Joe Rogan left his podcast audience in surprise when he found common ground with US Senator Bernie Sanders on a significant issue.
The Vermont Senator and former congressman, Bernie Sanders, appeared as a guest on the most recent edition of Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, on Tuesday (June 24).
During the nearly two-hour conversation, they delved into topics ranging from artificial intelligence and the future of labor to universal education and healthcare reform.
One topic in particular sparked agreement between the two, resulting in a moment that quickly gained attention on Twitter.
They were discussing the national minimum wage, when Rogan remarked: “I think you and I are in agreement on all these issues. The minimum wage in this country is ridiculous – $7 – what?”
Sanders concurred, calling it ‘insane,’ while Rogan used an interesting analogy to emphasize his point.
He elaborated: “How much is a sub at Jimmy John’s? Some guy just did a TikTok video where he bought a sub for $25. So imagine, that’s your lunch.”
“Imagine you have to work three and a half hours just to pay for a sandwich. Imagine how insane that is – like how do you eat?”
“How do you eat dinner? How you eat lunch, breakfast?”
Sanders agreed, noting: “I have talked to people who make 10, 12 bucks an hour – trying to raise a kid.”
Discussing the potential increase of the minimum wage, Rogan commented: “The argument against that is these are entry level jobs that are supposed to be for kids.”
Sanders acknowledged that while this is sometimes the case, it doesn’t apply universally.
“But if you have grown adults working those jobs, now it becomes disgusting,” Rogan added, with Sanders nodding in agreement.
The senator noted: “We put a lot of pressure, we tried to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour.”
Rogan responded: “That’s a reasonable amount of money.” He added a caveat: “It’s still difficult to live – at least you get a sandwich in under two hours worth of work.”
While many social media users echoed the sentiments expressed by Rogan and Sanders, some expressed frustration with hearing the same arguments repeatedly.
One YouTube user commented: “We’ve been hearing this line for decades, and we keep getting poorer. Nothing will ever be done to help regular people!”
Nonetheless, others praised Sanders for engaging in the podcast.
A commenter wrote: “Shout out to Bernie for actually showing up on a podcast and having a real discussion.”
Another person stated: “Say what you will about Joe Rogan, but giving Bernie Sanders a platform to speak directly, unfiltered, for over an hour was one of the most important podcast moments in modern politics.”
“It’s rare to see a major candidate treated like a human being instead of a soundbite.”
According to data from the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023 was 15 times higher than in 1975 and had grown 27 percent since 2018.
Previously, Sanders had pointed out research from RAND showing a staggering $79 trillion had shifted from the bottom 90 percent of Americans to the top one percent over the past five decades.
As inequality has grown, the bottom 90 percent’s share of taxable income decreased from two thirds to 49.53 and 46.83 percent in 2015 and 2019, respectively, while the top 10 percent saw a three percent increase in income share over four years.
The author suggested that if the income distribution resembled that of 1975, most workers could have earned an additional $3.9 trillion in 2023.
In a press release from early March, Sanders highlighted this data, describing the wealth redistribution as ‘profoundly damaging to our democracy.’
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump pledged to ‘Make America Wealthy Again,’ unveiling a substantial list of global tariffs on foreign imports on ‘Liberation Day’ (April 2) with the aim of bolstering the economy, jobs, and domestic industries.
Speaking from the White House, Trump asserted that American workers had ‘suffered gravely,’ having been ‘ripped off for more than 50 years.’