliminate income taxes and replace them with tariffs.

    Trump responded: “Sure, why not?”

    Trump has advocated a return to the period before 1909, when there was no federal income tax. On the podcast with Rogan, he praised former President William McKinley for signing a law in 1890 that raised tariffs, the tax rate on foreign goods, to about 49%.

    Some economists believe that McKinley’s tariffs plunged the U.S. government into a budget deficit and depression a few years later, in 1893.

    Today, replacing the income tax with a rate policy could substantially increase the current federal deficit. The federal government collected just under $2.18 trillion in income taxes in 2023, accounting for roughly 49% of its total revenue. Trump’s tariffs are expected to raise about $300 billion a year — about nine times less than income tax revenue.

    Trump repeats denial of 2020 election

    Rogan at one point in the interview reiterated Trump’s claims that there was “a lot of crooked things” during the 2020 presidential election. He asked Trump: “How do you think you were robbed? Everyone always cuts you off.”

    Trump initially said he would prefer to have the conversation “another time,” saying he would bring “so many different papers” to support his arguments. But when Rogan pressed for examples of election interference, Trump repeatedly debunked claims of wrongdoing by state governments and fraud.

    Rogan wondered whether Trump planned to ever present evidence of interference, but the conversation quickly changed course into a discussion about Hunter Biden, who was convicted of three felonies in his federal gun trial.

    Trump and the podcast host later discussed unfounded concerns about vulnerabilities in mail-in voting and the security of voting machines.

    “Let’s talk about the potential vulnerabilities to elections and election fraud. One of these is mail-in ballots. The other is whether someone can hack into voting machines,” Rogan said.

    The use of mail-in voting has been on the rise since the 1980s and expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voter fraud by mail is rare. All mail-in ballots are verified and counted and associated with an eligible voter.

    Voting machines have also been used for decades. Older machines have raised concerns about hacking, although election officials say such a feat would be difficult.

    Doubling down on criticism of Kelly, Bolton

    Trump told Rogan that the “biggest mistake” he made during his presidency was appointing officials he “should not have chosen” to positions in the White House and his Cabinet.

    Trump was talking about John Kelly, his former chief of staff and former secretary of Homeland Security, and John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.

    Kelly said in interviews with the New York Times that Trump showed fascist tendencies and confirmed reports that Trump had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler. Kelly told the Times that Trump “noted more than once, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.’”

    Bolton has said Trump poses “dangers” if he is re-elected president.

    Rogan downplayed reports of Trump’s Hitler comments during the interview.

    He told Trump: “They constantly labeled you as this terrible threat to democracy and Hitler. They kept saying you were going to be a dictator, ignoring the fact that you weren’t a dictator for the four years you were actually president.”

    Trump said he was “the opposite of a dictator.”

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