Trump makes Michigan rally goers wait in the cold for hours to record Joe Rogan’s podcast

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Many Donald Trump supporters left a rally in Michigan on Friday before the former president arrived after he made them wait three hours to tape a popular podcast interview.

Those who remained at the outdoor rally on the airport runway huddled on a cold Friday night as they waited for the former president to land in battlefield condition.

Trump apologized to the crowd for the delay, which he blamed on an interview with Joe Rogan, the most popular podcaster in the country and an influential voice among young male voters whom Trump is aggressively courting.

The interview, recorded in Austin, Texas, was released Friday evening and lasted a full three hours. Trump told many familiar stories from his rallies and other interviews, and also chatted with Rogan on topics such as the existence of UFOs.

Democrat Kamala Harris was also in Texas on Friday, where she appeared alongside superstar Beyoncé in Houston at an event promoting the conservative state’s abortion ban, which was enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe were nominated by Trump.

Minutes before Trump’s rally in Michigan was set to begin at 7:30 pm ET, his spokesman posted on social media site X that Trump had just left Texas, more than a two-hour flight away.

Trump recorded a video from his plane urging his supporters to stay, noting that it was Friday night and promising: “We’re going to have a good time tonight.”

He eventually took the stage at the Traverse City Airport, where the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Other members of the crowd burst into applause as video screens showed Trump’s plane arriving and then him exiting the plane and walking down the steps.

“I’m really sorry,” he said. “We’re so connected and I thought you wouldn’t mind too much because we’re trying to win.”

Many visitors who did not leave were bundled up, some with blankets, as they waited for Trump to land. The crowd was rowdy and seemed distant as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time on stage. Hats were thrown to the participants.

Among those lingering at the Trump rally were John and Cheryl Sowash, who live in Traverse City and arrived at the airport at 4 p.m.

“Things happen,” John Sowash said. “He talked to a lot more people who talked to Joe Rogan than he did here.”

Indeed, Cheryl Sowash said she worries about Trump missing out on the opportunity to speak to a larger crowd.

“He will be disappointed because there were twice as many people here. He missed it,” she said.

ROGAN INTERVIEW EMPHASIZES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON MASCULINITY

Trump’s interview with Rogan gave the GOP nominee another opportunity to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has so much defined his 2024 White House bid. He has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts aimed at young male voters and using surrogates who sometimes use crude language.

Throughout the long conversation, Trump told familiar stories, but from time to time he added new colors and nuances.

Rogan pressed Trump on whether he was “fully committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into his administration.

“Oh, I totally agree,” Trump responded, although he said he and Kennedy disagreed on environmental policy. He said he would advise Kennedy to “focus on your health and do whatever you want.”

Kennedy was instrumental in spreading skepticism about vaccines, rejecting the vast majority of scientists that the benefits of the shot outweigh the rare risks of side effects.

Trump appeared to again support the idea of ​​repealing the federal income tax, telling Rogan: “Yeah, sure, why not?” when the podcast host asked if he was serious about it.

He also repeated at length his dissatisfaction with the 2020 election, but said: “If I win, this will be my last election.”

Trump said he “never believed” theories about extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. He said he gets asked all the time about what the US government knows about “people coming from outer space.” He said he was told “a lot of things” as president but shied away from Rogan’s requests to discuss alien life in detail.

And he criticized federal subsidies aimed at greatly increasing U.S. semiconductor production, one of President Biden’s signature achievements. Chipmakers credit the legislation with billions of dollars in funding to build new factories, including in the embattled state of Arizona.

He also tore apart Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that has long been supported by the United States.

“You know, Taiwan stole our chip business,” Trump told Rogan. “GOOD. They want us to protect, and they want protection. They don’t pay us money for protection, you know? The Mafia makes you pay money, right?”

Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose government in Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province, “a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.”

The podcast is known for its hours-long interviews on The Joe Rogan Experience, which is number one in the US according to the Spotify charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed when a comedian friend of his described repeatedly pressuring young female comedians for sex.

Rogan and Trump have a rocky relationship – Rogan has previously stated that he previously refused to put Trump on his podcast because he didn’t want to help him.

Earlier this year, Trump criticized Rogan after the podcaster said Kennedy, then a candidate, was the only person running for president that made sense to him. Kennedy has since suspended his bid, endorsed Trump and joined him on the campaign trail.

TRUMP STANDS OUT HARRIS RALLY WITH BEYONCE

In Michigan and at a previous news conference in Texas, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent’s rally in Houston.

“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” he told the crowd in Michigan.

He used his trip to Texas, his second stop in the border state in two days, to intensify his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration.

“We are like a trash can for the rest of the world, where they throw people they don’t want,” Trump told supporters Friday in Austin. He continues to promote the baseless idea that foreign governments are actively sending criminals to the United States.

Harris said the remark was “just another example of how he is actually putting our country down.”

“The President of the United States should be someone who elevates the discourse and talks about why we are better than everyone else and invests in what we are, not someone like Donald Trump who constantly degrades and demeans what the American people are . Harris told reporters in Houston before her event.

As temperatures dropped in Michigan on Friday night and many in the crowd streamed outside, Trump suggested his campaign advisers had urged him not to repeat his past statements about being a “champion” for women.

The former president emulated advice he said he received: “Sir, please don’t say you’re going to protect women.” But he said he plans to keep saying it. “I mean, that’s our job.”

This, too, was in response to the Harris event, which focused on reproductive rights and included a number of women saying their health was threatened by strict abortion restrictions.

Trump’s rally was also interrupted twice because spectators needed medical attention. After the second incident, Trump asked organizers to play the song “Ave Maria” to fill time.

It was reminiscent of Trump’s recent rally in Pennsylvania, when spectators seeking medical attention were preceded by a nearly 40-minute period during which Trump stood and swayed to that and other songs.

However, this time he continued speaking after the Ave Maria ended.

Weissert reported from Washington and Cooper from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York; Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Melissa Perez Winder in Traverse City, Michigan, contributed to this report.

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