I was listening to Rogan around this time, and it was great. FWIW it was my introduction to the modern #ufo subject, particularly the interviews with former Navy pilot David Fravor and similar people.

But a lot like Adam Carolla (who was another early "comedian turned podcaster"), there was this particular sort of "right-wing grievance narrative" that started slowly infesting everything. He started adopting this massive persecution complex, everyone was out to get him, yadda yadda... It's like dude you're a multi-millionaire with a massive platform, nobody's doing shit to you.

Then the one-two punch of Trump and COVID led to the radicalization of the Left and Right respectively. Everyone and everything had to pick a side, and Bitcoin was no exception. Especially now as it's been explicitly adopted by the Trump campaign it's perceived as being "Right-wing money" in a way that it's never been in the past.

None of this changes the "fundamentals" of Bitcoin, either technical, or macroeconomic. Blocks still get mined every 10 minutes. But it definitely has an effect on adoption.

Oh yeah, and BTC adoption will never take off in the West until we get de minimus exceptions anyway.