Joe Rogan Blasts Newsom as a ‘Cardboard Cutout of a Person’

Politicians get hit with a lot of rhetorical shots from critics. It’s part of the job. Some of those shots get ignored or deflected pretty easily and others really seem to stick and dog someone for a while. I think Joe Rogan’s most recent comments about Gavin Newsom might be the latter type. Here’s the clip that was circulating on X:

Joe Rogan: “Nobody believes [Newsom] is a real person. Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he’s corrupt, that’s a human being… With Newsom you’ve got like this construct, this cardboard cutout of a person.” pic.twitter.com/7uac1oNrvt

— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) April 30, 2026

Nobody wants President Newsom either. Nobody believes in that guy. The guy’s a f***ing con man. I mean everything he did in California from trying to madate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it. Nobody believes in that guy. He’s just a politician. Just a stone cold narrative driven politician…Nobody thinks he’s a real human.

Whether you like Trump or not, whether you think he’s corrupt or not, that’s a human being…With Newsom, you’ve got like this construct, this cardboard cutout of a person.

You can tell this struck a nerve for a couple of reasons. First, there were hundreds of angry progressives attacking Rogan and Trump in response, though few were defending Newsom. 

Second, Newsom’s social media team responded with one of their shouty rants:

JOE “LITTLE GUY” ROGAN IS TOO CHICKEN TO HAVE ME ON HIS FAILING PODCAST BECAUSE HE KNOW I’D CRUSH HIM, SO HE TAKES CHEAP SHOTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY AS HE GETS RELEGATED TO IRRELEVANCY. ALL TALK, NO ACTION. I’M READY WHEN YOU ARE, “LITTLE GUY.” OR KEEP HIDING!!!! — Governor GCN https://t.co/5JtafE9zE6

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) May 1, 2026

I guess they wanted to embrace the Streisand effect here because Newsom’s PR response has generated a bunch of articles from sites that surely would have ignored Rogan’s comments otherwise.

Rogan and Newsom have been trading shots for at least a year at this point. I’m actually not sure when it started but it really started getting attention when Rogan criticized Newsom’s odd behavior after the wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes in LA.

Then about six months ago, Newsom went on another show and complained about not being invited on Rogan’s show.

Eventually, Newsom said he was moving on and no longer had an interest in appearing on Rogan’s show. He called Rogan “the Facebook of podcasts” which is supposed to be clever but it didn’t stick because no one thinks of Rogan as the Facebook of podcasts.

Again, this was all six months ago but now Newsom is back to having his staff call Rogan a chicken and daring him to invite him on the show. So it seems like he really hasn’t given up.

But once again, Newsom just isn’t as good at this game. Is Rogan short? He’s like 5’7″ so not as tall as Newsom, but attacking someone for their height seems like the kind of weak stuff kids would do in elementary school. It’s something that no one has control over and doesn’t really say anything about them as a person.

On the other hand, Rogan doesn’t attack Newsom’s looks, he attacks his behavior: “Just a stone cold, narrative driven politician…Nobody thinks he’s a real human.” And as someone who has been watching Newsom for years, all of that rings true. His only desire in life is to become president. Everything he says and does is poll-tested and worked out backwards from that ultimate goal. There is no real Newsom at this point beyond what he needs to say to get what he wants. That’s why I think Rogan calling him a “cardboard cutout” might stick. He really does feel like a 2D simulation of a real person a lot of the time. 

And frankly, having his staff of goofy PR people write this response doesn’t help his case at all.

Rogan: Gavin Newsom isn’t very authentic

Newsom: Has staff respond from a staff-driven meme account in all caps that sound nothing like Newsom

No notes, guys. Just tactical brilliance from the guy slipping in polls behind Kamala Harris. pic.twitter.com/3q4CTPGBN5

— Matt Whitlock (@MattWhitlock) May 1, 2026

Rogan says Newsom is not an authentic person and Newsom responds by telling his female hired gun on X to push out a bunch of elementary school BS that he would never actually say. You’ve just proven Rogan’s point. 

You know what might have worked? Type your own damn response from your own phone saying something like “Hey, we’ve been trading shots for more than a year and I’m guilty of it too, but I am a real person and I’m willing to sit down and have a real conversation anytime. Nothing off limits.”

Why couldn’t he do that? Because he’s a fake person who can’t risk looking weak in his race for president. So he has to go with the all caps attacks to show he’s the boy boss. Only he can’t do that himself because that might backfire. So he has someone else write his attack lines. That way he can always pivot to something else if it doesn’t go over. In short, he’s a stone cold, narrative driven politician.

It’s sad really, but expect this to go on for the next two years until Newsom finds the courage to be a human being.

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