Podcaster Joe Rogan is happy that the Texas town of Austin is blue but believes that the rest of the state needs to stay red.
Rogan revealed this belief during a 3-hour conversation Tuesday with conservative author Forrest Galante.
“A lot of people, especially coastal elites, coastal snobs, they have this idea of [Texas] being filled with rednecks and ignorant people and foolish people,” Rogan began. “[It’s] not that way at all, especially Austin. Austin is one of the most liberal, easygoing, progressive cities. But even the progressives here, they’re more reasonable.”
“They’re definitely more crazy than they were 20 years ago when I first started coming here, but way less crazy than liberals in L.A. or liberals in New York,” he added.
Rogan used to live in California but relocated to Austin in 2020 for “more freedom.”
Joe Rogan: “The liberals who want to turn Texas Blue, like, don’tttt. You’re going to ruin it. You’re going to ruin it for you, too.”
“There’s a saying about Austin: ‘Keep Austin Weird and Surrounded.’”
“Surrounded by red people. Like, it’s all Red states around you and it’s… pic.twitter.com/HFLFHux3g6
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) July 28, 2026
Continuing his remarks, Rogan noted how Austin is essentially the only “progressive” city in Texas.
“There’s a saying about Austin: Keep Austin weird and surrounded,” he said. “[As in] surrounded by red people. It’s all red states around you, and it’s this pocket of blue that’s in the center of this red state. I think that’s good for everybody. I think that’s good. It’s a balance.”
“And the liberals that want to turn Texas blue, don’t. You’re going to ruin it. You’re going to ruin it for you too. You don’t get it. Balance is important,” he added.
To explain why “balance is important,” Rogan turned to the food chain.
“It’s, like, you can’t kill all the predators because then the deer will get overrun and you’re hitting them with cars, and you can’t kill all the deer because then there’s no food,” he said. “That’s what they did when they were market hunting. Balance.”
“And you need balance with humans too. And the Austin balance is a great balance. It’s a liberal city surrounded by hardcore Republicans with guns and tigers. It works. It makes for nice people. It’s a good mix,” he concluded.
Rogan addressed his 2020 move from California to Texas during a 2023 episode of his podcast. He said the violent Black Lives Matter riots and California’s anti-business policies played a role in his decision.
“I was like ‘This ain’t going in a good direction and I f—ing smell chaos,'” he recalled, according to Fox News. “It’s f–king madness. There’s so many businesses that are closing down, they don’t want to be a part of it anymore.”
“I don’t like when I don’t see any course correction, I don’t see any readjustment, I don’t see any ‘Hey we need to take care of disenfranchised people, but we also need to keep our streets safe, and we have to stop crime.’ There’s none of that,” he added.
Rogan reiterated some of these complaints during a recent sit-down with Vice President J.D. Vance.
“Every time I’m in LA, you can see why this was, like, the quintessentially American city,” Vance said during the episode, according to SFGate. “The architecture is beautiful. It’s got its own vibe going. Like you said, the weather is amazing. And then you drive through Skid Row, and you’re like, how could any state or any city let this happen?”
Rogan didn’t disagree.
“Every time we go back to California, we’re like, ‘We were right.’ … It’s falling apart,” he said. “Especially Los Angeles and San Francisco, they’re falling apart.”
During prior remarks in March, Rogan blasted California over its rampant government “waste and fraud,” according to the New York Post.
“The thing that drives me the most nuts is when these progressive talking heads saying they don’t want to pay their fair share,” he said. “With the amount of waste and fraud, why would you?”
“You don’t think there should be some accountability to how much f—ing waste and fraud that has been clearly demonstrated? Like, the solution is just give more money? Oh, and they can do it because they have it. So what — you just give more money and now it’s $30 billion goes to homeless with no accountability?” he added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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