A Very Libertarian Weekend!

We kick it off with Dave Smith on Tucker!

As perhaps as many as 10 of you already know, the Libertarian National Convention is this weekend. (Please, hold the applause.) As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, this year’s convention promises to be interesting (and not just……….INTERESTING like normal) with the addition of presidential candidates Trump and Kennedy. Also appearing are Vivek Ramaswamy and former libertarian candidate Ron Paul!

I plan on doing articles for those speakers over the weekend, but figured that I should start the weekend showcasing Dave Smith, one of the most prominent figures in Libertarian spaces. As luck would have it, Smith sat down to talk to Tucker Carlson last week (for a Rogan-like 2 hours and 20 minutes!), providing the perfect introduction for both himself and libertarian views about the last few years.

This isn’t the start of the interview, but it does provide a glimpse into Smith’s politics and how he ended up in Libertarian circles. (The entire video is good, but the first 3 minutes is when Smith goes over his history.)

To start the interview, Tucker expressed his shock that he and Smith agree on a lot of things, even though Smith is a libertarian. Smith explained that for generations, it’s been the role of the right to lose. Over and over. (It’s a familiar topic around here!)

Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks the Republicans are the Washington Generals of the Uniparty!

Tucker turned the topic to the Republicans’ general spinelessness during covid. (Hard agree!) He noted that while the GOP talks a good game about defending against authoritarianism, they sort of rolled over when it actually showed up. Carlson was even more surprised by the libertarian response, which was much the same as the GOP’s.

Smith agreed, and noted that it’s easy to be on the right side of the issue once it’s over, but the true test is how somebody responds in the moment. (He uses the example that now every one is on the right side of Iraq — even John McCain!) Smith used the lab leak as an example. Even in April or May of 2020, there was enough information out there to make the lab leak a plausible theory — but the media was almost uniformly on the wrong side of the issue. (Remember when John Stewart sort of “broke the ice” with this rant to Stephen Colbert?) Smith looped the topic back to the libertarian failure during covid, noting it was simply a matter of courage.

Smith went on to talk about how, when you are right on these issues in the moment, you gain credibility. (This is what gato often refers to as the reputation economy.) Smith then mocked the neocons for getting six wars wrong — who would trust them on war number seven? Smith stated this kind of incompetence only thrives in government — in the private sector it kills itself — and when you look at what Ron Paul was saying about the issues AT THE TIME THEY WERE HAPPENING, you now see he was right about them.

The topic moved to Republicans and their consistent failure to actual shrink government, no matter how much political power they have. As a result, government has grown and gotten more corrupt. Smith explained that as long as DC gets to spend $6 trillion a year, it will ALWAYS be a swamp. Carlson noted the Democrats sort of got into this game during the Clinton years. (The so-called “third way.”) This put government and big business onto the same side.

Next, Smith and Carlson discussed the Obama years and how the rhetoric of Obama’s campaign didn’t actually match how he ran the country. Instead of uplifting and inspiring messages, we got years of race baiting and continuation of the worst policies of George Bush. Smith noted that the Obama ‘recovery’ involved record low interest rates and record high (at that time) government spending — so if you were connected to the literal money-making machine, you were doing well. But if not……..

Smith posited these were the conditions that led to the rise of Trump. In an economic environment with lots of ‘free money’, people are forced to gamble their savings in an effort to keep their purchasing power steady. (Fact check: True.)

The pair then pivoted to inflation and how both parties don’t really want to talk about the issue because both parties love to expand the money supply. (Covid being a perfect example.) This led to the 10 minutes of conversation posted at the start of the article discussing the “inside pickleball” politics of the Libertarian party.

Smith then discussed Ukraine and how nobody seems to mention that Trump actually caved and sent them weapons without the investigation into the Bidens, and noted the deep state was literally looking into getting Trump out of office. Carlson responded that now the deep state has finally got their war with Russia (through our Ukraine proxy), but we’re losing it — so now what? In response, Smith lamented the fact that the entire war could have been avoided if we had just told Ukraine they would never be in NATO.

As the discussion turned to foreign policy in general, Tucker recounted the tale of how he turned against the war in Iraq. Take a listen:

Talking about past foreign policy led to the topic of 9/11, and how much we really know about what happened. Carlson noted that many documents surrounding 9/11 are still classified, and the American people deserve to know what’s in them. Tucker then asks Smith if we should be suspicious of the official story of 9/11. (This is incredibly ironic to me, because in 2008 Tucker walked out on the Rally for the Republic due to speakers questioning the official story of 9/11)

Smith (correctly) noted that distrust of government should ALWAYS be your starting point, as they’re basically a criminal gang that’s ruling like the mafia. He stated there are very interesting questions still surrounding 9/11, and doesn’t put it past government to have known what was going to happen before the actual event. We know that Epstein Island is real, so how terrible are the people actually making the decisions? They already lied about the circumstances surrounding the war, is it too much to think they’d lie about 9/11 as well?

After a discussion of WWII and how it’s verboten to speak bad about “the worst thing to happen in the history of the world”, Smith declared that it’s insane to be paying for the wars of others when we can’t even afford our own wars. (Tucker likened this to putting money on your credit card to help the junkie you just met at Safeway.) Smith noted that it’s reasonable to only finance wars that Americans would be willing to fight and die for — and does Kiev really meet that threshold?

Smith then lamented the fact that everybody at MSNBC (and the mainstream media at large) has the same opinions about everything because they are ideologically captured. (Carlson, looking at FOX in the rearview, agreed.) Smith made the argument that lying for short-term gain leads to long-term suffering, and Carlson added that the lying is also degrading.

In contrast, Smith said, people like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson thrive because they are the same on camera or off — and people can sense their authenticity. Carlson added that Rogan’s success is important because it inspires others to do the same. “If you’re an honest person, you can actually make a good living being an honest person — how great is that?”

The pair then talked about how kids today are starting out behind the 8-ball, in contrast to the Baby Boomers (who Smith called a selfish generation). Carlson noted the college kids he interacts with are very angry about their situations, and how the ‘leaders’ of society are at least partly to blame.

As the conversation continued, Smith observed that the War on Terror years were a stark divide between the America of his youth and the modern America. (He used the airport as a perfect example.) Carlson agreed and spent a couple (glorious) minutes ripping George Bush. Smith noted that evidence suggests Americans could have captured or killed Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora, but would have had a harder time selling the upcoming war in Iraq if he were dead. Because of that decision, we spent trillions of dollars and ruined a generation of Americans — and all for nothing because we left Iraq and other areas worse than they were to begin with.

Wrapping up the interview, Carlson asks for three things that make Smith optimistic about the future. Smith’s answer:

1. The shift in lies being exposed so quickly, leading to an insecure and hysterical ruling class as their monopoly on information is being broken.

2. Ultimately, the common people outnumber the ‘elites’ and have a significant amount of power, even in non-democratic nations. With that power, Smith argued, we have a fighting shot.

3. The worldwide movement against US hegemony. Smith noted the decline of the country really got going with the demise of the gold standard, and once government could print unlimited amounts of currency, the economy predictably went off the rails. Smith believes that while there may be short-term pain associated with the dollar losing its status as the world’s reserve currency, ultimately it will be a necessary pain to get to a better place.

When Carlson asked for clarification about how #3 could be a good thing, Smith noted that with the world’s reserve currency, we don’t really have to earn anything internationally, we just print paper. (When the money is fake, the rest of the economy is doomed to follow!)

I’ll have more from Smith tomorrow when he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention!

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Want more Dave Smith RIGHT NOW? Check out his recent appearance on Joe Rogan!