Anti-Trump Podcaster Calls Joe Rogan a ‘Jerk’ Who ‘Spreads Lies’

Ben Meiselas didn’t hold back when torching Joe Rogan in a fiery segment on his podcast The People’s Cabinet, reigniting a culture war clash over media influence, misinformation, and politics.

The progressive attorney and co-host of the MeidasTouch podcast took aim at Rogan while discussing whether Vice President Kamala Harris made a mistake by skipping an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience during the 2024 campaign season.

“To me, Rogan’s a jerk and he spreads lies,” Meiselas said bluntly, calling out what he described as Rogan’s long history of peddling misinformation and giving a platform to extremists.

Meiselas, who runs the MeidasTouch network with his brothers Brett and Jordan, has seen his show skyrocket to the top of the charts, overtaking Rogan’s empire in February and pulling in staggering numbers—125 million downloads and views in March alone, nearly double Rogan’s 64 million.

“I don’t think [Harris] should have went on Rogan or any of those right-wing shows,” Meiselas said. “The moment you go on a Rogan or a Charlie Kirk, they’re already setting the terms of the conversation—and those aren’t the issues people actually need to hear about.”

He also dismissed the idea of trying to build a liberal version of Rogan. “We shouldn’t be chasing ‘Who could be the next left version of Joe Rogan,’” Meiselas said. “Someone on the left shouldn’t be like, ‘Well I need to be a jerk and punch down.’”

Instead, he pushed for a different model entirely: a media landscape rooted in facts and civic engagement. “Let’s build a healthy, vibrant, pro-democracy, pro-truth ecosystem,” he added.

Rogan, meanwhile, has remained a lightning rod for controversy. He’s faced widespread backlash for spreading COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation and for giving airtime to conspiracy theorists. On a recent episode, British conservative commentator Douglas Murray grilled Rogan directly for featuring Ian Carroll, a fringe YouTuber with a history of pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“If you throw a lot of s–t out there, there’s some point at which ‘I’m just raising questions’ isn’t valid anymore,” Murray warned. “You’re not asking questions. You’re telling people something. And that something is dangerous.”