Donald Trump is trying to win back the favor of his podcasters through pot.
The president, 79, is expected to reclassify marijuana as soon as Wednesday, officials told Axios. Reclassifying the drug from a Schedule I to a Schedule III would remove barriers to researching its potential uses—a long-sought outcome for podcast bros credited with strengthening Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Once in effect, marijuana would move from the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy to that of ketamine and steroids.
“The Administration continues to expeditiously implement President Trump’s December executive order to increase medical marijuana research to close the gap between current medical marijuana use and medical knowledge,” a White House official told the Daily Beast.
Trump’s team is reportedly eager to curry favor with some of the most prominent voices in the manosphere, perhaps none more so than Joe Rogan. The podcaster, who averages about 11 million listeners, has repeatedly touted the potential of psychedelic drugs—particularly ibogaine—to treat serious mental illnesses like substance dependence.
On Saturday, Rogan stood behind the president’s Resolute Desk as Trump signed an executive order accelerating a Food and Drug Administration review of psychedelic drugs as treatments for mental illness—an effort to speed up a process he began in December.
There, Trump, according to reporters, attempted to assure Rogan that reclassification of marijuana would soon be underway. “You’re going to get the rescheduling done, right, please?” Trump asked an administration official standing next to him. “Will you get the rescheduling done, please?” He then assured Rogan, who was standing behind him: “Joe, they’re slow-walking me on rescheduling. OK, you’re going to get it done, right?”
The podcaster told reporters at the ceremony that he merely had to text Trump some information about ibogaine for the executive order to be issued.
“The text message came back, ‘sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.’ It was literally that quick,” Rogan said.
Trump’s order includes a $50 million designation for research into that specific drug, which has been linked to dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities and serious side effects like prolonged and intense psychoactive experiences.
The podcaster, who previously endorsed Trump, helped propel him back into power by hosting him during the 2024 campaign and facilitating friendly conversations. He and his peers draw tens of millions of listeners each week, an audience that data shows increasingly identifies as Republican.
More than a year on, Rogan has broken ranks with the president over the botched release of the so-called Epstein files, his harsh immigration crackdown, and, most recently, his war on Iran, which Rogan slammed as a “betrayal” to his supporters. During an episode of his show, the podcaster went so far as to refer to himself as politically homeless. The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives of Rogan for comment.
“He ran on no more wars, and these stupid, senseless wars, and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” the podcaster said in March.
Rogan is far from the only Trump supporter who has publicly denounced the president since the 2024 election. Theo Von, another podcaster instrumental to Trump’s success with young men, slammed the president’s actions as “unbelievable,” “diabolical,” and “f---ing baffling” regarding the war he launched in coordination with Israel and his most recent battle with the pope.
Even farther to the right, streamers and conspiracists including Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, Candance Owens and more have also publicly denounced the president.
And last week, CNN data analyst Harry Enten explained Tuesday that Trump’s support among non-college-educated white voters has steadily declined during his first 15 months in office—the very group the manosphere all but delivered him on a platter. Now, that bloc went from plus 32 points to minus two points for Trump.
