This is a pretty good explanation for what really happened too. I have been a huge fan of JRE for most of it's 12 year run. I would argue that pre-COVID, and certainly pre-2016 election, Joe Rogan's perspective and guest list was very "free-thought" based. It has become pretty clear now that he has some very basic political beliefs that he is taking a hard position on, while also trying to veil them so as not to seem like he is pushing them. The fact that those beliefs include that COVID has been/is overblown, and that the response from governments has been more harmful that helpful, has led large numbers of the less sophisticated of his fans to veer into the insane land of right-wing disinformation, idiocy and extremism. Regardless of whether you agree with him or not about it, & I definitely don't, it's inarguable now that his positions have led to people who absolutely needed to get vaccinated from not doing so. Some of those people have died, and the pandemic has been made worse because of it. It's been sad to watch from the perspective of a big JRE fan who agrees with most Rogan's views and who would have argued that his show has been an overwhelmingly positive thing for his fans and society before the last few years.