Joe Rogan says he refuses to host Trump on his podcast soon after saying Gov. Ron DeSantis would make a good president

• The podcast host Joe Rogan said he's refused to host former President Donald Trump on his show.
• Last week Rogan said Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Trump nemesis, would make a good president.

Joe Rogan, the world's most-listened-to podcaster, has hosted numerous controversial figures on his show.

But he draws the line at former President Donald Trump, whom he called an "existential threat to democracy itself."

"I'm not a Trump supporter in any way, shape, or form," Rogan told Lex Fridman, a computer scientist, on "The Lex Fridman Podcast" on Monday. "I've had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once. I've said no every time."

He added: "I don't want to help him. I'm not interested in helping him."

While Rogan said he didn't support Trump, Trump defended Rogan in February after a video montage of Rogan using a racial slur went viral. Trump said at the time that Rogan shouldn't have to keep apologizing to his critics.

Rogan's latest comments also appear to stand in contrast to remarks he made in 2020, when he said he'd rather vote for Trump than Joe Biden, though Rogan had taken several politically liberal positions and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Trump's postpresidential office didn't immediately respond to questions about the remarks or confirm the number of times Trump had asked to appear on "The Joe Rogan Experience."

On Monday, Rogan predicted that Trump, 76, would run for the White House again. The former president has hinted that he will but has not made an official announcement.

"He's going to run again," Rogan said, adding that he'd be "running against a dead man," referring to Biden, who's 79.

"Did you see him on 'Jimmy Kimmel' the other day? He was just rambling," Rogan said of Biden. "If he was anyone else, if he was a Republican, if that was Donald Trump doing that, every fucking talk show would be screaming for him to be off the air."

Though Rogan has shunned Trump, he appears to have a favorite Republican: He said a week ago that he thought Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida "would work as a good president."

DeSantis, 43, is increasingly seen as one of the biggest threats to Trump's becoming the GOP nominee for president in 2024. The governor, who's up for reelection in Florida in November, hasn't said one way or another whether he sees the White House in his future.

Rogan drew his red line about Trump during a broader conversation about the divisiveness of US politics. He said the Trump era would be "one of the weirder times when people look back historically about the division in this country."

Fridman predicted that Rogan would change his mind about hosting Trump, saying Rogan tended to host controversial figures, such as the rapper Kanye West.

But Rogan drew a distinction, saying that West's an artist and that his "doing well or not doing well doesn't change the course of our country."

"Do you really bear the responsibility of the course of our country based on a conversation?" Fridman asked.

Rogan replied, "I think you can revitalize and rehabilitate someone's image in a way that is pretty shocking."

Fridman urged Rogan to change his mind, saying he thought Rogan could compel Trump to open up.

But Rogan said that Trump didn't do drugs — which he said helped some of his other podcast guests open up during their conversations — and that he'd need to do significant research to prepare to interview Trump.

"I don't know if he would genuinely be there," Rogan said, adding, "I think he would be putting on a performance."

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that Joe Rogan made his remarks while appearing on "The Lex Fridman Podcast."