Kamala Harris has been running for president for only three months and one week, but somehow it feels like she’s been negotiating her appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast even longer. It’s really been only about half a month since the first reports that “the Democratic nominee could sit down for an interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan, whose audience leans heavily towards young men.”
Rogan offered another update today. The host said there’s an open invitation, any day or time she likes, but he wants her to come to his studio in Austin, Texas, as Donald Trump did. And he would like her to do the whole show, as Trump did.
For these conditions, publications such as New York magazine and the New Republic are furiously lambasting Rogan.
Look, if you want to do an interview with Rogan, do an interview with Rogan. The host’s regular audience is around 14 million, and a lot of non-regular Rogan viewers would watch that episode. I think it would do Harris more good than harm: Rogan’s three-hour program gives guests a lot of time to say whatever they like, and he seems to treat guests with an offbeat, unpredictable amiability.
If you don’t want to do an interview with Rogan, then don’t do an interview with Rogan — but then don’t reach out in the first place or place lots of conditions on the interview. Just come out and say that Harris doesn’t have the time to do a three-hour live interview with less than a week until Election Day. But to reach out about doing the show and then never agree to terms — well, that’s just about the worst of all possible worlds for Harris.