Donald Trump won a second term in a historic return to White House after beating Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s (Nov. 7, 2024) presidential election. In his victory speech, he declared his intention to “help the country heal,” and promised that his next administration would be “the golden age of America.” Among the people Trump thanked for his victory was popular podcast host Joe Rogan, one of the most outspoken voices in the lead-up to the election. Rogan officially endorsed Trump on the eve of the election after being convinced in one of his interviews by X owner Elon Musk.
Trump himself appeared on Rogan’s podcast in October – discussing everything from the “biggest mistake” of his 2017-21 presidency, what he told North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and whether extraterrestrial life exists. Rogan, who ventured into podcasting in 2009 after a career as a stand-up comedian, is known for hosting an ideologically diverse mix of guests. Male voters make up the core of listeners to the Joe Rogan Experience, which has 14.5 million Spotify followers and 17.5 million YouTube subscribers.
Trump also reserved special praise for his greatest ally in the race to become president. “A star is born, Elon,” Trump said in the speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, referring to the billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk. The entrepreneur was at Trump’s side at Mar-a-Lago as the results rolled in on election night and has indeed played an outsized role in Trump’s comeback.
Musk donated an estimated $132m to Trump and other Republicans in the run-up to the 2024 election, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) last month in its final disclosures before election day. He not only pumped millions of dollars into Trump’s campaign but also spent weeks campaigning in swing states ahead of the election and served as a policy advisor and promoter.
Musk endorsed Trump for the presidency in July this year and first appeared in-person to to support Trump at a rally in Butler, Penn., in October and spoke on stage at a campaign event at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27.
“The future is gonna be fantastic,” Musk posted on X as it became apparent that Trump would win the presidency.
Musk blasted on Wednesday “most legacy media” for lying “relentlessly” to the public during the United States presidential election while telling his 203 million followers that “you are the media now.”
“Please post your thoughts & observations on, correct others when wrong and we will have at least one place in the world where you can come to find the truth,” the world’s wealthiest individual wrote on X, which he bought for $44 billion in 2022.
It is worth noting that during his presidency, Trump saw his Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts all suspended in 2021. He was also suspended from Twitter but was given his account back after Musk bought the company. Trump was certainly not the first public figure to be deplatformed. Broadcaster Alex Jones and InfoWars were kicked off in what was called a permanent ban in 2018 from Twitter for breaching the site’s rules on abusive behaviour. In 2023, Musk restored the X account of Jones.
Musk’s contribution to Trump’s victory was decisive, as X played a key role in enabling Trump to spread his political message to Americans. The way the new owner of X managed the social media platform was exemplary as he brought back what is now missing in most Western societies: freedom of expression. Without freedom of expression and without free elections there is no democracy.
And Trump’s choice to turn to Musk’s X, Rogan’s podcasts, and Alex Jones’ alternative media turned out to be the move that gave him victory as the world is looking beyond mainstream media. Last week Jones tweeted that he ‘formally accepts the offer to serve as President Trump’s new Press secretary’. The 50-year-old’s post came just before the president-elect announced 2024 campaign manager Susan Wiles as his chief of staff.
Now X is the most popular major social media platform for keeping up with politics, according to a Pew survey published in June.
