Independent presidential candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/robert-f-kennedy-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</a> says he is open to joining with the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/libertarian-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Libertarian Party</a> as he races to get on the ballot in all 50 states before the November election.
CNN&#8217;s Michael Smerconish pressed Kennedy during an interview that aired on Saturday whether it was possible that he would seek to be the Libertarian candidate as it would assure him of getting on the ballot across the board.
&#8220;That&#8217;s something that we&#8217;re looking at. We have a really good relationship with Libertarian Party,&#8221; Kennedy said, adding that he expects to speak at the California Libertarian Party convention in the coming weeks and may also deliver remarks in New York.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bobby Kennedy Jr is talking to the Libertarian Party about being its 2024 presidential candidate. 
&quot;We are talking to the Libertarian Party, and I feel very comfortable with most of the values of the Libertarian Party.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/S2LmmlXE1a">pic.twitter.com/S2LmmlXE1a</a>
&mdash; Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) <a href="https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1751361103387611532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kennedy also voiced optimism in regards to his signature-gathering campaign and said his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/us/politics/rfk-jr-we-the-people-ballots.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently-announced effort</a> to file paperwork to establish a new political party in several states, including North Carolina and Texas, gives him &#8220;an advantage&#8221; in lowering the threshold for ballot access.
The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy initially entered the 2024 contest seeking the Democratic Party&#8217;s nomination, but he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-jr-switches-to-running-for-president-as-an-independent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">switched</a> to an independent run after raising complaints about how the Democrats have conducted their election process, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-challengers-rage-over-lack-of-2024-dem-debates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including a lack of debates</a>.
Some polls show Kennedy <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/latest-polls/general-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">getting double-digit support</a> in a match-up against President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, which comes as surveys find voters <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=voters+trump+biden+rematch+polls&amp;oq=voters+trump+biden+rematch+polls&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg8MgYIAhBFGEDSAQg1NTkxajBqN6gCALACAA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are not enthusiastic</a> about a 2020 rematch.
Smerconish played audio of Angela McArdle, the head of the Libertarian Party, talking positively on his radio show about Kennedy.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;We&#8217;ve had a lot of good conversations and we&#8217;re on good terms. And I respect his decision to want to go independent. Though libertarians really admire the strong position he took against mandates and lockdowns, and so we&#8217;re going to stay on friendly terms and see what happens,&#8221; she said.
The host urged Kennedy to &#8220;make some news&#8221; as he posited that McArdle appeared to be welcoming him to ask for the Libertarian Party&#8217;s ballot position.
&#8220;Yea. Well, we are talking to the Libertarian Party and I feel very comfortable with most of the values of Libertarian Party. And you know, we — like I say, we have good relationships. I&#8217;m talking regularly to Libertarian groups. So, we&#8217;ll continue to do those talks,&#8221; Kennedy said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t give you a headline news story today, Michael. I&#8217;m sorry.&#8221;

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

RFK Jr. Open To Libertarian Party Run

2024 Election

Elections

Libertarian Party

Politics

The official Twitter account for the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire took a beating on Friday for suggesting that people should celebrate the death of the late Senator <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-he-never-said-anything-negative-about-john-mccain-he-lied/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John McCain</a> (R-AZ) as they would any other holiday.
The account posted a photo from the late senator&#8217;s funeral — with his daughter Meghan McCain standing beside the casket in tears — and added just two words by way of a caption: &#8220;Happy Holidays.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Holidays <a href="https://t.co/ueTMW3Dgcj">pic.twitter.com/ueTMW3Dgcj</a>
&mdash; Libertarian Party NH (@LPNH) <a href="https://twitter.com/LPNH/status/1562886932815704065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Meghan McCain responded to the tweet with several thoughts — first taking aim at Twitter ostensibly for allowing such a hateful tweet to remain posted on the platform. &#8220;This is hideous &#8211; even by Twitter&#8217;s standards,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1562995539100110848" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
She then turned on the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, saying, &#8220;This is the official twitter account of the state of New Hampshire&#8217;s Libertarian political party. I really fear for the future of the world and how we have come to treat each other — especially on social media. I hope no one ever does anything like this to any of you.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is the official twitter account of the state of New Hampshire’s Libertarian political party.
I really fear for the future of the world and how we have come to treat each other &#8211; especially on social media. 
I hope no one ever does anything like this to any of you. <a href="https://t.co/ioIjq3kxv0">https://t.co/ioIjq3kxv0</a>
&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1562996928383557634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I’m actually sadly used to this type of thing &#8211; my public grief and pain have become something comedians make YouTube videos about as ‘comedy.’ The worst part is what this does for other people in severe pain and grief &#8211; god forbid anyone displays it publicly and its documented,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1562998084904550401" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
She concluded with a series of posts addressing the photo itself — and anyone else who might be feeling the same kind of pain that was documented there. &#8220;This photo is the most pain I’ve ever been in — physically, emotionally — worse than any moment of childbirth. I thought it was going to kill me. But I didn’t and it made me the woman I am today. I’m made of steel. To anyone who feels like I did here, it passes, I truly promise,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1562999270051295232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1563000663574884352" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adding</a>, &#8220;I promise anyone who is in the horrific, iron gripped jaws of grief — with time it gets softer and less intense. That’s it for tonight but I’m just not going to be harassed for being sad at my dads casket or let anyone else feel ashamed of their pain. The world deserves better.&#8221;
Utah Congressional candidate January Walker <a href="https://twitter.com/UtahPolitician/status/1563215826441814016" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>, &#8220;Politics is cruel, but there’s no reason to perpetuate cruelty against each other.&#8221;
&#8220;This is classless, cruel, subhuman garbage What the f*** is wrong with you?&#8221; Army veteran Alex Plitsas <a href="https://twitter.com/alexplitsas/status/1563174666436739074" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a>.
Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1563170496749129738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn&#8217;t hold back</a> either: &#8220;This is why the libertarian party gets 1 percent. They have no soul it seems. Good luck pretending your twitter was hacked, Satan club.&#8221;

Senate Armed Services Chairman Levin Discusses Defense Dep’t Authorization

New Hampshire Libertarians Dragged For Calling John McCain’s Death A ‘Holiday’

New Hampshire Libertarians Dragged For Calling John McCain's Death A 'Holiday'

John McCain

Meghan McCain

New Hampshire

Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen announced Friday that she would skip out on a campaign bus tour stop Saturday morning in order to get a rabies vaccine after she was bitten by a wild bat a few days earlier.
Jorgensen, a psychology lecturer at Clemson University who secured the party’s presidential nomination back in May, made the announcement on Twitter and said she was receiving the rabies vaccine as a precaution on the advice of her doctor.
“I will not be able to attend the campaign rally tomorrow morning. I will be getting a rabies vaccine as a precaution after having been bitten by a bat near the start of this campaign tour,” said Jorgensen.
The presidential candidate also added that she would still be able to speak at an event in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, later in the day and that she was simply “pausing for a few hours” to get the rabies shot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8230;the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetHerSpeak?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetHerSpeak</a> rally in Hattiesburg later in the afternoon.
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetHerSpeak?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetHerSpeak</a> convoy to Hattiesburg is on time, and is scheduled to depart at 2 PM.
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jorgensen4POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jorgensen4POTUS/status/1291889337760722944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
After political analyst Jeff Greenfield commented that “the Libertarian presidential nominee was bitten by a rabid bat” — and said “sometimes, it’s best to let the facts speak for themselves” —  Jorgensen retorted that the bat was not actually carrying rabies.
“I agree, we should let the facts speak for themselves. The fact is, it wasn&#8217;t rabid,” said Jorgensen, who said in a different tweet that she was looking for her cat outside when the bat bit her. She also said she found the cat.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I agree, we should let the facts speak for themselves.
The fact is, it wasn&#8217;t rabid. <a href="https://t.co/8GklXwNvT4">https://t.co/8GklXwNvT4</a>
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jorgensen4POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jorgensen4POTUS/status/1291914207772934149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
Jorgensen, who was the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential nominee in 1996, secured the nomination after Congressman Justin Amash (L-MI) decided against running for the presidency. Her running mate, an activist and podcaster named Spike Cohen, wrote prior to being selected for the position that he, “as an individual candidate,” has a policy preference for anarchism, according to the libertarian publication <a href="https://reason.com/2020/05/24/libertarian-party-picks-spike-cohen-as-its-vice-presidential-candidate/#comments">Reason Magazine</a>.
Asked about the viability of a third-party candidate in a general election, Jorgensen told <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?473680-5/washington-journal-jo-jorgensen-discusses-libertarian-platform">C-Span</a> back in July that “I think the only wasted vote is one for Trump or Biden, because they’re going to give us more of what we don’t want.”
“If you want higher taxes, if you want more bungling in government, if you want to keep the troops all over the world, if you want more pollution, if you want more expensive health care, then by all means, vote for Trump and Biden,” she said.
In the 2016 general election, former Governor and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson won roughly 3.28% of the national vote, according to <a href="https://reason.com/2017/01/07/did-the-libertarian-party-blow/">Reason</a> Magazine. His running mate was Bill Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts.

Jo Jorgensen, the 2020 presidential nominee of the

Libertarian Presidential Nominee Bitten By Bat, Skips Campaign Appearance To Get Rabies Shot

Libertarian-leaning congressman Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who made national headlines last weekend for smearing Attorney General William Barr in no uncertain terms and seeming to call for President Donald Trump&#8217;s impeachment, is now being urged by many to run for president in 2020 under the Libertarian Party partisan banner. 
The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/444835-amash-wont-rule-out-libertarian-challenge-to-trump">reports</a>:
<blockquote>
In interviews this year, Amash has toyed with the idea of switching parties and running for president. The Michigan Republican has described himself as the only Libertarian member of Congress and has been increasingly critical of the GOP, accusing the party of abandoning its conservative values in the age of Trump.
Libertarian National Committee Chairman Nicholas Sarwark told The Hill there&#8217;s a full-scale effort underway to convince Amash to register as a Libertarian and run for president against Trump.
&#8220;There are a lot of Libertarian Party members actively encouraging Rep. Amash to switch parties and seek the Libertarian nomination,&#8221; Sarwark said. &#8220;This is probably the most organized recruitment effort I&#8217;ve seen going back to 2012 when people were trying to recruit [former Texas Rep.] Ron Paul.&#8221;
</blockquote>
As The Hill also notes, many anti-Trump Republicans, including longtime Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, have been actively courting a third-party challenger to Trump. These same Trump-critical Republicans have often praised Amash&#8217;s calling for impeachment, despite not always agreeing with Amash on his more libertarian-leaning stances on surveillance, security, and foreign policy issues.
&#8220;I say this as someone at odds with Amash on lots of issues important to me (and I think to him): All honor to Justin Amash, who has done so much today to set an example of constitutional responsibility and mature, civic discourse,&#8221; Kristol tweeted.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I say this as someone at odds with Amash on lots of issues important to me (and I think to him): All honor to Justin Amash, who has done so much today to set an example of constitutional responsibility and mature, civic discourse.
&#8212; Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1129881140255514625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;If Trump&#8217;s the GOP nominee, I&#8217;d vote for [Justin Amash] as the [Libertarian Party] nominee in a heartbeat&#8221; added National Review&#8217;s David French.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
If Trump&#8217;s the GOP nominee, I&#8217;d vote for <a href="https://twitter.com/justinamash?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@justinamash</a> as the LP nominee in a heartbeat. <a href="https://t.co/UUMX4oZBUl">https://t.co/UUMX4oZBUl</a>
&#8212; David French (@DavidAFrench) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench/status/1130272769705480199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
As Reason <a href="https://reason.com/2019/05/21/libertarians-and-never-trump-republicans-court-justin-amash-to-run-for-president/">points out</a>, Amash&#8217;s Michigander status would have huge political ramifications for Trump were he to enter the race. After all, Michigan was one of three Rust Belt states &#8212; including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin &#8212; that Trump very narrowly carried in 2016. If Trump loses all three of those states in 2020, his Electoral College path to re-election is exceedingly narrow. 
Amash set political Twitter on fire last weekend by tweeting, after reading the full report recently completed by special counsel Robert Mueller: &#8220;Here are my principal conclusions: 1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller&#8217;s report. 2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct. 3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances. 4. Few members of Congress have read the report.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Here are my principal conclusions: 
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller&#8217;s report. 
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct. 
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances. 
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.
&#8212; Justin Amash (@justinamash) <a href="https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1129831615952236546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In subsequent tweets as part of the same tweet thread, Amash also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47404/leftists-back-gop-rep-justin-amash-smearing-barr-ryan-saavedra">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
I offer these conclusions only after having read Mueller&#8217;s redacted report carefully and completely, having read or watched pertinent statements and testimony, and having discussed this matter with my staff, who thoroughly reviewed materials and provided me with further analysis.
In comparing Barr&#8217;s principal conclusions, congressional testimony, and other statements to Mueller&#8217;s report, it is clear that Barr intended to mislead the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s analysis and findings.
Barr&#8217;s misrepresentations are significant but often subtle, frequently taking the form of sleight-of-hand qualifications or logical fallacies, which he hopes people will not notice.
Under our Constitution, the president &#8220;shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.&#8221; While &#8220;high Crimes and Misdemeanors&#8221; is not defined, the context implies conduct that violates the public trust.
Contrary to Barr&#8217;s portrayal, Mueller&#8217;s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.
In fact, Mueller&#8217;s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.
Impeachment, which is a special form of indictment, does not even require probable cause that a crime (e.g., obstruction of justice) has been committed; it simply requires a finding that an official has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt, or otherwise dishonorable conduct.
While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.
Our system of checks and balances relies on each branch&#8217;s jealously guarding its powers and upholding its duties under our Constitution. When loyalty to a political party or to an individual trumps loyalty to the Constitution, the Rule of Law&#8212;the foundation of liberty&#8212;crumbles.
We&#8217;ve witnessed members of Congress from both parties shift their views 180 degrees&#8212;on the importance of character, on the principles of obstruction of justice&#8212;depending on whether they&#8217;re discussing Bill Clinton or Donald Trump.
Few members of Congress even read Mueller&#8217;s report; their minds were made up based on partisan affiliation&#8212;and it showed, with representatives and senators from both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page report&#8217;s conclusions within just hours of its release.
America&#8217;s institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it.
</blockquote>

Justin Amash Is Now Being Pressured To Run For President As A Libertarian

2020 Election

Donald Trump

Impeachment

Libertarianism

William Barr

Bill Weld, the Harvard-educated former Massachusetts governor whose name appeared next to presidential candidate Gary Johnson&#8217;s on the Libertarian ticket in 2016, officially announced on Monday that he is going to challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. And while he&#8217;s calling for a return to &#8220;principles&#8221; and &#8220;dignity,&#8221; Weld clearly isn&#8217;t shy about using some of Trump&#8217;s most-maligned past comments against him.
&#8220;It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag,&#8221; Weld said in a statement announcing his candidacy Monday. &#8220;It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln &#8211; equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight.&#8221;
In a three-minute video announcing his candidacy released Monday, Weld highlighted some widely criticized comments by Trump, including Trump saying then-Sen. John McCain was not a war hero, his infamous &#8220;grab them by the p***y&#8221; comments caught in the &#8220;Access Hollywood&#8221; tape and President Trump&#8217;s initial response to the Charlottesville, VA tragedy in which he said there were &#8220;very fine people on both sides&#8221; in the protests and counter-protests over Confederate monuments that erupted into violence, ending in the death of a peaceful liberal protester.
The announcement video also touts Weld&#8217;s record on helping to fight corruption, particularly Democrat corruption in Massachusetts, as well as his connection to President Ronald Reagan, who appointed him to be a &#8220;crime-fighting&#8221; U.S. attorney. Among his achievements presented in the video are busting politicians for fraud and saving millions in tax-dollars in the process. His platform when he ran for governor as a Republican in the &#8220;one party&#8221; Democrat-controlled state: &#8220;Guts. Integrity. Independence.&#8221; After his &#8220;historic victory,&#8221; Weld &#8220;cut taxes 21 times,&#8221; &#8220;balanced the budget,&#8221; &#8220;reformed welfare,&#8221; and went on to win re-election &#8220;by the widest margin ever&#8221; in the state&#8217;s history, the video states.
&#8220;Today we need Bill Weld more than ever because America deserves better,&#8221; the video states before transitioning to Trump&#8217;s various controversial comments.
WATCH:
<div class="embed"><iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/330371574" width="640"></iframe></div>
As <a href="https://www.axios.com/bill-weld-2020-presidential-election-factsheet-cd559718-9bf8-49e0-916a-e1e20c12be96.html">Axios</a> notes, Weld holds generally liberal views when it comes to social issues, including supporting abortion, legalized marijuana, and same-sex marriage. He also generally agrees with the Left&#8217;s view of climate change, though he also holds conservative and libertarian economic views. His various positions have aligned him as often with Democrats as Republicans in recent elections. In 2008, Weld backed Barack Obama over John McCain but Mitt Romney over Obama four years later. In 2016, Weld joined Johnson to represent the Libertarian Party.
So how much of a shot does a primary challenger have of unseating an incumbent? Almost zero, though tight primary races have in the past damaged an incumbent&#8217;s chances for re-election. Trump, however, continues to perform extremely well in polls among Republicans, with poll after poll finding that around 9 in 10 Republicans approve of the job he&#8217;s doing. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx">Gallup</a>&#8216;s presidential tracking poll has found Trump ranging from 81 to 91% among Republicans for over a year, and in the last three months ranging from 88 to 90%
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45971/watch-sarah-sanders-drags-democrats-over-trumps-james-barrett">WATCH: Sarah Sanders Drags Democrats Over Trump&#8217;s Tax Returns</a>

WATCH: Bill Weld Announces He’s Challenging Trump In 2020 GOP Primary, Uses Infamous Comments To Slam Him

Barack Obama

Republican Party

Trump Administration

Remso W. Martinez, a D.C.- based independent journalist and libertarian activist, has released a new book titled &#8220;Stay Away from the Libertarians.&#8221; Martinez takes the reader through many myths surrounding libertarians, explores the libertarian worldview, and debunks these preconceived notions one by one, in a humorous but thorough manner.
Martinez also succeeds at exposing the problems with the two major political parties and why each does not speak to the average American, intricately explaining why the authentic conservative movement should look to libertarianism as the alternative to the two-party duopoly. He states the obvious for any individual who has been paying attention: that &#8220;conservatives and Republicans don&#8217;t necessarily overlap. Because the GOP showed it would rather go hang with moderate Rob Portman and be seen at parties with RINO (Republican In Name Only) Jon Huntsman, obviously it didn&#8217;t matter if I was seeing other people as well.&#8221;
Martinez&#8217;s point is that we need to admit that while the Democratic party is home to the Progressive movement, many in the Republican Party, if not the majority, are progressive as well. He delves into his trajectory to libertarianism in the 2012 presidential candidacy of former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. Johnson, who ran for a short time in the Republican primaries before becoming the Libertarian party&#8217;s nominee, is described by Martinez as &#8220;a big picture guy who wanted to fix the economy, get us out of the war, and respect the privacy of people to live their lives as they wanted to as long as they didn&#8217;t interfere with the peaceful existence of other people.&#8221; Martinez also states that he contends that social conservatism is similar to progressivism in that, in the end, it tells people what to do with their lives. His &#8220;dirty little secret&#8221; was silently rooting for Johnson over Romney because Johnson spoke more to what conservatism actually is, rather than Romney who just seemed to fake it for votes.
Author and philosopher Ayn Rand also serves as an integral component in Martinez&#8217;s new-formed worldview, in the sense that &#8220;she was against communism, socialism, and big government in bed with crony capitalists who work with government to rig the market.&#8221; However, according to Martinez, conservatives don&#8217;t like Rand because &#8220;she basically didn&#8217;t buy into the religious right stuff, where they try and get their personal beliefs into every political or social decision. She viewed that as coercion.&#8221;
Essentially, from the crony capitalism to the fright in standing up to the Left and all-around progressivism, Martinez makes the case that the libertarian movement is a far more suitable choice as a home to conservatives than the GOP.
You can buy Martinez&#8217;s book on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stay-Away-Libertarians-Remso-Martinez/dp/1719234973/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1530035157&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=stay+away+from+the+libertarians&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51h3ALia6HL&amp;ref=plSrch">Amazon</a>.

Follow Jeremy Frankel on <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/FrankelJeremy">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://m.facebook.com/frankeljeremy/?ref=bookmarks">Facebook</a>.

BOOK REVIEW: Stay Away from the Libertarians! by Remso W. Martinez

The North Carolina-based Civitas Institute released the findings of a nonpartisan poll on Wednesday that will be sure to anger the Democrat Party and their allies in the mainstream media. 
Civitas conducted the <a href="https://www.nccivitas.org/2017/2016-election-held-unaffiliated-voters-vote-trump/">poll</a> August 7 and 8, surveying 400 registered, likely, and unaffiliated voters. 
Their participants were asked: 
<blockquote>
If you had a chance to do it all over again, for whom would you vote for President between Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Gary Johnson?
</blockquote>
The poll found that 43% would vote for Donald Trump while Hillary Clinton only won 39%. Third party Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson won 9% while the other 9% refused to answer or were unsure. 
This will come as a surprise to the Left and the mainstream media, which have been insisting that Trump is unpopular thanks to a variety of manufactured controversies like the Russia collusion conspiracy theory, his attacks on the press, and his perceived unpopularity. 
Civitas President Col. Francis De Luca explained, &#8220;This result appears to illustrate two things: that Trump voters are sticking with him, and that elections are binary. Despite Donald Trump&#8217;s perceived unpopularity, when compared to another actual candidate, he remains ahead.&#8221;
The shocking thing is that unaffiliated voters tipped the scale in Trump&#8217;s favor. For weeks, the media has been parroting the Democrats&#8217; talking point that Trump&#8217;s base is weakening. 
Instead, the opposite seems to be happening. His base only seems to grow stronger as the Left continues their relentless attacks on the Republican president.
Josh Kraushaar, politics editor at National Journal, pointed out on Twitter, &#8220;Trump won by 4 in 2016. &#8216;Leading&#8217; by 4 now.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Civitas polled election do-over in North Carolina: Trump 43%, Clinton 39%, Johnson 9%. Trump won by 4 in 2016. &#8220;Leading&#8221; by 4 now.
&#8212; Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) <a href="https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/900401520956649473">August 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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New Poll Shows Trump Wins The 2016 Election If Held Again Today

Conservatism

Democratic Party

Gary Johnson

Hillary Clinton

Leftism

North Carolina

Poll

On his talk show <a href="http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/false-flag-ron-paul-says-syrian-chemical-attack-makes-no-sense">Liberty Report</a> on Wednesday, former Texas congressman Ron Paul said that the chemical attack in Syria this week was a &#8220;false flag&#8221; operation, which he suggested was being used by the war-mongering &#8220;neocons&#8221; and the &#8220;deep state&#8221; to push for war in the region.
&#8220;Yesterday, there was some bombing with possible gas exposure in Syria, and things have changed,&#8221; Paul told Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity (video below).
<blockquote>
PAUL: It reminds me of sort of weather reports: if you don&#8217;t like the weather, just wait an hour, you&#8217;ll get different weather. Well that&#8217;s sort of what happens in the Middle East. Just wait, it&#8217;ll change.
Before this episode of possible gas exposure and who did what, things were going along reasonably well for the conditions. Trump said let the Syrians decide who should run their country, and peace talks were breaking out, and Al Qaeda and ISIS were on the run, maybe defeated. So it was like in spite of their problems with their policies, it looked like there was some benefit. It looks like, maybe, somebody didn&#8217;t like that so there had to be an episode, and the blame now is we can&#8217;t let that happen because it looks like it might benefit Assad. So Assad, they claim, now went and released gas to kill a bunch of people.
</blockquote>
Citing a New York Times article announcing that the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/middleeast/syria-gas-attack.html">U.S. Blames Assad</a>, Paul said, it&#8217;s &#8220;not quite so easy though, is it?&#8221;
<blockquote>
PAUL: What happened four years ago in 2013, you know, this whole thing about crossing the red line? And ever since then, the neocons have been yelling and screaming, even part of the administration, has been yelling and screaming about Assad using poison gas.
</blockquote>
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McAdams wholeheartedly agreed and came to Assad&#8217;s defense, saying, &#8220;It was never proven in fact. U.N. official Carla Del Ponte said it was most likely done by the rebels, based on the evidence.&#8221;
Paul returned to his central point: Why would Assad ruin a campaign that was going &#8220;reasonably well&#8221;? 
<blockquote>
PAUL: Who would benefit? It makes no sense, even if you were totally separate from this and take no sides of this and you were just an analyst, it doesn&#8217;t make sense for Assad under these conditions to all of a sudden use poison gasses. I think it&#8217;s zero chance that he would have done this deliberately, and he&#8217;s doing this now.
</blockquote>
After Paul smacked Sen. John McCain for absurdly blaming Trump for the chemical attack, Paul said the neocons and the &#8220;deep state&#8221; were out there colluding with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and various pro-oil, pro-military industrialism types trying to manufacture public support for war. 
Partial transcript via <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/05/it-makes-no-sense-ron-paul-thinks-syrian-chemical-attack-was-a-false-flag-video/">The Daily Caller</a>.
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WATCH: Ron Paul Says Chemical Attack In Syria Is A ‘False Flag’

Bashar Assad

Islamic State (ISIS)

Middle East

Syria

Libertarian Republican Sen. Rand Paul is sounding off after Sen. John McCain suggested that Paul was a Kremlin stooge. After accusing the Kentucky senator of &#8220;working for Vladimir Putin,&#8221; McCain <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-mccain-accuses-rand-paul-of-working-for-vladimir-putin/article/2617475">said</a> Wednesday that Paul&#8217;s decision to obstruct a preliminary process that would ultimately reify a treaty incorporating Montenegro into NATO qualified as unpatriotic, even traitorous behavior.
&#8220;If there&#8217;s objection, you are achieving the objectives of Vladimir Putin,&#8221; McCain <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-mccain-accuses-rand-paul-of-working-for-vladimir-putin/article/2617475">stressed</a>. &#8220;If they object, they are now carrying out the desires and ambitions of Vladimir Putin, and I do not say that lightly.&#8221;
Paul struck back Thursday morning, insisting that the Republican senator was &#8220;unhinged.&#8221; At one point, Paul even suggested that it was time for McCain to leave the Senate.
&#8220;You know, I think he makes a really, really strong case &#8230; for term limits,&#8221; the libertarian firebrand <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2617556/">said</a>. &#8220;I think maybe he&#8217;s past his prime. I think maybe he&#8217;s gotten a little unhinged.&#8221;
Dismissing McCain&#8217;s bold allegations, Paul explained that his opposition to expanding NATO stemmed from his unwillingness to place American soldiers into harm&#8217;s way.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a real debate about how big NATO should be and whether or not it&#8217;s been more provocative than good,&#8221; Paul stated. &#8220;We seem to be paying for all of it. Whenever there&#8217;s a war fought, our soldiers fight it and our dollars pay for it.&#8221;

Rand Paul Calls McCain ‘Unhinged’ After McCain Calls Paul A Putin Puppet

Rand Paul

Russia

U.S. Senate

Vladimir Putin

Last week, the Libertarian Party of Indiana posted a meme on its official Facebook page equating stop-and-frisk to the Nazi policy of harassing Jews during the Holocaust. Last night, the national Libertarian Party endorsed the former&#8217;s assertion.
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Stop-and-frisk has been at the center of ongoing debates for the last few years, most recently <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2016-09-27/neither-trump-clinton-exactly-right-about-stop-and-frisk">during the first presidential debate</a> between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The policy&#8217;s purpose, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/17/does-stop-and-frisk-reduce-crime/to-see-its-value-see-how-crime-rose-elsewhere">according to Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute</a>, was to deter criminals from carrying guns in order to curb gun-related crimes. Dennis Smith, a professor at New York University, has also mentioned that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/17/does-stop-and-frisk-reduce-crime/stop-and-frisk-has-lowered-crime-in-other-cities">stop-and-frisk was effective in other major cities</a>, including Los Angeles and Philadelphia. However, a federal court in Manhattan determined that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/05/theres-a-lot-of-chatter-about-stop-and-frisk-here-are-the-facts/">New York City&#8217;s specific stop and frisk policies violated the Constitution</a>. The court stopped short of claiming that the policy was unconstitutional as a whole.
By posting the meme, the Libertarian Party casually endorsed a moral equivalency between a policy intent on deterring crime to save lives and the Nazis&#8217; policy of harassment and eventual genocide of the Jewish people. The meme ignores the fact that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an instance where Polish Jews <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007745">resisted deportation to Treblinka</a>, one of the major Nazi death camps. On April 19, 1943, 750 Jewish resistance fighters started a month-long assault on German soldiers until the rebellion was crushed and the ghetto was demolished.
The Libertarian Party was asked for clarification if it really believes that stop-and-frisk is the same as the Nazis&#8217; attempts to prevent a minority group from resisting against imminent genocide. There has been no response so far.
UPDATE:
The Libertarian Party issued the following reply via Facebook:
<blockquote>We don&#8217;t control state affiliate Facebook pages, but there is a parallel in that stop-and-frisk is a violation of due process and uses profiling.
Memes are often oversimplified images designed to convey a thought, so I can see why this one would be off-putting. The factors leading up to the Holocaust are very complex.</blockquote>
Follow Elliott on <a href="https://twitter.com/ElliottRHams">Twitter</a>

Libertarian Party: Stop-and-Frisk Policies Similar to Nazi Policies Against Jews

Gun Control

Guns

Holocaust

Stop-and-Frisk

If ignorance were a virtue, then Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson would be a saint. Less than a week after his fateful &#8220;Aleppo moment&#8221; at a presidential town hall, where he failed to identify a single world leader he admired, Johnson attempted to justify his lack of knowledge by suggesting it&#8217;s an asset. 
In an interview with MSNBC&#8217;s Andrea Mitchell early Tuesday, Johnson actually tried to pull the &#8220;ignorance is bliss&#8221; card, arguing that there&#8217;s no possible way to send US troops abroad if you don&#8217;t know where to send them. (Fact check: True, but WTF).
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Is this a dare <a href="https://t.co/sLgyw3yTAe">https://t.co/sLgyw3yTAe</a>
&#8212; Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/dylanmatt/status/783349669824860160">October 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
&#8220;The fact that somebody can dot the I&#8217;s and cross the T&#8217;s on a foreign leader or geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm&#8217;s way,&#8221; stated the third party presidential candidate on live television.
Repeating his pre-scripted, reductive rant about the red herring of &#8220;regime change,&#8221; Johnson went on to imply that he would make a competent Commander-in-Chief precisely because he has no understanding of maps:
<blockquote>
We put our military in this horrible situation where we go in and support regime change. They get involved in civil wars where hundreds of thousands of innocent people are in a cross-fire &#8230; we&#8217;re literally shooting at ourselves because we support both sides of a conflict. Syria is an example. We wonder why our men and servicewomen suffer from PTSD in the first place. It&#8217;s because we elect people who can dot the I&#8217;s and cross the T&#8217;s on these names and geographic locations, as opposed to the underlying philosophy, which is, &#8220;Let&#8217;s stop getting involved in these regime changes.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Let&#8217;s parse this out.
First and foremost, the United States is not involved in regime change in Syria. In fact, it&#8217;s the opposite. For nearly five years, the Obama administration has refused to engage in Syrian civil war, allowing the Assad regime to continue its massacre of civilians. Adding insult to injury, the Russians have carved a giant space (or more appropriately bomb crater) for themselves in Syria, supporting Damascus with a regular deployment of bunker-busting bombs over civilian infrastructure. 
And who can forget the Iranians? Slaughtering civilians on the ground by way of their Shiite proxies (namely Hezbollah), Iran now forms the third pillar of the Russia-Syria de facto regional alliance. All of this is to say, that no, Mr. Johnson, the United States of America is not forcing &#8220;regime change&#8221; in Syria. The world&#8217;s only superpower has been humiliated and relegated to the sidelines. 
With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump attracting historically-low favorability ratings, it&#8217;s a shame the highest-polling third-party candidate is a modern-day Know-Nothing.
Watch Johnson&#8217;s full interview with MSNBC below: 
 
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Gary Johnson: I Don’t Know Basic Geography So There’s No Way To Start A War!

Libertarianism is sensible in theory. Small government, low taxes, and individual liberties. What&#8217;s not to love? In practice, the Libertarian Party has had a difficult time being taken seriously. It may have something to do with the candidates they&#8217;ve been putting forward. 
Exhibit A: Gary Johnson. The former New Mexico governor doesn&#8217;t quite seem to understand what libertarianism actually means. 
In an interview with Politico&#8217;s Glenn Thrush, Johnson essentially defiled the central tenets of libertarianism after suggesting that he supported President Obama&#8217;s authoritarian executive order to push through amnesty. Here is the relevant <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2016/06/06/gary-johnson-i-support-obamas-executive-amnesty-because-it-challenged-congress-to-action/">segment</a> of the interview:
<blockquote>
Glenn Thrush: How about Obama&#8217;s executive order, which was decried as being a great constitutional violation by the Republicans, Obama&#8217;s executive order on immigration. Did you consider that to be a violation or did you consider that a reasonable use of targeted executive power?
Gary Johnson: I saw it as a reasonable use, challenging Congress to action. And an untold story with regard to Obama and immigration is he&#8217;s broken up 3 million families. He has deported 3 million heads of households that have gone back to Mexico and their families have remained in the United States.
</blockquote>
While the concept of open borders is consistent with libertarian ideology, executive power moves are not. The very whisper of expanding the executive branch should be blasphemy to the ears of a staunch libertarian. Gary Johnson doesn&#8217;t appear to fit the bill. 
Pundits and politicians alike quickly seized on Johnson&#8217;s farcical interview: 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Coffee this morning with Gary Johnson. Among other things, he says Obama&#8217;s executive order on DACA was the right thing to do.
&#8212; daveweigel (@daveweigel) <a href="https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/739822725645127680">June 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Notes for October: 
Johnson is pro-abortion, pro-exec overreach, bad on religious liberty &amp; naive on national security 
Otherwise &#8220;solid&#8221; 
SMH
&#8212; Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenSasse/status/739874050546139136">June 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Just as Trump has been clarifying about a lot of Republicans, Gary Johnson is clarifying about a lot of libertarians.
&#8212; Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/739825458150248448">June 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
Since announcing his candidacy, Johnson has done more to damage to the libertarian brand than any <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d45x4OpMoow">butt-naked joke-candidate</a> could have done stripping every night until November. A few weeks ago Johnson even told C-SPAN that he agrees with &#8220;73%&#8221; of Bernie Sander&#8217;s political platform. In case anyone forgot, Sanders is a literal socialist.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Gary Johnson keeps using that word &#8220;libertarian.&#8221; I&#8217;m not sure it means what he thinks it means. <a href="https://t.co/bEXcr7zmRP">https://t.co/bEXcr7zmRP</a>
&#8212; Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewklavan/status/738128217077370880">June 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8220;Libertarians agree with socialism&#8230;.&#8221; &#8211;Gary Johnson
&#8212; Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewklavan/status/738128786705776645">June 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
Libertarian ideology contains a lot of great ideas if articulated properly. Unfortunately, its messengers are often marijuana-obsessed clowns.

Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson Loves Obama’s Executive Amnesty

Illegal Immigration

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