Conservative podcaster Joe Rogan, who has long been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, has turned on the former president, mocking his decision to deploy the National Guard as “reckless” and “a dangerous precedent.” The comments, made on a recent episode of his show, stunned listeners accustomed to hearing near-unwavering praise for Trump.
The host, who built his brand defending Trump during his first administration, said the deployment to several U.S. cities amounted to “the kind of federal overreach we used to scream about when Democrats did it.” He accused the former president of “playing general for the cameras” and warned that the move could backfire politically. “You can’t scream ‘law and order’ while trampling over state authority,” he said. “That’s not conservative—it’s chaos in uniform.”
The criticism reflects growing unease within parts of Trump’s media base over his use of federal forces for domestic enforcement. Some right-wing commentators have echoed concerns that the deployment could violate the 140-year-old Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the military’s role in civilian law enforcement. Others, however, have rallied to Trump’s defense, saying extraordinary times call for exceptional measures.
The White House has not directly responded to the backlash, but aides insist the deployment was necessary to restore stability amid what they described as “unacceptable breakdowns in local control.” Trump himself brushed off the criticism on his social media platform, writing, “The Guard is doing an incredible job—America is safe again.”
The podcaster’s rebuke underscores a rare crack in the loyalty of the media personalities who helped shape Trump’s political movement. Whether it marks a deeper shift or a brief moment of dissent remains to be seen, but for the first time in years, one of Trump’s loudest defenders is publicly questioning the man he once called “the last line between order and anarchy.”