Joe Rogan on democratic socialists’ ideology: ‘It sucks’

Joe Rogan said Wednesday that democratic socialists’ entire ideology “sucks” and accused those supporting the progressive movement of being “Marxists” fueled by what he described as manipulative social media rhetoric.

“It sucks. … People are really [arguing], ‘Oh maybe being socialist is cool.’ Like, this is all coming out of social media. One hundred percent,” Rogan said during the latest episode of his podcast.

“It’s not natural that people are sitting around reading Marx and going, ‘What a great idea, let’s implement this.’ They’re not doing that,” he added.

Last month, President Trump shared a video calling for “hardcore communist bastards” to be deported, notably naming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) as part of the political grouping. He similarly described Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D), who does not identify as a democratic socialist, as a “Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel.”

Trump also said communism is “ the greatest threat to our country in history ” — including World War I, World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor — and frequently uses the political ideology to attack progressive Democratic candidates.

While socialism is tied to Marxism , they are not the same thing.

Socialism is a wide-ranging term for any system where the public owns and controls means of production (like factories, land and tools) to meet human needs instead of the private sector.

Marxism is a specific theoretical system created by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that uses “historical materialist” analysis to study class struggle, economic structures and the inevitable collapse of capitalism.

On Wednesday, Rogan said, “Very few of these quote unquote Marxists that you find on social media are even aware of the consequences, the historical consequences of these strategies and what it ultimately leads to.”

He added, “It’s like checkers, it’s like real simple: You’re going to have a military that controls everything you do . As soon as you give up everything to the state, well the state has the guns and you have nothing and they tell you what to do.”

His guest, conservative commentator Steve Hilton, responded to Rogan by highlighting the impact of Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union.

Hilton said state-run grocery stores in Hungary under Soviet rule were “terrible.” During this era, the communist country adopted a heavily modified version of Marxism adapted by Vladimir Lenin and later codified by Joseph Stalin — which prioritized a powerful central state over the stateless society Marx proposed.

Hilton’s comments were made in response to Mamdani’s proposal for government-run grocery stores to promote affordability. The mayor has not identified himself as a Marxist or a communist, though.

However, those who criticize his political policies have labeled him as such — also claiming the mayor would facilitate a sharp turn to a factionless society from a thriving capitalist economy.

The targeted attacks from Republicans — and efforts from establishment Democrats to separate themselves from their progressive counterparts — come as democratic socialists gain ground in congressional races by winning primaries, ousting incumbents and fueling their base with grassroots support for their nominees.

New York and Colorado welcomed democratic socialists as the party nominee in several primaries earlier this summer, while a progressive similarly claimed Michigan’s Democratic nomination for the Senate and a center-left nominee barely beat out his democratic socialist opponent in Wisconsin’s widely covered gubernatorial primary.

Some strategists say the Democratic Party needs to unite in order to regain the majority in the House this fall and embrace an integrated messaging on affordability.

“With major battleground state primaries, like Wisconsin and Michigan, behind us, Democrats now need to unite around one overriding priority: defeating MAGA Republicans, winning back governing power, and making it far harder for Donald Trump to continue advancing a harmful agenda over the final two years of his presidency,” National Democratic Training Committee Founder and CEO Kelly Dietrich told The Hill.

“This will only happen, though, if Democrats stay focused on the kitchen-table issues that deeply matter to everyday Americans — lowering costs at the grocery store and gas pumps and holding the Trump administration accountable for this reckless, deadly, unnecessary war that is only driving prices higher,” he added.