Many of Donald Trump’s supporters left a rally in Michigan before he arrived after the former president made them wait three hours to record a popular podcast interview.
Those who remained at the outdoor rally on the airport tarmac huddled in the chilly Friday evening as they waited for the former president to land in the battleground state.
Trump apologized to the crowd for the delay, which he blamed on an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most-listened-to podcaster and an influential voice among younger male voters whom Trump has been aggressively courting.
The interview, taped in Austin, Texas, was released Friday night and ran for a full three hours, with Trump telling many familiar stories from his rallies and other interviews, but also engaging Rogan on topics such as the existence of UFOs.
Democrat Kamala Harris was also in Texas on Friday for an appearance with superstar Beyoncé in Houston at an event highlighting the conservative state’s abortion ban, which was enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe were nominated by Trump.
Minutes before Trump’s rally in Michigan began at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, his spokesman posted on the social media platform X that Trump was just leaving Texas, more than two hours away by air. Trump recorded a video from his plane urging supporters to stay, noting it was Friday night and promising, “We’re going to have a good time tonight.”
Trump eventually took the stage at the Traverse City airport, where temperatures dropped to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). The crowd erupted in cheers as video screens showed Trump’s plane arriving and then him exiting his plane and walking down the stairs.
“I’m very sorry,” he said. “We were so tied and I figured you wouldn’t mind because we’re trying to win.”
Those in attendance who hadn’t left, bundled up, some covered in blankets, waited for him to land. The crowd sounded and looked disengaged as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time on stage. Hats were thrown to those present.
Among those who stayed at the Trump rally were John and Cheryl Sowash, who live in Traverse City and arrived at the airport at 4 p.m.
“Things happen,” John said. “He talked to a lot more people who talked to Joe Rogan than here.”
In fact, Cheryl said she was worried about Trump missing out on speaking to a larger crowd.
“He will be disappointed because there were twice as many people here. He missed it,” she said.
ROGAN’S INTERVIEW UNDERLINES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON MASCULINITY
His interview with Rogan provided another opportunity for the Republican candidate to underscore the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his bid for the White House in 2024. Trump has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts aimed at young male voters and eavesdropping on surrogates who sometimes use foul language.
During the long conversation, Trump told familiar stories but occasionally dropped new colors and nuances.
Rogan pressed Trump on whether he was “fully committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into his administration.
“Oh, I totally am,” Trump replied, but added that he and Kennedy disagreed on environmental policies. He said he would tell Kennedy to “focus on health, do what he wants.”
Kennedy has helped spread skepticism about vaccines, rejecting the prevailing consensus among scientists that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the rare risk of side effects.
Trump again seemed to entertain the idea of eliminating federal income taxes, telling Rogan, “Yeah sure, why not?” when asked by the podcast host if he was serious about it.
He also repeated at length his grievances about the 2020 election, but said: “If I win, this will be my last election.”
Trump said he has “never believed” in theories of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. He said he is constantly asked what the US government knows about “people coming from outer space.” He said he was told “a lot” as president, but he avoided Rogan’s requests to discuss alien life in detail.
And he criticized federal subsidies intended to greatly boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, one of President Joe Biden’s signature achievements. Chipmakers credited the legislation with securing billions of dollars in new factories, including in the battleground state of Arizona.
He also ripped apart Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that has long been aligned with the US
“You know, Taiwan, they stole our chip business,” Trump told Rogan. “OK. They want us to protect and they want protection. We don’t get paid for security, you understand? The mob makes you pay money, doesn’t it?’
Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose government in Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province, “a brilliant man, whether you like him or not.”
The podcaster is known for his hours-long interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is listed as No. 1 in the United States, according to Spotify’s charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed when a comedian friend of his described repeatedly forcing young women from the comic into sex.
Rogan and Trump have a complicated relationship. Rogan previously said he refused to take Trump on his podcast before because he didn’t want to help him.
Earlier this year, Trump criticized Rogan after the podcaster said Kennedy, then a candidate, was the only presidential candidate that made sense to him. Kennedy has since suspended his candidacy, endorsed Trump and joined him on the campaign trail.
TRUMP MOCKS AT HARRIS RALLY
In Michigan and at an earlier press conference in Texas, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent’s rally in Houston. “Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” he told the crowd in Michigan.
He used his trip to Texas, his second stop in a border state in two days, to escalate his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration.
“We’re like a garbage can for the rest of the world to throw out the people who don’t want it,” Trump told supporters Friday in Austin. Trump continues to push the baseless idea that foreign governments are actively sending criminals to the US
Harris said the remark was “just another example of how he’s really disparaging our country.”
“The president of the United States should be someone who elevates the discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invests in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump who constantly demeans and belittles who is the American people,” Harris told reporters in Houston before her event.
As the temperature in Michigan dropped Friday night and many in the crowd filed out, Trump suggested that his campaign advisers urged him not to repeat his past statements that he was an “advocate” for women.
The former president mimicked the advice he said he gets: “Sir, please don’t say you’re going to protect women.” But he said he plans to keep saying it. “I mean, it’s our job.”
It was also a response of sorts to the Harris event, which focused on protecting reproductive rights and featured a series of women speaking out about their health being threatened by strict abortion restrictions.
Trump’s rally was also interrupted twice by members of the public needing medical attention. After the second incident, Trump asked organizers to play the song Ave Maria to fill the time.
It was reminiscent of a recent Trump rally in Pennsylvania, when a medical emergency in the audience left Trump rocking out to this and other songs for nearly 40 minutes.
This time, however, he continued to speak after the Ave Maria ended.
