Sen. Bernie Sanders clashed with Joe Rogan on Tuesday over political donations and Elon Musk’s massive financial backing of President Donald Trump.
During his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Sanders blasted the Citizens United ruling, calling it “maybe the worst decision that the Supreme Court has ever made.” He argued that it gave billionaires too much power over elections.
“What it says is you’re a billionaire, you now have the constitutional right because your money is your freedom of expression,” Sanders said. “Elon Musk… he spent $270 million to elect Donald Trump. I think that’s absurd.”
Rogan pushed back, asking about the donations made to Kamala Harris. That should Sanders up quickly. He didn’t have much to say as a response ready but admitted, “a lot of money” had been spent on her campaign.
“They spent $1.5 billion just in the course of a couple months,” Rogan said.
Harris’ campaign raised $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks and ended $20 million in debt. Musk, meanwhile, dove into Trump’s campaign after endorsing him in the wake of the failed assassination attempt at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally.
Musk dropped $240 million into a pro-Trump Super PAC, America PAC. He also handed out $1 million checks to rallygoers who signed petitions backed by his organization.
When Trump took office, Musk was named head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which quickly gained attention for slashing agencies like USAID and cutting massive amounts of federal spending.
Sanders didn’t let Democrats off the hook. “You’re not going to hear me defending [the] Democratic Party on this issue,” he said. “It wasn’t just Musk and Republicans. Democratic billionaires were pouring money into Kamala and other candidates too.”