Getty Rick Perry in 2019.
Former Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry showed some love for new Texas resident Joe Rogan on social media, praising him for his recent Lone Star State guests. Rogan relocated from Los Angeles to Austin in 2020, moving from California to set up a new studio for The Joe Rogan Experience in his $14.4 million home on Lake Austin.
Perry wrote on Facebook about Rogan after the podcast host and UFC commentator sat down with another Texan, former Navy SEAL and Lone Survivor inspiration Marcus Luttrell in March 2021. Perry said, “Joe Rogan continues a trend of having bad a** Texans on his podcast since moving to the Lone Star State. Check out his conversation with Team Never Quit’s Marcus Luttrell. ”
Rogan has also recently interviewed other Texans, including actor Matthew McConaughey, Houston-based UFC fighter Derrick Lewis, Dallas native Tiller Russell, Houston native and WWE legend Mark “The Undertaker” Calaway and fellow recent California to Texas transplant Elon Musk.
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Rogan Said He Left California for Texas for ‘a Little Bit More Freedom’
Rogan relocated to Texas in 2020 after signing an exclusive deal with Spotify to produce his podcast. Rogan, who was born in New Jersey and raised in Boston, had lived in the Los Angeles area since the early 2000s, when he was the host of the Fear Factor reality show.
Rogan said on his podcast in July 2020, “I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country, somewhere it’s easier to travel to both places and somewhere you have a little more freedom. Also, I think that where we live right here in Los Angeles is overcrowded and I think most of the time that’s not a problem.”
Rogan explained, “But I think it’s exposing it’s a fact it is a real issue when you look at the number of people that are catching COVID because of the overpopulation issue, when you look at the traffic, when you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that’s accelerated radically or the last six, seven, 10 years. I think there’s too many people here. I think it’s not tenable, I don’t think it’s manageable. I think every mayor does a s*** job doing it because I don’t think anybody could do a great job of it.”
Rogan said he thinks Californians like him moving to Texas has caused some concern for some Texans, during a conversation with Texas Republican congressional candidate Wesley Hunt
Hunt, an Army veteran and West Point graduate who lost his race in November 2020 for the state’s 7th Congressional District to Democrat Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, told Rogan, “Come one, come all, give me your tired, your poor, come on to Texas, but you gotta understand something. You’re coming here because of low taxes and low regulation and you want to live your life and liberty and make sure that you can protect yourself and your family, but that means you have to vote a certain way. And that’s why we are Texas.”
Rogan said, “Don’t turn this place into where you fled. That’s what Matthew McConaughey was telling me.” Hunt replied, “That’s exactly right.”
In August 2020, said about California, “This place is crazy. The lockdowns still exist. The homelessness is completely out of control. The overpopulation is out of control.”
Rogan added, “The solution they’ve come up with in California is to jack up taxes. You guys are out of your f****** mind. … It’s not going to fix it. This state is bankrupt because they’re incompetent. They’re not going to become competent if you give them more money. They’ve managed the money they’ve got poorly. They’ve already got high taxes. … The place is still f***** up.”
Rogan Told Luttrell About Texas, ‘This Is a Wild West State’
Rogan told Luttrell in March 2021, “This is a wild west state. … One of the beautiful things about Texas is, moving to Texas is almost like moving to a new country. It feels like a country. The people here, I’ve never felt more at home.”
Luttrell said, “My 7th grade teacher, I was kind of cutting up in class, he pulled me outside, he kind of poked me in the chest, and he asked me what kind of a Texan I was going to be. I’ll never forget that. … And when you come out here, we’re all different. You live in Austin, that’s kind of our own little California. We love having it here, we do. The further you venture away from that, if you’re in West Texas, it’s completely different than East, North and South, completely different. But the swagger is the same.”
Rogan talked with Musk about their move to Texas in February 2021. “It’s a mini California here in Austin,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO told Rogan. The podcast host replied, “It’s very utopian.” Musk added, “I think Austin is going to be the biggest boomtown America has seen in half a century.”
Rogan said, “I think it’s a great response to the f***** government in some other cities.” Musk said, “I think we do need to make sure that people moving here from California don’t inadvertently recreate the issues that caused them to move in the first place.”
Rogan added, “The balance of Austin is a blue city in a red state.” He said it “needs to stay red,” telling Musk, “You need the freedoms, but then you need the philosophical, there’s a bend to Austin that’s very progressive and open minded.”