Poilievre set up ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ interview himself, Conservative campaign manager says

Conservative campaign manager Steve Outhouse says leader Pierre Poilievre arranged his appearance on the hugely popular Joe Rogan podcast himself.

During his first U.S. tour since becoming Conservative leader, Poilievre made stops in Michigan, Texas and New York City this week, and sat down to record a more-than-two-hour podcast episode with Joe Rogan.

The episode, which dropped Thursday, is set to be seen, and heard, by millions.

“Basically, the leader and Mr. Rogan were tweeting, or not tweeting, but texting back and forth, and they set it up themselves,” Outhouse told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday, adding it was Canadian former professional mixed martial artist Georges St-Pierre who connected the two in the first place.

“(Rogan) has this sort of mythology of just being a very tight-run, or very small group on his podcast,” Outhouse added. “And that was very much the case. It was just the leader and Joe texting back and forth.”

• READ MORE: Pierre Poilievre was on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Here are the big takeaways

During last April’s federal election — in which Poilievre lost his long-held Ottawa-area seat — Rogan said he’d invited the Conservative leader on the podcast, but the latter declined.

That decision prompted Rogan to call Poilievre a “dumb---.”

Kicking off the podcast this week, Rogan said he was glad the two “finally” made it happen, to which Poilievre agreed, adding that politicians “don’t just leave the country during election campaigns.”

A different side of Poilievre

The wide-ranging conversation touched on Poilievre’s political career, and major Canadian political storylines, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war, the Freedom Convoy, assisted dying, immigration and the current push to approve more major energy projects.

Rogan and Poilievre also spent a significant portion of the conversation discussing the history of mixed martial arts, and health and fitness, with the Conservative leader presenting the former television host with a 70-pound kettlebell. Rogan has been a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship for nearly 30 years, and Poilievre has spoken about his dedication to fitness for more than a decade.

The lengthy interview concluded with Rogan declaring that if he were Canadian, he would “vote for (Poilievre), 100 per cent.”

Asked about the primary objective of Poilievre’s trip, Outhouse told Kapelos it was two-fold: to be part of the Team Canada approach in dealing with the United States amid the protracted trade war, and to present a different side of the Conservative leader from his domestic image.

“Appearing on a podcast like this is certainly a way that caught attention, and will help us with that dual goal, first of all, of helping promote Canada abroad, but then secondly, we certainly want to see, or have more people see, the leader in a personal way,” Outhouse said.

‘Fraught with potential peril’

Outhouse said as a campaign manager, he’s aware a two-and-a-half-hour podcast is “fraught with potential peril,” but that he believes Poilievre did “a great job.”

Rogan is known for making at-times controversial comments, and has been criticized for platforming polarizing figures and spreading misinformation.

During the conversation, while it often veered into potentially sticky topics, Poilievre stayed on his message track. He pushed back when Rogan referenced an online conspiracy theory that Trudeau’s biological father is former Cuban president Fidel Castro, and said he wouldn’t criticize Carney “on foreign soil,” for example.

“There’s a lot of potential (for peril),” Outhouse said. “But I have a lot of faith in our leader, and I knew that he was prepared, and was ready to go in and have a good discussion.”

The Conservatives under Poilievre had a double-digit lead over the Liberals ahead of last year’s federal election — before Prime Minister Mark Carney replaced his predecessor Justin Trudeau — but have now been trailing the Liberals for months.

Recent data from Nanos Research shows the Liberals at record-high support with 47 per cent, the same level at which the Conservatives found themselves just 16 months ago.

On the preferred prime minister question, though, Carney is far exceeding Poilievre, with 56.5 per cent compared to 22 per cent respectively, according to Nanos Research.

Asked by Kapelos whether the timing of Poilievre’s trip was motivated by the polls, Outhouse insisted: “Polls come and go, they go up, they go down.”

He chalked up the timing of the Conservative leader’s trip to the parliamentary calendar, with MPs being on break this week.

You can watch Conservative campaign manager Steve Outhouse’s full interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.