Trump leaves Michigan rallygoers waiting 3 hours in the cold while he tapes Joe Rogan podcast
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Many of Donald Trump’s supporters left a Michigan rally before his arrival because the former president kept them waiting for three hours while he was interviewed for a popular podcast.
Those who remained at the outdoor rally on an airport tarmac huddled in the cold Friday night as they waited for the Republican nominee to touch down 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 with younger male voters, whom Trump is aggressively courting.
The interview, taped in Austin, Texas, was released Friday night and ran three hours, with Trump telling many familiar stories but also engaging with Rogan on topics such as UFOs.
Minutes before Trump’s Michigan rally was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., 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 his supporters to wait for him, promising: “We’re going to have a good time tonight.”
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Trump eventually took the stage at the Traverse City airport, where temperatures dipped to about 50 degrees. The remaining members of the crowd erupted into cheers as video screens showed Trump’s plane arriving and then him walking down its steps.
“I am so sorry,” he said. “We got so tied up, and I figured you wouldn’t mind too much, because we’re trying to win.”
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Those who remained had bundled up, some covered by blankets, as they waited for him to land. The crowd sounded and looked disengaged as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time onstage. Hats were thrown into the crowd.
Among those who stuck around were John and Cheryl Sowash, who live in Traverse City and arrived at the airport at 4 p.m.
“Things happen,” John Sowash said. “He spoke to a lot more people talking to Joe Rogan than he did here.”
Cheryl Sowash said she was worried about Trump, who had missed speaking to the full crowd in Michigan.
“He’s gonna be disappointed, because there were twice as many people here. He missed it,” she said.
Harris and Trump went to Texas trying to sway undecided voters by focusing on the key issues of reproductive freedom and border security.
Trump’s interview with Rogan was part of the Republican nominee’s strategy of appearing on podcasts targeting young male voters and tapping surrogates who sometimes use crude language.
Rogan pressed Trump on whether he’s “completely committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into his administration.
“Oh, I completely am,” Trump responded, but added that he and Kennedy disagree on environmental policies. He said he’ll tell Kennedy to “focus on health” and “do whatever” he wants to in that arena.
Kennedy has been spreading skepticism — and sometimes falsehoods — about vaccines, rejecting the overwhelming consensus among scientists that the benefits of inoculation outweigh the risk of rare side effects.
Trump again seemed to entertain the idea of eliminating federal income taxes, saying, “Yeah, sure, why not?” when Rogan asked whether he was serious about doing so.
He also repeated at length his unfounded grievances about the 2020 election, and said, “If I win, this will be my last election.”
As for UFOs, Trump said he’s “never been a believer” in theories about extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. He said he is asked frequently about what the U.S. government knows about “the people coming from space.” He said that as president he was told “a lot,” but he dodged the host’s entreaties to discuss alien life in detail.
Trump also called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.”
The podcaster is known for his lengthy interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which Spotify’s charts list as No. 1 in the U.S. The host calls women “chicks,” once laughed as a comedian friend on his show described repeatedly coercing young female comics into sex.
Associated Press writer Colvin reported from Traverse City, Weissert from Washington and Cooper from Phoenix. AP writers Michelle L. Price in New York, Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Melissa Perez Winder in Traverse City contributed to this report.
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