The discussion then shifted to socialism, communism and the strikingly favorable views younger Americans now express toward socialism.
A 2025 Cato Institute/YouGov survey found that 62 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 had a favorable opinion of socialism. Thirty-four percent viewed communism favorably.
For Rogan, Smirnoff’s story offered a dramatically different perspective.
Listening to America in Secret
Smirnoff recalled his father staying awake late at night in the Soviet Union to listen quietly to Voice of America.
It wasn’t casual entertainment.
According to Smirnoff, listening had to be concealed from neighbors. Soviet authorities jammed foreign broadcasts, although Smirnoff said his father discovered the interference was less effective late at night. His recollection of secretly listening to Voice of America also dates back decades; a 1997 profile described him finding his father listening at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Eventually, his father wanted something more than clandestine glimpses of American life.
He wanted out.
Smirnoff recalled his mother warning the family about what applying to emigrate could mean. Friends might avoid them. Their lives could become extremely difficult.
His father was willing to accept the consequences.
Then an unusual opening appeared.
Smirnoff told Rogan that during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, American grain became part of negotiations connected to allowing Soviet citizens to emigrate.
“And that’s how we were kind of exchanged for some wheat. You know, that’s how we got out,” Smirnoff recalled.
Rogan was floored.
“You sometimes need to be reminded how fortunate you are.”
Smirnoff ultimately arrived in the United States with his parents in 1977, beginning the American chapter of a life that would eventually make him a nationally recognized comedian.
Rogan Turns the Conversation Toward Communism
The story immediately prompted Rogan to discuss something that clearly frustrates him: renewed interest in socialist and communist ideas among younger Americans.
Rogan acknowledged why socialist ideas can initially sound appealing.
People see enormous wealth alongside poverty and understandably wonder whether society could distribute resources more fairly.
But Rogan argued that handing government officials sweeping power over distribution creates a much greater danger.
“The solution is not to make the government decide who gets what because they never decide the right way,” Rogan said.
He then described his view of how centralized political power can develop: officials accumulate control while ordinary citizens lose choices and economic freedom.
“That’s where communism goes,” Rogan said. “So, what we need is a more moral and ethical version of capitalism.”
Rogan went further, arguing for “capitalism but with empathy” and philanthropy while preserving individual freedom.
His argument was not that America’s economic system is flawless. In fact, later in the discussion Rogan explicitly described corruption as a problem that should be addressed and said additional guardrails or regulation could sometimes be appropriate.
His broader point was that fixing those problems should not require surrendering fundamental freedoms.
The Numbers Behind the Debate
Whatever Americans think about Rogan’s argument, polling shows a significant generational divide over socialism.
The Cato Institute/YouGov survey, conducted among 2,000 American adults in March 2025, found that 43 percent of respondents overall viewed socialism favorably.
Among respondents ages 18 to 29, however, that figure jumped to 62 percent.
Only 50 percent of that younger group reported a favorable view of capitalism.
Separate 2025 polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports for the Heartland Institute found that 53 percent of likely voters under 40 surveyed said they wanted a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election, while more than three-quarters supported nationalizing major industries.
Those surveys measure attitudes toward political and economic labels, not necessarily support for Soviet-style communism, and respondents can interpret terms such as “socialism” or “democratic socialism” differently.
But the generational shift is unmistakably part of the political conversation.
Immigrants From Socialist Countries Weigh In
Daniel Di Martino, a Manhattan Institute economist who left Venezuela, told Fox News Digital that Smirnoff’s account resonated with his own experience.
“Rogan perfectly describes how socialism is bad for us because it is tyrannical and impoverishing.”
Di Martino also pointed out an interesting wrinkle in Rogan’s political history: Rogan expressed support for Bernie Sanders during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Elizabeth Pipko, whose family also left the Soviet Union, similarly argued that accounts from people who lived under communist governments should remain part of America’s political debate.
“I hope people understand that stories like this are incredibly special, but they are not unique,” she said. “We have a duty to protect what so many came here searching for and to keep our country free from the ideology that they escaped.”
A Story Younger Americans Rarely Hear Firsthand
That is what made Smirnoff’s conversation with Rogan more than another podcast argument over capitalism and socialism.
Smirnoff wasn’t speaking about the Soviet Union as an abstraction.
He remembered the hidden radio.
He remembered his parents discussing the consequences of trying to leave.
And he remembered the strange geopolitical circumstances that finally gave his family an opportunity to escape.
Decades later, the comedian who became famous for joking about America was sitting across from Rogan explaining just how extraordinary America looked to someone trapped on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
For Rogan, the lesson was straightforward: Americans can debate inequality, corporate power, corruption and the shortcomings of capitalism without forgetting why millions of people once risked so much simply for the chance to live somewhere freer.
And with surveys showing socialism enjoying significant support among younger Americans, Smirnoff’s story ensures that debate isn’t going away anytime soon.
