During an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience featuring Shane Gillis, host Joe Rogan discussed the controversial plaques installed by President Donald Trump in the White House, describing them as resembling something from an African dictatorship. The conversation revealed Rogan’s concerns about the unprecedented presidential behavior and its implications for future administrations.
The discussion began when Gillis brought up the plaques Trump had installed beneath presidential photos in the White House. Rogan read the plaque beneath Joe Biden’s official portrait, which stated: “Sleepy Joe Biden was by far the worst president in American history. Taking office as a result of most corrupt election ever seen in the United States, Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our nation to the brink of destruction.”
The plaque continued with specific criticisms, including claims about inflation causing the US dollar to lose more than 20 percent of its value in four years, allegations about immigration policy allowing 21 million people to enter the United States “including from prisons, jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums,” and descriptions of the Afghanistan withdrawal as “amongst the most humiliating events in American history.”
Rogan paused while reading to note the unusual capitalization choices, with Gillis adding commentary throughout. The plaque concluded by stating that Biden was “nicknamed both sleepy and crooked” and that “despite all, President Trump would get reelected in a landslide and save America.”
Another plaque discussed was beneath Ronald Reagan’s photo, which stated: “Ronald Reagan was a fan of President Trump’s long before his historic run for the White House.” Rogan responded to this by saying, “That’s so disturbing. That’s such crazy stuff.”
Gillis questioned the process behind the plaques, speculating: “What f**king lackey put that s**t up and was like, ‘Do you like this?’ Of course he’s going to f**king like it.”
Rogan responded by saying, “Bro, he wrote it. What are you talking about? You don’t think he wrote it? You think a lackey wrote it?”
Rogan then suggested the same person writing Trump’s social media posts likely wrote the plaques: “Whoever’s writing his tweets wrote that. Same s**t.”
Gillis made a pointed observation about the plaques: “He’s not beating the dictator charges. This is like an African dictatorship.”
Rogan agreed with this assessment, adding his own concerns about the precedent being set. “You shouldn’t be allowed to do this, right?” Rogan asked. “It should be like historians say this guy was president from this date to that date.”
When discussing the implications, Rogan expressed worry about future administrations following suit: “That’s the problem. It opens up the door for someone on the left to do their version of it.”
Rogan specifically referenced potential Democratic responses, mentioning California Governor Gavin Newsom: “Of course he would. He copies everything that Trump does. He even tries to talk like Trump on Twitter. You don’t think that he would put up plaques that talk about how corrupt Trump was and about how terrible and he was quoted as telling lies over 5,000 times by Washington Post?”
He emphasized that this was unprecedented behavior: “That’s never been a thing that people did before. The White House is supposed to be where each new president, you won the new election. Congratulations. Let me show you around. This is what it’s like. These are all the photos.”
Rogan’s finally emphasizes that while he can appreciate controversial actions when they have humor or purpose, these plaques crossed a line that future administrations might exploit.
