Trump says he's open to eliminating income taxes and repeats 'enemy from within' rhetoric on podcast with Joe Rogan

Former U.S. president Donald Trump said on Joe Rogan’s podcast Friday that he would be open to eliminating income taxes, while pushing his sweeping tariff proposal and praising the economic policies of the late 19th century.

While talking about tariffs, Trump was asked by Rogan, “Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs?”

“Well, OK,” Trump said during the interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Rogan asked, “Were you serious about that?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” the former president responded. “Because, we, ready, our country was the richest in the, relatively, in the 1880s and 1890s. A president who was assassinated named McKinley — he was the tariff king. He spoke beautifully of tariffs.”

“And then around in the early 1900s, they switched over stupidly to frankly an income tax. And you know why? Because countries were putting a lot of pressure on America: ‘We don’t want to pay tariffs, please don’t.’ You know they, believe me, they control our politicians,” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly said he plans to impose an across-the-board tariff of either 10 per cent or 20 per cent on every import coming into the U.S., as well as a tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports, in a bid to encourage American manufacturing.

In the interview, Trump also said he believed what he called “the enemy from within” poses a greater threat to the U.S. than North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whom he said he had “no problem with” while president.

“I got to know him very well. We had no problem with him. If you have a smart problem, if you have a smart, really the right president, the smart president, you’re not going to have a problem. And I say it to people, we have a bigger problem, in my opinion, with the enemy from within, and it drives them crazy when I use that term. But we have an enemy from within. We have people that are really bad people that I really think want to make this country unsuccessful,” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly argued that there are people within the United States — including Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi as examples — who pose a greater threat than foreign adversaries.

Rogan's reversal on hosting Trump

The interview comes after years of Rogan saying he would not have the former president on his podcast and recent attacks from Trump himself.

“I’m not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form. I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once. I’ve said no every time. I don’t want to help him. I’m not interested in helping him,” Rogan said on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2022.

Trump took a jab at Rogan in August after the podcaster praised former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for being “the only one that makes sense to me.” (Rogan later clarified that his praise did not amount to an endorsement.)

“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform following Rogan’s comments.

Rogan first launched his podcast in 2009. In the past three years, “The Joe Rogan Experience” has consistently been the No. 1 podcast across the globe. The show has attracted its fair share of controversy, too, notably coming under fire during the pandemic for Rogan’s skepticism about COVID-19.

Following the taping of the podcast in Texas, Trump attended a Michigan rally, where he took the stage to speak hours late – a delay that led to hundreds of people leaving the event. Trump said he was late because he had been taping the three-hour podcast with Rogan, which he called “the longest interview I’ve done in my life.”

“I’m so sorry, but I got tied up. … I figured you wouldn’t mind so much because we’re trying to win,” he said.

Trump, during his remarks, accused Vice President Kamala Harris of being “out partying” and ignoring international turmoil Friday, as the Democratic presidential nominee held a rally featuring music superstar Beyoncé in Texas, where she focused her speech on highlighting her defense of reproductive rights.

CNN’s Alayna Treene, DJ Judd and Ali Main contributed to this report.