Joe Rogan: DeSantis would be a ‘good president’

Podcaster Joe Rogan says he’s a fan of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), arguing the governor’s tenure in The Sunshine State would help boost a potential presidential bid.

“I think Ron DeSantis would work as a good president,” Rogan said on an episode of his podcast this week when asked who he might want to see run for the White House in 2024. “I mean, what he’s done for Florida has been admirable.”

The podcast host particularly praised DeSantis’s handling of COVID-19, an issue that has sparked fierce pushback at times among critics.

“I feel like what he did for Florida, a lot of people gave him a lot of grief, but ultimately he was correct,” Rogan said. “He was correct when it comes to like deaths, he was correct. And when it comes to protecting all vulnerable populations, he was correct in terms of distribution of monoclonal antibodies.”

DeSantis, who is widely speculated to be considering a potential Republican presidential bid despite insisting he is focused on his current duties in Florida, took criticism during the coronavirus pandemic for resisting lockdown measures and vaccine mandates.

Rogan has also sparked controversy for his comments about the pandemic and his promoting of unproven medical treatments as a way for preventing and treating coronavirus infection.

“And he was furious when the government tried to pull those, they were trying to pull very effective treatments,” Rogan said of the Florida governor. “You know, he is not perfect. He’s a human being, but, um, what he’s done is stand up for freedoms … And there was some weird gaslighting shit that went on where people equated freedom and saying the word freedom to like right-wing bigotry and hate is so strange.”

The popular podcaster is at least the second major media figure to weigh in on DeSantis’s presidential ambitions recently. Last week, pundit Piers Morgan called on Republicans to move on from former President Trump and focus on empowering DeSantis as the party’s new leader.