Who Do You Trust More? CNN or Joe Rogan?

BUCK: If you want terrible takes on politics, you’re probably an avid CNN watcher because they’re just awful, and it’s actually a news network that I feel like increasingly exists just so people on the right can see how crazy the libs are. And in that sense, they’re actually quite effective. But they’re weighing in on this controversy right now.

I don’t like using the term “controversy” because it’s sort of cedes to the other side what they want which is, “Oh, this is…” There should be no controversy. Joe Rogan… I feel like we should be getting a referral fee here, but Joe Rogan does a good show. I know a lot of people who have been on the show. Clay and Buck haven’t been on the show. But whatever. No big deal.

CLAY: By the way, why do you think we haven’t been invited on Joe’s show?

BUCK: I don’t know. I don’t know. Either one of us would be a great guest for that show. I’d go on with you, obviously; it’d be the two of us. But we both talk a lot.

CLAY: I’d like to have both… My guess is that I haven’t been invited on… I don’t know Joe Rogan personally. I think it’s because I’ve been so critical of ESPN, and ESPN has all of the UFC rights right now that there may be some element there. It’s also possible that he doesn’t have any interest of either of us, but I find that impossible.

BUCK: Yeah. Of course. You never know.

CLAY: How is that even possible?

BUCK: But, I mean, how is that even a thing?

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: But, no. I will say everyone I know that’s gone on the show — dozens, literally dozens of friends of mine have gone on that show over the years — they all say he’s a super nice guy and they really enjoy the experience, which in our business, for everyone listening, people’s reputation… You always know who you’re dealing with pretty much by reputation before you actually sit down with them or deal with them.

The people with good reputations live up to them and the many, many people (laughing) who, Clay, if I… (laughing) In the news media, is there one person who comes to mind for you that had the worst reputation of all time? ‘Cause I’ve got a name the top of the list from left and right, by the way, universally the worst reputation professionally of any person in the business. Is there anyone that…? I’ll start it out of with Keith Olbermann who has the worst reputation.

CLAY: I was gonna say Keith Olbermann too.

BUCK: Keith Olbermann. I don’t even respond to him on Twitter ’cause he’s such a lunatic. He calls me like Tex Sex Bun or something. He’s got some name for me, which fine. It’s kind of funny, actually. But he is the person with the worst reputation in the news media, for many years. I mean, he was just considered a horrible human being. And I actually think, you know, he’s kind of going to a dark, sad place. He’s become kind of a lunatic.

CLAY: I think he’s got severe psychological issues which is why a lot of times ignore him when he comes off a me online too. But there were people… You know, he used to work at SportsCenter, and there were people at ESPN… I think he’s a smart guy before he went insane, which is a little bit scary, right? He’s not an unintelligent person. But he would put… He got mad at one point, I was told, at people working on the staff and said, “You’re only going to be able to communicate with me via written note,” and he left a box outside of his office at ESPN to allow people to write notes to him because he would not speak to them.

BUCK: There are other people who have done that in this business. I will not… The only reason I’m not naming names is because I don’t know for certain but I know there are other people who have had a… There are other people who have allegedly had a don’t look me in the eyes in the hallway rule. People get crazy in the media. I think it’s ’cause a lot of them are so…

You did stuff before this’ I did stuff before this. Some people this is all they’ve ever really known, and they feel like they were so mistreated in the beginning that the moment that they feel like they can get away with mistreatment of others that becomes just their way. Very true in the news media business. I don’t know. I can’t speak to Hollywood or whatever. You could speak to the journalism, sports journalism world.

I don’t know if that’s quite the same kind of thing there. But, anyway, point being that people’s reputation, Joe Rogan has a very good reputation is what I was trying to say. I like to say nice things about people. I mean, I gotta crush commies, but I like to spread some cheer and, you know, good faith as well. But that’s gonna end right now because we’re about to talk about Brian Stelter. (laughing) Brian Stelter, who is wondering — this is how we got on this topic — (impression) why do people trust Joe Rogan more than newsrooms like CNN? It’s just bizarre. Play clip 4, if you would, please.

STELTER: But not all opinions are created equal. You think about major newsrooms like CNN that have health departments and deaths and operations that work hard on verified information on covid-19. And then you have talk show stars like Joe Rogan who just wing it, who make it up as they go along. And because figures like Rogan are trusted by people that don’t trust real newsrooms, we have a tension — a problem — that’s much bigger than Spotify, much bigger than any single platform.

BUCK: CNN ran with the Russia collusion lie for four years, everybody. Can I just…? First, I’m jumping out of my chair here. I’m like, CNN self-immolated. It burned its credibility down to the little embers over Trump. They don’t get to play this game now.

CLAY: Not only that, Buck, they told us that if you got the covid vaccine you would neither get nor spread it ever again. They ran with the idea that it was unacceptable to question where covid came from. They accused President Trump — virtually everything he did, but they said it was racist of him to not allow flights from China. They are out of control in terms of this.

I put up this poll because I put up that clip of Brian Stelter and I said, “Who do you trust more, CNN…?” I tagged them both. You can go vote in this poll, by the way, if you want to @ClayTravis on Twitter. “Who do you trust more, @CNN or @JoeRogan?” Ten thousand votes in the first 40 minutes; 96% of people are saying they trust Joe Rogan more than CNN in my audience. I don’t know how many of you listen to Joe Rogan as well, but I know that a lot of you obviously are not fans of CNN. But 96 to 4 with over 10,000 votes in the first 40 minutes, it ain’t a close contest.

BUCK: Yet instead of having any self-reflection, which you would think at CNN, wouldn’t that be…? Clay, wouldn’t there be a desire to figure out why “the most trusted name in news,” right, “This is CNN,” all that stuff, why is it that they’re losing so much credibility and with it so much audience? It’s because there’s a fundamental dishonesty at the heart of the project of American-left journalism today, and that is the continued pretense because they think it makes their propaganda more effective.

And I do think there’s some level of self-delusion as well with it, they kind of believe it — not always, but a little bit — that they’re unbiased and just providing fact. I mean, CNN, why…? Here’s a question. We know why CNN doesn’t have you on, Mr. First Amendment/b-o-o-b-s, but why…? (laughing) That’s a great one. But why doesn’t CNN have other real conservatives?

I’m basically barred from the building, too, because I said I didn’t want to keep being under contract there on the left and I was like ,”This is place is a trash heap,” and I’ve said it many hundreds of times since, but why won’t they have real conservatives on to debate these points of view or to present something else? I mean, I wonder if they — Rogan probably wouldn’t do it, ’cause, why?

It’s a fifth the size of his audience to go on there. But I think what we’re seeing is the collapse of some… The legacy media still very powerful. We should not underestimate them. They give the Democrats a lot of help in elections, Clay, but we are seeing the slow collapse of the legacy media as this institution that just can count on the American people to, by and large, believe them. I think that that is happening right now.

CLAY: I think that trust is the most important coin in the realm and authenticity. People don’t presume that we’re gonna get every single thing right, but they trust us to do our best and to be as honest as we possibly can. How many people trust CNN to do that? I don’t think very many. I think Fox News has a huge number of people who trust them. I think MSNBC, if you are a left-winger, has people who trust them. I just don’t know. Are there people who love Don Lemon who were convinced that Chris Cuomo was a truth-teller, who are obsessed with Anderson Cooper? I just don’t know, Buck, that those people exist right now in the country. I really don’t.