Joe Rogan Experience #2064 - Mike Baker
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Mike Baker (guest), Narrator, Guest (guest), Narrator, Guest (guest), Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, Joe Rogan Experience #2064 - Mike Baker explores mike Baker Dissects Hamas, Iran, Ukraine, China, And U.S. Decline Joe Rogan and former CIA officer Mike Baker unpack the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israel’s response, and how quickly global attention shifted away from Ukraine. Baker argues Hamas and Iran deliberately weaponize civilian casualties and information warfare, while Western media and activists often amplify their narratives, intentionally or not.
Mike Baker Dissects Hamas, Iran, Ukraine, China, And U.S. Decline
Joe Rogan and former CIA officer Mike Baker unpack the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israel’s response, and how quickly global attention shifted away from Ukraine. Baker argues Hamas and Iran deliberately weaponize civilian casualties and information warfare, while Western media and activists often amplify their narratives, intentionally or not.
They criticize U.S. policy toward Iran—particularly sanctions relief and frozen-asset waivers—while Tehran’s proxies attack American forces, and contrast this with the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” approach and killing of Soleimani. The conversation broadens to Chinese influence and disinformation operations, U.S. border insecurity, and how environmental and social movements can be co‑opted by hostile states.
Domestically, they discuss Trump’s legal battles, Biden’s visible cognitive decline, and the 2024 election dynamics, arguing that lawfare against Trump is backfiring by energizing his base and alienating swing voters. Baker repeatedly returns to the theme that U.S. leadership is misreading adversaries, prioritizing optics and domestic politics over hard security realities.
The episode closes on a sober note: Baker sees no near‑term “happy ending” in the Middle East or Ukraine and believes long‑term stability in the region ultimately depends on confronting the Iranian regime, while America remains internally polarized and strategically distracted.
Key Takeaways
Hamas strategically embeds within civilian infrastructure to weaponize Palestinian deaths.
Baker argues Hamas places command centers, tunnels, and weapons under hospitals and schools (e. ...
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Iran is the central driver of regional instability and proxy violence.
He describes the IRGC’s role in training, funding, and directing Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemeni proxies, stressing that any long‑term Middle East stability ultimately “runs through” confronting the Iranian regime, not just its proxies.
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U.S. sanctions relief and weak deterrence encourage more Iranian aggression.
While Iranian proxies have launched ~60 attacks on U. ...
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The Ukraine war is grinding toward stalemate while Western attention and will erode.
UK estimates of ~300,000 Russian casualties (with ~120,000 dead) show Moscow’s willingness to expend lives, and Baker says Putin is betting he can outlast Western support while Russia adapts to sanctions, especially in energy exports.
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China runs large‑scale disinformation and influence operations inside the U.S.
Campaigns like “spamouflage/Dragon Bridge” target dissidents, amplify domestic discord (e. ...
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Open borders and mail‑in voting expand security and integrity vulnerabilities.
Baker highlights over a million “got‑aways” at the southern border, including unknown numbers from terror‑linked countries, and argues expansive mail‑in voting and weak ID checks increase opportunities for fraud, even if they don't prove a “stolen” election.
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Pursuing Trump through aggressive legal tactics is politically counterproductive.
Rogan and Baker note each new indictment or civil case seems to boost Trump’s poll numbers and street popularity (e. ...
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Notable Quotes
“Hamas doesn’t give a shit about Palestinians. Gaza shows you that.”
— Mike Baker
“Any serious road to long‑term stability in the Middle East runs through the Iranian regime.”
— Mike Baker
“We have a million‑and‑a‑half got‑aways. We don’t know who they are. That’s a self‑inflicted wound.”
— Mike Baker
“Every time they go after him, he rises in the polls.”
— Joe Rogan
“We’re living in a very pragmatic world. You can’t rule this thing by feelings and hope and positivity.”
— Mike Baker
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can Israel realistically dismantle or degrade Hamas without creating multiple future generations of radicalized Palestinians, as Elon Musk warned?
Joe Rogan and former CIA officer Mike Baker unpack the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israel’s response, and how quickly global attention shifted away from Ukraine. ...
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What would an effective, non‑military strategy to confront and constrain the Iranian regime actually look like in practice?
They criticize U. ...
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Given China’s documented disinformation and influence campaigns, what concrete counter‑measures should the U.S. adopt without undermining free speech?
Domestically, they discuss Trump’s legal battles, Biden’s visible cognitive decline, and the 2024 election dynamics, arguing that lawfare against Trump is backfiring by energizing his base and alienating swing voters. ...
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Is there a politically viable way to return to secure in‑person voting and tighter border controls while still protecting broad access and humanitarian obligations?
The episode closes on a sober note: Baker sees no near‑term “happy ending” in the Middle East or Ukraine and believes long‑term stability in the region ultimately depends on confronting the Iranian regime, while America remains internally polarized and strategically distracted.
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If U.S. attention and funding for Ukraine continue to fade, what endgame scenarios are most likely—for Ukraine’s sovereignty, for NATO, and for Putin’s ambitions?
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Transcript Preview
(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (instrumental music plays) Hello, Mr. Baker.
Well, and greetings to you, Mr. Brogan.
We always have to bring you in when the world's fucked.
(laughs) Yeah.
Yeah.
Someday, I'm gonna bring you in-
It's nice.
... when everything's great.
That would be... You know what? I'd look forward to that.
Yeah.
And we, and we could just talk about other things but, uh-
Y- you are my go-to guy-
Yeah.
... when there's international conflict, and I'm like, "What the fuck is going on?"
Yeah.
So.
I appreciate that because we have some conflict.
That's what I hear.
God.
Yeah.
Yeah. So what the fuck is going on, Mike Baker?
(laughs)
Tell me, tell me-
Yeah.
... the real deal.
Yeah.
What's happening?
Um, well, there's something happened in the Middle East, um, that's, uh, taking everybody's eye off the ball with what's happening in Ukraine. Um, which is amazing. I... 7 October happened with that incredible, medieval slaughter by Hamas, and I was amazed at how quickly, right? I, I mean, I, I guess I know that people have attention deficit disorder, but y- you didn't see anything about Ukraine or-
Yeah, it's over.
... the, the conflict for the next couple of weeks, right? It took them that long to then think, "Okay, well, we still got this thing going on over here." Right? People dying. There's a... You know, Putin continues to operate as meat grinder for, uh, for the Russian soldiers. And, um, you know, so that was, that was incredible. But then timing wise, the other thing that I thought was, was amazing was despite the brutality of the 7 October attacks, and Hamas knew this was gonna happen, but the, the, the, the number of days that it took to turn the narrative around, right? So everybody was horrified at how terrible the slaughter was, and then within a matter of days, it was like, "No, it's Israel's fault." Right?
Right.
And, but-
How did that happen?
Hamas knew that was gonna happen because that's what they count on, which is why they embed themselves with civilians. It's why they put, you know, their, their operation centers, their tunnels, their, their weapon stockpiles, it's why they put it all underneath civilian infrastructure, like the Al Shifa Hospital that's been in the news lately and, and other places, because they know that they're gonna end up with dead Palestinians, right? And that's kinda... Uh, this sounds wrong, but it's kind of their currency, right? It's kinda what they expect. And they don't give a shit. I mean, you can see just by the way that Hamas has governed, if you can call it that, Gaza for... What is that? That's new math for me, but since 2006 really, um, they kicked out, uh, Fatah. They kicked out the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Um, so you can tell by the fact that they've done nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians. They don't give a shit about Palestinians, right? That's, that's not their point. Their point is the extermination of Israel because their, their overlord in the Iranian regime, that's, that's their purpose in life too. So it's... You know, I hate to start off on a really, really, you know, cynical rant, but, um, they know because they're very... They're clever. They've got a good public relations group, if you wanna call it that. They understand how international media works. They know that it won't take much time for, for condemnation of Israel because you end up with dead Palestinian civilians, which is incredibly sad, right? It's very sad for the, for the Palestinian people, right? Their plight is legitimately awful, right? But to imagine somehow that Hamas cares about them or was... has been some sort of benevolent... Benevo-... I knew I was gonna be able to say that.
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