You Don't Have to Like Him: Joe Rogan's Endorsement of Bernie Sanders Is Still a Good Thing

As if the recent Warren-Sanders feud wasn't already threatening progressive politics enough, Leftist Twitter is now actively self-cannibalizing over controversial podcast host Joe Rogan's endorsement of Bernie Sanders.

Or, more specifically, a lot of people seem to be mad because Sanders actively accepted Rogan's endorsement, cutting together a campaign spot on Twitter featuring Rogan's support.

But to any leftist upset about Bernie Sanders jumping on Rogan's endorsement, especially those who want to see Bernie Sanders win the nomination, please keep in mind: You're missing the forest for the trees.

There's a reason that mainstream media companies like The New York Times support Elizabeth Warren (and Amy Klobuchar) over Bernie Sanders. It's because Sanders' staunchly pro-worker policies like Universal Healthcare and actual fair taxes for billionaires challenge the capitalist, majority-white hegemony (which the owners of every major media company benefit from) far more than any other candidate. It's the same reason that the majority of non-white voters and millennial (and younger) votersdo support Sanders.

Bernie Sanders' movement has always been grassroots in nature, and for a grassroots movement to succeed on a large scale it needs all the individual support it can get––after all, the establishment actively wants Sanders to lose. So what does that mean, practically?

It means that if a problematic podcast host with tens of millions of monthly listeners (many of whom are apolitical, centrist, or right-leaning) publicly endorses Bernie Sanders, then we can both dislike said podcast host on a personal level and recognize that bringing such a base into Sanders' orbit is objectively a good thing for Sanders' electability.

In fact, one of the most common critiques of the Sanders campaign by neo-liberals revolves around how his ideas are far too unrealistic (read: leftist) to ever actually work with right-wing people. In this context, one of the establishment's democrats (i.e. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or even Elizabeth Warren) is always presented as the more compromising, viable alternative.

Rogan's support of Bernie Sanders completely debunks this argument. To be clear, Joe Rogan is a deeply problematic public figure. On top of his history of transphobic, racist, and sexist comments, Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is considered by many to be a gateway to far-right ideology due to Rogan's willingness to give a wide platform to fringe voices like Milo Yiannopoulos and Jordan Peterson. But then it stands to reason that if Rogan really does have the ears of a massive potentially right-leaning demographic, then his support of Sanders has the potential to draw in people who genuinely might otherwise vote for Trump––which is way more than anyone could say about a The New York Times endorsement.

Contrary to what seems to be a popular viewpoint on Twitter, you do not need to like or agree with all of your preferred candidate's supporters. Even if you actively dislike a large chunk of Bernie supporters (which is perfectly valid), we need to recognize that nothing will ever actually get better if we can't band together long enough to get a candidate with progressive policies into office.

Most importantly, Sanders didn't need to move any of his policies to the right in any capacity to gain Rogan's support. Sanders has remained consistent in his ideology throughout his entire career––it just so happens that his ideas truly hold the most benefit for the widest spectrum of American people. More than any other candidate in the presidential race, Bernie Sanders' base is actually intersectional. You don't need to agree with every Bernie supporter, but it's time for leftists to stop in-fighting and band together for the greater good of everyone.