The last few years have seen a sharp change in the discourse about Stephen A. Smith and Joe Rogan.
The two opinionated personalities have gotten in dustups at times, especially in a 2020 argument about UFC 246, but they’ve been tracking much more closely together since then. In 2023, Smith famously defended Rogan’s freedom of speech with regard to the Capitol events of Jan. 6, 2021, and since then, Smith has been talking more about desiring Rogan’s level of political influence. The latest case of that came in comments to Matt Flegenheimer for a New York Times (not The Athletic) Sunday feature, which wound up headlined “Stephen A. Smith Is Running. To Be Joe Rogan.”:
Stephen A. Smith Is Running. To Be Joe Rogan. https://t.co/dVZvDQHQU5 via @NYTimes
— Patrick Riccards (@Eduflack) May 15, 2025
Most of that article is a recapping of Smith’s career to this point and comments he’s made in other forums. But Flegenheimer got some new quotes from Smith on the Rogan angle in particular, and they’re notable:
He does not want to be President A. Smith. He wants to be Joe Rogan — while remaining Stephen A. Smith, the most famous sports-talker sports-talking.
And if he happens to alter the course of the nation’s politics incidentally, well, is that so ludicrous in the scheme of current events?
“I resonate,” Mr. Smith said in a 50-minute interview, repeatedly citing Mr. Rogan and his Trump-approved mega-podcast as a model, at least in its political clout. “I’ve been climbing, scratching and clawing all of these years. But it’s been primarily in an effort to say: ‘Will you take a look at what I can do? Would you stop looking at me and assuming that I’m this one-dimensional individual?’”
…His high regard for Mr. Rogan — whose hold on younger, male and often apolitical listeners was central to the Trump 2024 strategy — flows from a two-word judgment: “He resonates.”
“I have a strong, strong aspiration to be in Joe Rogan’s — not literally his seat, but a similar seat,” Mr. Smith said, adding that the two had met only in passing. “His impact is undeniable.”
The Smith-Rogan comparison has come up quite a bit before. Smith’s 2023 comments defending Rogan’s right to claim the Jan. 6 events were a “false flag” (while not necessarily endorsing those comments) marked a notable change from that 2020 UFC dispute. And Smith’s growing dives into politics, and flirtation with running for president himself, has prompted lots of analysis along these lines, including a February 2025 Awful Announcing feature from DJ Dunson titled “The Joe Roganization of Stephen A. Smith Is Here.” And Smith himself discussed this on his own podcast earlier this month:
“If there was a position I clamor for more than anything in the world, it’s the position Joe Rogan was in leading up to the election. Kamala Harris should have gone to visit him. Donald Trump did. And there is a lot of people who have speculated that that is a huge reason Donald Trump won the election. I don’t know whether that is true or not. But would I desire people talking about me having that kind of impact? You are damn right I would.
“It is my hope that everybody in Capitol Hill knows that I am one of the people they have to come through en route to their aspirations for higher office.”
It’s important to recognize, however, that these kinds of comments aren’t necessarily about Rogan’s political positions. Instead, they’re about Smith’s desire for a similar level of political influence. And that’s come up in all of the conversations about him perhaps running for president; it’s very hard to pin him down to consistent platform positions, as critics have noted, but he’s certainly looking to make himself a name in the political world as well as the sports one (including with his podcast, his guest appearances on networks such as Fox News and CNN, and his speaking tour with Bill O’Reilly and Chris Cuomo).
A long-running discussion with Smith is what ex-Deadspin editor Tommy Craggs once said on him: “His one skill is he can be emphatic on command.” That ability to argue about anything seemingly without sincere belief in it is what’s led to colleagues calling him “an absurd character,” and that’s been backed up by his comments about seeing himself as “a business,” learning how to “monetize” himself, and lecturing colleagues on “marketing” themselves. He’s even spoken on that in terms of First Take debates, saying “What I care about is, ‘What is my position? Is it valid? Is it informed?’ Once it’s valid and informed and rife with the necessary facts, that’s all I care about.” (Note that there’s no mention there of if he believes in what he says.)
In many ways, Rogan is a logical model for Smith to emulate. He’s someone from a sports and other TV background who has found huge success diving into politics. And, more than even his particular takes, he’s famous at this point for being famous. Smith has that level in the world of sports, but he’s clearly desirous of gaining it beyond that. We’ll see if he can reach Rogan’s level of political influence, but it’s notable to have him further confirm on the record that that’s something he’s going for.