Rogan and Trump talk aliens and North Korea in wide-ranging interview

This story has been updated to add additional context.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recorded an almost three-hour interview with a mega-podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday we discuss everything from aliens and life on Mars to election interference and foreign policy.

With the presidential election just days away, Trump’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience marks part of his campaign to young, undecided male voters. The Rogan Show is Spotify’s top podcast with 14.5 million subscribers. According to a 2026 YouGov poll, more than 80% of Rogan’s listeners are men and 56% are under 35.

Throughout the interview, Trump sought to win over a key demographic, citing Ultimate Fighting Championshipmentions his sense of humor and plans to abolish taxes.

Rogan rarely pressed Trump with tough questions about his record during interviews and at one point told the former president, “I like the idea of you teaming up with Robert Kennedy.”

Rogan signaled support for Kennedypresidential campaign when he was still running as an independent candidate. Kennedy backed out and endorsed Trump earlier this year.

Vice President Kamala Harris discussed the possibility of appearing on Rogan’s podcast, but a spokesperson for her campaign said that would not be possible due to scheduling issues. Rogan told Trump that he still believes Harris could appear on the series.

Here’s a quick look at some of the key points and takeaways from Trump’s lengthy call with Rogan.

Do aliens exist?

Rogan asked Trump if he was given information about extraterrestrial life while he was president. Trump said he interviewed pilots who said they saw strange objects in the air.

“There is no reason not to think that there is no life on Mars and all these planets,” Trump said. Rogan countered slightly, saying that the US has been placing probes and rovers on the surface of Mars for decades. Scientists have still not found direct evidence of the existence of life on the Red Planet.

“I don’t think there’s any life out there,” Rogan said, to which Trump responded, “Well, maybe it’s life that we don’t know, but maybe it’s a different kind of life.”

Pentagon earlier this year released a 63-page report concluded that there was no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial technology on Earth. The report says there is no reason to believe the US government is hiding information about aliens.

“The Enemy Within” against Kim Jong-un

Trump repeated concerns that “enemy from within“The country poses a more dangerous threat than foreign governments – this time we are talking about North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

“I got along great with him,” Trump told Rogan during the interview. Trump was first president in history set foot on North Korean territory.

“I tell people: we have, in my opinion, a more serious problem – the enemy from within. And it drives them crazy when I use that term. But we have an enemy from within,” Trump later said.

Trump has previously used the phrase “enemy within” to refer to his political opponentsincluding former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is running for the Senate.

Replacement Suggestion income tax with tariffs

During the interview, Rogan and Trump touched on several political topics, including taxes and environment.

In one instance, Rogan asked Trump if he was serious about his proposal to eliminate income taxes and replace them tariffs.

Trump responded: “Sure, why not?”

Trump advocated returning to the pre-1909 era, when there was no federal income tax. In a podcast with Rogan, he praised former President William McKinley for signing a law in 1890 that increased tariffs (the tax rate on foreign goods) to about 49%.

Some economists believe McKinley’s tariffs fall of the US government into shortages and depression a few years later in 1893.

Today, replacing the income tax with tariff policy could significantly increase the current federal budget deficit. The federal government collected only less than $2.18 trillion in income taxes in 2023, representing approximately 49% of total revenue. Trump’s tariffs are expected to raise about $300 billion a year, about nine times less than income tax revenue.

Trump repeats 2020 election denial

Rogan at one point in the interview repeated Trump’s claims that there were “a lot of things that weren’t fair” during the presidential election. 2020 presidential election. He asked Trump: “How do you think you were robbed? Everyone always cuts you off.”

Trump initially said he would prefer to talk to him “another time,” saying he would bring “a lot of different documents” to back up his arguments. But when Rogan pressed him for examples of election interference, Trump repeated: debunked claims state government misconduct and fraud.

Rogan questioned whether Trump ever planned to present evidence of interference, but the conversation quickly turned to a discussion about Hunter Biden, who was convicted three counts in his federal gun trial.

Later, Trump and the podcast host discussed unfounded concerns about the vulnerabilities of mail-in voting and the security of voting machines.

“Let’s talk about potential election vulnerabilities and election fraud. One of them is voting by mail. Another question is if someone can hack voting machines,” Rogan said.

The use of voting by mail has been growing since the 1980s and has expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fraud in mail-in voting is rare. All mail-in ballots checked and counted and are associated with an eligible voter.

Voting machines have also been used for decades. Old machines raise fears of hacking, although election officials say such a feat it would be difficult.

Trump steps up criticism of Kelly and Bolton

Trump told Rogan that the “biggest mistake” he made during his presidency was appointing officials he “shouldn’t have chosen” to White House and Cabinet positions.

Specifically, Trump was referring to John Kelly, his former chief of staff and former secretary of Homeland Security, and John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.

Kelly said in an interview with the New York Times that Trump was demonstrating fascist tendencies and confirmed reports that Trump spoke favorably of Adolf Hitler. Kelly told the Times that Trump “commented more than once, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things too.'”

Bolton said Trump was posing:dangersif he is elected president again.

Rogan downplayed reports of Trump’s remarks about Hitler during the interview.

He told Trump: “They constantly branded you as a terrible threat to democracy and Hitler. They kept saying you would become a dictator, ignoring the fact that you were not a dictator for the four years during which you were actually president.”

Trump has said he is “the opposite of a dictator.”