President Donald Trump faces potential backlash from influential podcaster Joe Rogan, a key 2024 supporter, over his administration's aggressive mass deportation operations and a fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
Rogan, who endorsed Trump and hosted him for a pivotal pre-election interview, sharply criticized the tactics on his podcast this week. During a nearly three-hour discussion with Sen. Rand Paul that aired Tuesday, Rogan called the January 7 shooting death of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent "horrific" and a "terrible tragedy."
He questioned whether the response was justified, asking if there was "no other way to handle this" even if Good appeared mentally unwell or impeded agents (official accounts claim she used her vehicle as a weapon, though contested by video analyses and local officials).
Joe Rogan on ICE:
— The American Conservative (@amconmag) January 13, 2026
"You don't want militarized people in the streets roaming around, snatching people up, many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don't have their papers on them. Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, 'Where's your papers?' Is that what we've come to?" pic.twitter.com/mLsaP0Jof9
On Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in the military if local leaders did not curb what he called attacks on ICE "patriots."
A White House official responded that the administration stands by ICE officers while maintaining "ongoing discussions with a variety of new media outlets" and an "open dialogue."
The Wall Street Journal notes Rogan's shift echoes the 1968 moment when CBS anchor Walter Cronkite turned against Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War assurances, influencing public sentiment.
Political consultant Doug Schoen called Rogan a modern "weathervane" of national mood in a divided era—once a crucial Trump ally, now voicing misgivings that could signal broader conservative or centrist unease with the immigration crackdown.