The Joe Rogan excuse that spelled disaster for Kamala Harris' campaign
One of the biggest missed opportunities for Kamala Harris in the wake of her election defeat seems to be that the Democrat never sat down for an interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan.
The popular host could have helped her bring more men to the table - especially white men - whom President Donald Trump decidedly captured.
But that wasn't for lack of trying, it has been claimed.
Journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes previewed an excerpt of their forthcoming book Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House in The Hill newspaper Wednesday.
The duo found that Harris' campaign initially went to great lengths to schedule the Rogan sit-down, even adding a Houston rally in Texas to the VP's schedule in order to get her near Austin, so she could do the interview the next day.
Harris' team had floated Friday, October 25 for the interview - and the rally.
'Wish we had known about this sooner, because he has the 25th blocked out as a personal day,' one of Rogan's reps said, according to the book.
Harris' deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty then pitched that Saturday morning.
Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, never sat down with popular podcaster Joe Rogan (pictured) - but it wasn't for lack of trying
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign set up a abortion-rights rally in Houston, Texas - which is not a swing state - to give her cover to sit-down with Joe Rogan in nearby Austin
'Only if it's before 8:30 a.m.,' Rogan's rep replied.
Previously Rogan's people had made the Harris campaign agree to doing the interview in-studio - with the Harris campaign carving out time to do that - under the guise of an abortion-rights rally.
Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House comes out on April 1
But when Rogan's people played harder and harder to get, that set something off in Flaherty.
'The tone is different, Flaherty thought,' Parnes and Allen wrote. 'The vice president of the United States is offering to come to your f***ing show, and you keep putting up more hoops.'
While Harris' team still wanted to make it work 'a new wariness set in,' the authors reported.
Then on October 22 Harris announced the Houston, Texas rally - a peculiar move for a Democrat who needed to grow support in all seven swing states, not a bright red Republican stronghold.
That same day Rogan announced that Trump would be is guest on October 25 - the so-called 'personal day.'
Behind the scenes, Elon Musk and Dana White - friends of both Trump and Rogan - had urged the two men to bury the hatchet.
Rogan had previously labeled Trump a 'man baby' and a 'threat to democracy' in 2022 and promoted the candidacy of independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
'It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024' Trump posted in August, before Kennedy also endorsed him.
The collaboration was a huge success with Trump's October 25 with Rogan interview going viral - and likely helped him solidify his support among men of all ages.
Adding insult to injury, Harris' consolation prize was supposed to be a performance by Beyonce - who was widely expected to perform at the Democratic National Convention in August - but her 'surprise' appearance never materialized in a big let-down.
Vice President Kamala Harris' (left) consolation prize was Beyonce (right) attending the Houston rally, but Queen Bey refused to sing her song Freedom, Harris' walk-on song, giving a speech to the audience instead
This time Beyonce, a Houston native, would actually be alongside Harris and could belt out the Democrat's walk-on song, Freedom.
The only problem, the authors wrote, is that Queen Bey didn't want to sing.
'She would speak. But she would not sing,' Allen and Parnes wrote. 'No Rogan. No "Freedom." The campaign kept its poker face, but it had played out a losing hand.'
The Harris campaign made one final pitch to Rogan - join Harris in Washington, D.C. the day after she gave her 'closing argument' speech on the Ellipse, where Trump had spoken the morning of January 6, ahead of the Capitol attack.
But yet again there seemed to be hurdles when Rogan's people again said the podcaster would only talk to Harris in Austin.
'You get one trip to Texas within three weeks of the election,' Flaherty told Rogan's associates. 'You don't get two.'
Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House comes out on April 1.
