Trump taped three-hour interview with Joe Rogan

In a highly anticipated interview, Donald Trump touched on a wide range of cultural and political issues Friday night in a three-hour conversation with Joe Rogan, host of one of the biggest podcasts in the world.

The recording went on for so long that Trump was several hours late for a rally that night in Traverse City, Michigan. a lot of people left.

Rogan’s interview continues Trump’s embrace of nontraditional media, including podcasts, in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Rogan also invited Vice President Kamala Harris for an interview, but her campaign declined. Rogan’s podcast has over 17 million subscribers on YouTube.

Much of the interview, which was posted online around 10 p.m. Friday night, was a rehashing of comments Trump has made throughout the campaign.

He said the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had been president, complained that moderators did not sufficiently fact-check Vice President Kamala Harris during her one debate with Trump, criticized the traditional media, continued to portray Harris and Democrats as something more. more dangerous than foreign enemies, and indulged in conspiracy talk about stealing the 2020 election.

At one point, Rogan asked Trump to give examples of how the 2020 election was stolen, as he has long falsely claimed. Trump gave a largely rambling response that touched on changes to election law that he said did not receive adequate legislative approval.

“They should have gotten legislative approval for what they did, but they didn’t,” Trump said, referring to changes that made voting easier in the midst of a pandemic.

Trump, who is seeking a second term in the White House and would not be able to run for a third if he wins, said this would be his last election “if I win.” He did not say whether he would run again if he were to lose.

“If I win, this will be my last election,” he said. “But I think I owe it to the country. We need fair elections.”

Trump has made unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen as a key part of his 2024 campaign message, although he admitted in September that he lost the race to President Joe Biden due to “mustache»

Trump’s campaign rhetoric has become increasingly hostile in the final weeks of the election, with threats to do things like jail your political opponents and strip media organizations of their broadcast licenses, which he opposes, and become a more regular topic at election rallies.

That has led his opponents to portray Trump as a man with dictatorial instincts, a point underscored last week when his former chief of staff John Kelly said New York Times that Trump fits the definition of a fascist.

“I was actually the opposite of a dictator,” Trump said Friday in defense. “I was a very straight guy.”

Trump also told Rogan that he had learned a lot about UFOs.

“There is no reason not to think that there is no life on Mars and all these planets,” Trump said.

Rogan quickly corrected him about life on Mars.

“Mars, we’ve had probes and rovers there, and I don’t think there’s life there,” Rogan said.

“Maybe it’s a life we ​​don’t know about,” Trump responded.

Rogan at one point also appeared to try to catch Trump praising Confederate general Robert E. Lee, with whom Trump was speaking. with love in the past. Without elaborating, Trump said the generals he talks to consider Lee a “genius.” At this point, Rogan intervened and asked Trump to clarify that he meant only “strategically,” to which Trump agreed.

Later in the interview, Rogan seemed to foreshadow the fact that Lee’s Trump comment could draw criticism from him.

“Donald Trump wants the South to win,” Rogan said, imitating what he thought the criticism would sound like.

“The Joe Rogan Experience“, launched in 2009, is one of the most popular podcasts in the United States, especially among young people.

The episodes, which typically last several hours, feature a variety of guests from a variety of industries, including entertainment, sports, technology and politics.

Rogan, a former stand-up comedian and host of Fear Factor, has gained a large following as an unlikely political pundit. But his popularity was accompanied by years of growing criticism: the presenter was accused of spread misinformation about Covid, used racial slurs And made anti-Semitic comments on his show.

While Rogan has not shied away from political issues, he has not issued any official endorsements this election cycle.

In August Rogan said said on his podcast that he was a fan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but later clarified in a post on X that he did not support the then independent candidate. Kennedy Jr. later dropped out of the race and supported Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris was also in talks to interview Rogan, but that did not pan out. Ian Sams, a spokesman for her campaign, told MSNBC on Thursday: “We have spoken with Rogan and his team about a podcast, but unfortunately it won’t work right now due to the scheduling of this campaign period.”

Trump, who is not known for being a modest person, seemed to acknowledge the importance of appearing on Rogan’s podcast, at one point referring to himself as “your student.”

On the environment, Trump said environmental regulations are the “biggest tool to stop growth” and went on to attack his longtime foe, the windmill, for what he says is its detrimental impact on wildlife. At the same time, Trump said he was concerned about the impact of windmills on whales.

“I want to be a whale psychiatrist,” he said. “Whales go crazy if something happens to them, but they get washed up by the waves, and they don’t talk about environmentalists, right?”

He also continued to attack Harris personally, calling her “unintelligent” and portraying her as a greater threat to the nation than even foreign recommendations.

“If she becomes president of the United States, which I can’t believe,” Trump said. “I don’t think this country can handle it.”

Trump has increasingly called Harris “stupid,” and during a rally Thursday night in Las Vegas, he said her policies would “kill thousands of people.”

However, on Friday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky released a letter calling on Harris to tone down her rhetoric. They argued that Trump could face a third assassination attempt as a result of the heated campaign talk.

“Labeling a political opponent as a ‘fascist’ could lead to yet another would-be assassin trying to rob voters of their choice before Election Day,” the newspaper said. two wrote.

The letter does not mention that Trump repeatedly used the term to refer to Harris.

As the third hour of the interview approached, Trump said he realized he had to get to a planned rally in Michigan, which he was late for due to the length of Rogan’s interview.

“I have a great speech to give,” Trump said. “And if I get a little distracted today, I’ll blame you.”

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.