JD Vance further explains alien-demon beliefs to Joe Rogan: 'Such a weird conversation'

Vice President JD Vance further explained his belief regarding the potentially demonic nature of aliens during an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan that aired Wednesday.

Expanding on a viral remark he made earlier this year, when he said "I think [aliens are] demons anyway," Vance first laughed when Rogan brought it up and asked him for clarification.

Noting mystical and supernatural elements exist in all world religions, Vance said, "I'm not one of these people who's, like, a hyper-rationalist. I think that there are things happening in the world that we're not always seeing. I believe in God."

Framing supposed aliens in a supernatural context, Vance said, "If you look historically at things that are similar to the alien phenomenon, where, oh, some strange being, it kind of looks like a human being ... but that's not human, and it shows a particular interest in human beings? And then it takes the human beings and does weird experiments on them?"

Vance offered what he argued are the only two possibilities to explain such phenomena, the first of which is that such claims are "bull—."

"Just because I believe in the supernatural doesn't mean I believe in everything supernatural. But if we're talking about an extraterrestrial being that is human-like but not human, that contains effectively infinite powers and is torturing human beings, you can call it an alien if you want," he said.

"But I think there's a lot of historical precedent to call that a demon," he added.

Rogan pushed back by noting that not all accounts of alien encounters exhibit torture, citing the alleged Travis Walton incident from 1975, during which an American forestry worker claimed he was abducted in Arizona, taken aboard a flying saucer and came to believe his abductors were benevolent despite terrifying him.

The incident, which was the basis of the 1993 film adaptation "Fire in the Sky," has never been fully debunked, though skeptics have argued it was a hoax by which Walton intended to gain tabloid money or avoid a logging contract penalty.

Vance suggested that the apparently benevolent nature of some supposed aliens would not diminish his argument that they could be supernatural.

"So I guess my response to that would be — extra-powerful beings, in this case communicating telepathically, helping people. Sounds like an angel."

Offering the example of how the human abilities must appear divine to dogs, he said a similar dynamic could exist between humans and much more intelligent beings.

"I guess my point is, again, this could all be bull—. This could all be fake. That's a possibility. But if it's real, is there really a meaningful difference between an angel or a demon and a space alien with super technology?"

After continuing to go back and forth over whether the Bible necessarily suggests that super-intelligent beings are angels or demons, Vance said, "I don't think they have to be, but I think that it is interesting to me that for most of human history, we would have understood supernatural, hyper-powerful, hyper-knowledgeable things as sort of celestial."

"This is such a weird conversation," Vance later said.

Vance is among the several political figures who have recently weighed in on the debate over UFOs and aliens, which have increasingly become a topic of national conversation amid the Pentagon releasing four batches of declassified documents related to the phenomena since May.

The same week Vance made headlines last fall for expressing similar thoughts about the nature of aliens, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said during a panel discussion with Bill Maher about UFOs: "I'm a Bible-believing Christian. And I believe those could be fallen angels."

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., claimed earlier this year that he had been briefed by a U.S. military official on alien-human hybrid "breeding programs" taking place with kidnapped humans and supposed extraterrestrials captured from downed UFOs.

Other members of Congress who have expressed their opinion regarding the spiritual nature of UFOs include Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Eric Burlison, R-Mo., both of whom are Christians who have served on the U.S. House Oversight subcommittee investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).

"The Age of Disclosure," a documentary released last year, interviewed 34 high-ranking members of the U.S. government, military and intelligence community about an alleged 80-year global cover-up of UFOs, which some in the government claimed to believe are demonic.