Senator Bernie Sanders found himself playing defense during his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast after making a blanket statement about climate change.
The Vermont independent senator, who has long championed climate reform, declared that the world has experienced a historic heatwave over the past decade.
“I think the last ten years have been the warmest on record,” Sanders commented.
“We can create millions of good-paying jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency, to solar, to wind, and to other sustainable energies.”
NEW: Joe Rogan fact checks Senator Bernie Sanders after he tried shaming people who think Climate Change is a hoax.
Sanders: Some people think climate change is a hoax. It ain't a hoax. I think the last 10 years have been the warmest on record.
Rogan: Did you see the Washington… pic.twitter.com/HPyWoWe7hZ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 24, 2025
Rogan instantly challenged the claim with recent data from a famously liberal news source that painted a different picture.
“First of all, the reality is that the earth’s temperature has never been static, right? We can both agree on that,” he began factually.
“It’s always been up and down. There’s been ice ages and heat waves.”
He went on to cite an article from The Washington Post, remarking, “Essentially, they found that we’re in a cooling period.”
When Sanders had no rebuke, Rogan added, “This was, like, a very inconvenient discovery. But they had to report the data, and kudos to them for doing that.”
The Washington Post drops a truth bomb!
Scientists have captured Earth’s climate over the last 485 million years.
Here’s the surprising place we stand now.
The kicker?
A chart shows we’re in one of the coolest periods on record.
Half a billion years of wild climate… pic.twitter.com/usrtG4GxLp
— Ikkyu Sojun (@ConciousLabRat) June 25, 2025
According to the report Rogan referenced, the planet’s hottest period reached an average temperature of 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit nearly 100 million years ago, which is a stark contrast to the 58.86-degree average in 2023.
Sanders appeared to be slightly taken aback and stammered through a retort.
“Well, I’m not sure. I didn’t read that article, but — but the scientists who are out there — I think —” before Rogan interrupted again.
“But there’s a lot of money involved in that, too, Bernie. That’s part of the problem,” he pointed out.
“There’s a lot of money involved in this, this whole climate change emergency issue. And there’s a lot of control.”
Sanders boomeranged back to his original point. “All I can tell you is that we are, in my view, going to see more extreme weather disturbances in the coming years than we have ever. We’re seeing them right now.”
He did not offer specific examples, but framed the issue as a worldwide challenge, particularly highlighting China’s carbon emissions.
The conversation shifted to campaign financing and the influence of billionaires.
Sanders called out Elon Musk directly for his financial backing of President Donald Trump during the 2024 election cycle.
“Elon Musk… he spent $270 million to elect Donald Trump. I think that’s absurd,” Sanders said.
JUST IN: Joe Rogan shuts down Senator Bernie Sanders after he tried slamming Elon Musk for donating $270 million in the 2024 election.
Sanders: "[Elon] spent $270 million to elect Trump as president. I think that's absurd that any one person."
Rogan: "What's the most someone… pic.twitter.com/2RvQ1oC8dz
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 24, 2025
Rogan pointed out that the money wasn’t flowing in only one direction. When he asked about Kamala Harris’s campaign donations, Sanders didn’t give a figure, but noted her campaign spent “a lot of money.”
They spent $1.5 billion just in the course of a couple months,” Rogan cited.
The Harris campaign, which lasted just 15 weeks, raised $1.5 billion and still ended up $20 million in the red.
Meanwhile, after Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk publicly backed him.
The Tesla CEO subsequently dropped $240 million into a pro-Trump Super PAC called America Pac.
According to Sanders, Musk “became the most powerful person in government” when Trump returned to office.
Musk also made waves by distributing $1 million checks to supporters at his rallies who signed America Pac-endorsed petitions.
While Sanders was vocal about Musk’s political influence, he didn’t spare his own party from criticism.
“You’re not going to hear me defending [the] Democratic Party on this issue,” he remarked.
“During the election it wasn’t just Musk and the Republicans putting a lot of money into Trump, it was Democratic billionaires putting money into Kamala and other candidates as well,” the Independent lawmaker added.
Sanders also blasted the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, calling it “maybe the worst decision that the Supreme Court has ever made.”
“What it says is you’re a billionaire, you now have the constitutional right because your money is your freedom of expression,” Sanders stated.
Rogan was also pulled into another controversy this week, involving threats from fitness influencer Brian Johnson, known as the “Liver King.”
Johnson, who rose to fame promoting raw meat-heavy diets, was arrested by Austin police after making a series of aggressive Instagram videos directed at Rogan.
The influencer claimed, “Joe Rogan, I’m calling you out, my name’s Liver King. Man to man, I’m picking a fight with you.”
Liver King (AKA Brian Johnson) went on a late night rambling about a potential BJJ match against Joe Rogan
Claiming he would never tap to Joe Rogan as he himself "has a family to fight for" 😂 pic.twitter.com/gbEcw5zdAf
— Cage Bites MMA (@CageBites) June 23, 2025
“I have no training in jiu-jitsu, you’re a black belt, you should dismantle me. But I’m picking a fight with you. Your rules, I’ll come to you, whenever you’re ready,” he said.
In another video, Johnson made the challenge even more personal: “You never come across something like this, willing to die, hoping that you’ll choke me out because that’s a dream come true.”
Rogan told police he had never interacted with Johnson and viewed the videos as threatening.
Officers apprehended Johnson at the Four Seasons Hotel and charged him with making a terroristic threat, a Class B misdemeanor.
NEW: ‘Liver King’ arrested for traveling to Austin, Texas after making threats against Joe Rogan on social media.
Brian Johnson faces one charge of Terroristic Threat.
Johnson was seen on all fours like a monkey in a video posted shortly before he traveled to Austin.
Johnson… pic.twitter.com/bF8gtkXiug
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 25, 2025
Johnson has never appeared on Rogan’s podcast, although he was the subject of a 2023 episode that discussed his steroid use—an accusation Johnson initially denied, then later apologized for.
That episode has been viewed more than 8.7 million times on YouTube.
Watch Sanders’ full appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” here: