On a recent episode of the The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan and guest Brendan Schaub landed on a deeply unsettling topic: a survey showing that a significant portion of Americans believe the assassination attempts on Donald Trump were staged.
The conversation began when Rogan brought up the polling numbers from a recent report. “Nearly one-third of Americans, 30% believe that at least one of the three attempts on Donald’s life over the last two years were staged,” Rogan said while reading the findings aloud.
He continued by pointing out that the numbers became even more alarming from there. “A majority of Americans said either that it was staged or that they were not sure. 54% said they either thought it was staged or not sure,” he added.
According to the report, only 38% of Americans believe all three assassination attempts were authentic.
Rogan immediately blamed social media algorithms for what he sees as a growing disconnect from reality. “This is TikTok. It’s ruined. That’s the problem. Rotting their brains out from inside their heads,” Rogan said.
He then shifted the discussion toward what he believes is a major double standard in how TikTok operates in different countries. “Meanwhile, you go on Chinese TikTok, it’s all like martial arts, science projects. It shuts down for kids after 10 p.m.,” Rogan said.
To Rogan, that contrast says everything about the platform’s priorities and intentions. Rogan noted that TikTok had since been sold to an American company and made it clear he did not expect things to improve.
“They’re just going to continue doing what the Chinese did and make the most amount of money, which is rotting people’s brains out,” Rogan said.
Rogan also floated an idea of what a more responsible version of the platform could look like if the new ownership actually wanted to change things. “Wouldn’t it be dope if this American company that bought it said, there’s clearly a problem with how things are emphasized and what your algorithm shows you, and what we’re going to do is promote exceptional people doing exceptional things,” Rogan said.
Schaub even suggested that such an approach could make parents more comfortable with their children using the app. “As a dad, I’d be like, okay, you guys can have TikTok. They have some rules there. It’s an educational thing,” Schaub explained.
