Sanders posted a clip of Rogan’s “endorsement” — hardly an official statement — to Twitter on Thursday, sending the democratic socialist’s rivals into paroxysms of jealousy. Unlike many so-called “influencers” in mainstream media, the UFC commentator has a truly massive audience, with almost 7.3 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel alone and millions more downloading through platforms like iTunes.

While Sanders appeared on Rogan’s show himself last year, the talk-show host didn’t lock in his support for the Vermont senator until earlier this week, during an episode featuring the abrasive New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, which became one of the most-disliked episodes in the history of his show for reasons that had nothing to do with Sanders and (judging by the comments, at least) everything to do with Weiss. The Sanders endorsement went largely unnoticed - until the candidate’s team unearthed the choicest morsels and unleashed them on his social media followers.

The woke brigades (and, one suspects, a liberal sprinkling of Sanders haters) immediately declared Rogan “problematic,” insisting the candidate disavow him.