Moments

Although libertarians constitute a small minority of the population, libertarian figures have dealt major blows to anti-liberty proponents when they have been arrogant or foolish enough to think their arguments can stand up to libertarian philosophy espoused by the movements' best and brightest. These are highlights of interactions with opposing figures on video, often either a figurehead or near the top of their field, or major interviews or speeches that mark a particularly momentous occasion.

SoHo Forum: Scott Horton vs Bill Kristol
October 8, 2021 [1:33:38]
#war

Scott Horton: Director of the Libertarian Institute, Editor of Antiwar.com, Host of the Scott Horton Show, author of numerous books on foreign policy
Bill Kristol: Editor at large at The Bulwark, a leading proponent of Iraq War II

Libertarians everywhere were excited beyond belief when The SoHo Forum announced a debate between the libertarian movement's best on foreign policy, Scott Horton, and one of the leading figures that pushed for the war in Iraq following the 9/11 attacks. I wondered if Kristol looked at Horton's lack of fancy Ivy League credentials and figured he could stroll through this debate, but the debate was even more lopsided than I thought it would be. Kristol, for the duration of the debate, struggled to find any kind of real argument as Horton eviscerated any argument that could be had for the war. I have never seen anyone just tap out of a debate midway through. Even one of the audience questions, a simple one, proved to be too much for Kristol to handle.

PBD Podcast: Dave Smith vs Chris Cuomo
May 31, 2024 [3:10:14]
#covid-19 #media

Dave Smith: Standup comedian, Host of Part of the Problem
Chris Cuomo: Former CNN news anchor

This was an absolutely cathartic one. For over four years, the people have been oppressed by the Covid regime and those that dared challenge it were forced to deal with systematic smear campaigns throughout the legacy media. One such instigator of these smear campaigns was Chris Cuomo. In a particularly viral segment of the debate (really, it was more of an evisceration than a debate), Smith demanded Cuomo apologize to Joe Rogan for the blatant Ivermectin smears. When Cuomo denied he engaged in smears, the PBD Podcast played a video clip of him doing it, causing the crowd to go wild. Smith came into the debate ready for combat and in a brilliant open, gifted Cuomo Tom Woods's book, Diary of a Psychosis, which outlines the progression of the Covid mania, and suggested Cuomo read the book. The debate, a few months in, stood at over 1.5 million views just on the YouTube platform, with who knows how many additional clips going viral. Shows like Breaking Points also covered it to the tune of half a million views.

Fox News: Ron Paul vs Rudy Giuliani
May 15, 2007 [4:02]
#war

Ron Paul: Former US Congressman and presidential candidate, author of End the Fed and The Revolution: A Manifesto
Rudy Giuliani: Former New York City mayor and presidential candidate

This moment is the one many talk about as the most memorable for Ron Paul, about as close to royalty as one can be among libertarians. In the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, Iraq War II had been in full swing and the war propaganda was at its height. As you can hear from the audience, they were very much on Giuliani's side in his self-admitted ignorance of why terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in New York. Still, Ron Paul stood fast and bravely spoke the truth in a room that was very much against him. History has shown Ron Paul to be on the correct side of history and inspired a new army of libertarians to be brave in their assertions in the face of adversity. You could also assign Giuliani's embarrassment to me as well, as it was Ron Paul who got me to see my views on foreign policy, like Giuliani's, were completely wrong. 

US Supreme Court: Kelo (Institute for Justice) v. New London
February 22, 2005 [10:59]
#propertyrights


Institute for Justice: Libertarian non-profit civil rights attorney
Suzette Kelo: Homeowner with a heroic spirit
New London: City run by tyrants

In its highest-profile case, the Institute for Justice fought for property rights on the side of Suzette Kelo, whose little pink house was forced into a sale to the city to secure the property to sell off to a private developer, a clear case of eminent domain abuse. It was brought to the US Supreme Court but unfortunately, they lost the case to the city. in a controversial 5-4 vote. The controversy was great enough, stoked by the Institute of Justice and Suzette Kelo's media campaign, that it sparked a wave across the nation where nearly all the states passed new laws to curb eminent domain abuse. It also inspired the movie Little Pink House. To this day, Suzette Kelo's razed house stands undeveloped. The Institute for Justice continues to fight eminent domain abuse as well as other issues of civil asset forfeiture, occupational licensing, and school choice, among other libertarian causes.

Here are the SCOTUS members' votes:
Braindead: John P. Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David Souler, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Steven Breyer
Have at least a clue or two: Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas

The Joe Rogan Experience: Dave Smith vs Douglas Murray
April 10, 2025 [2:58:47]
#war


Dave Smith: Standup comedian, Host of Part of the Problem
Douglas Murray: Neoconservative commentator, columnist, author of Neoconservatism: Why we Need It among other books

In a sense, Douglas Murray won this debate. If he had come into the debate to go head to head with Smith, judging from what little was actually debated, he would have gotten mopped. Instead, he goes into logical fallacies, passive-aggressive ad-hominems, strawmen, red herrings, and his British accent, to do everything he could to not debate. The entire first 45 minutes was derailed by Murray complaining that there weren't more "experts" on JRE and talking about Darryl Cooper, going around in circles, while getting everything wrong on Cooper. If some high school yellow belt went into the ring against Mike Tyson in his prime, this is the tactic you would want to use. Run away and do everything you can to avoid actually fighting. It was just silly that Murray, the yellow belt, kept claiming he could beat up Tyson while continuing to run away from the actual fight. Throughout the entire "debate", Murray just did everything he could to avoid taking the points head on. The one thing his sycophants ever really point to as why Murray won was him "revealing" that Smith had never been to Israel. If he had said you could potentially get a better perspective if you go (though probably not from an IDF catered tour like Murray), fine. I don't think there's a whole lot of disagreement there, although Murray actually claimed no goods in Gaza were being stopped (which is just flat out incorrect, by Israel's own admission). But he feigned this big outrage that you have to go to a place if you're going to talk about it (which he himself has argued against in the past, and cannot hold himself to the same standard). It was just another way to score cheap debate points for the midwit crowd while never taking on a real argument. Murray was thought by those on his side to be this unbeatable force that Smith could never beat after Smith won debate after debate after debate after debate, but when Murray was finally in the spotlight, showed just how shockingly empty his positions were. If Murray wasn't held in such high regard among the pro-Israel bombing campaign crowd, I would have just ignored this episode as just someone with no arguments. But he was and he just wrecked himself onto Dave Smith on the biggest podcast in the world, and set the internet on fire for a week.

SoHo Forum: Gene Epstein vs Richard Wolff
November 14, 2019 [1:38:44]
#economics

Gene Epstein: Former editor at Barron's, founder of the SoHo Forum
Richard Wolff: Professor emeritus of political philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Richard Wolff ain't no dummy or an unknown. The New York Times called him "probably America's most prominent Marxist economist". But Gene Epstein sure made him seem like a dummy. Wolff barely brought an argument, relying on stories and appeals to emotion than any substantive argument. But at least he spoke to the topic, unlike Douglas Murray.

ZeroHedge: Dave Smith + Cenk Uygur vs Dennis Praeger + Batya Ungar-Sargon
April 17, 2024 [2:31:10]
#war

Dave Smith: Standup comedian, Host of Part of the Problem
Cenk Uygur: Co-founder of The Young Turks
Dennis Praeger: Founder of Praeger-U
Batya Ungar-Sargon: Opinion editor of Newsweek

I'm not a fan of Cenk Uygur though he is on the correct side of the issue. Even when he is on the correct side of the issue, you grit your teeth and hope he doesn't screw it up. And he didn't. He held his own. But Smith really took over the debate here against a really big name in Dennis Praeger. Batya Ungar-Sargon seemed to mostly be a dud in the debate.

World Economic Forum: Javier Milei
January 17, 2024 [29:27]
#politics

Javier Milei: President of Argentina, economist of the Austrian School

Did Klaus Schwab just not do his homework? The World Economic Forum, the infamous summit in the Swiss Alps where billionaires and the higher political class convene to conspire about how to screw over the plebs, the invited newly elected president of Argentina to speak, an underdog libertarian who defeated the Peronist incumbent. Milei is a firebrand who campaigned on cutting major swaths of the government (see his famous Afuera! video), dollarization, austerity, and deregulation. He has a history of railing against socialists and people like those who regularly attend the World Economic Forum. In his speech to them, he did not disappoint. 

Libertarian Party National Convention 2024: Donald Trump
May 25, 2024 [35:00]
#politics

Donald Trump: President of the United States, not a libertarian

Okay, what gives? Why is Donald Trump, who is not a libertarian, listed here, when the libertarian group is just the host? Well, this marked the moment when the Libertarian Party became relevant, thanks to Angela McCardle's vision. Never before has the Libertarian Party attracted the attention of a major candidate, much less enough to have the candidate show up at the convention and make promises to Libertarians, such as to free Ross Ulbricht, and a libertarian in his cabinet. To his credit, he fulfilled his promise to free Ross Ulbricht. Not so much the libertarian in his cabinet promise, though I've heard there were some technicalities that negated that one. An invite was also sent to Joe Biden, but was ignored.

Lex Friedman Podcast: Javier Milei
November 20, 2024 [1:57:09]
#politics

Javier Milei: President of Argentina, economist of the Austrian School

The libertarian president of Argentina has an interview with Lex Friedman, one of the largest interview podcasts out there, talking about Austrian economics.

Dartmouth Political Union: Spike Cohen vs David Hogg
April 10, 2024 [1:50:45]
#guns

Spike Cohen: 2020 vice presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party
David Hogg: Gun control advocate, survivor of the Parkland high school shooting

I never got the impression that Spike Cohen was a big gun guy. I love Spike, but from the libertarian orbit, it seems like Maj Toure would be a better advocate of our position. Outside the libertarian orbit, Colion Noir or Brandon Herrera would also be great picks. Still, Spike did his job and as predicted, destroyed David Hogg's arguments, the guy who rose to fame as the media darling for gun control following the Parkland high school shooting. A special appearance of libertarian Lily Tang Williams in the Q&A portion went viral as Lily, someone who escaped Communist China, simply asked Hogg if he could guarantee the United States would never become tyrannical. When Hogg said no, Lily concluded that the gun debate was over. Mic drop.

Real Time with Bill Maher: Kmele Foster
January 28, 2021 [4:08]
#covid-19 #race

Kmele Foster: Co-host on The Fifth Column Podcast, former co-host of The Independents, co-founder of Freethink

During the height of critical race theory insanity, Kmele Foster went onto Bill Maher and guns down the show with facts, explaining how viewing all issues through the lens of race obfuscates the real issues and blocks real solutions that would help people.

Without a Country: Robbie Bernstein vs the entire room
November 12, 2022 [19:55]
#covid-19 #economics

Robbie Bernstein: Stand up comedian, Host of Run Your Mouth, Co-host of Part of the Problem
The entire room: A bunch of liberals, leftists, and Democrats with the comedian host, Corrine Fisher

I don't think this podcast is a particularly large platform, nor did it go particularly viral (the original episode on YouTube was made private, but here is an audio-only version of the entire show). In fact, I think the above clip from a different channel may have gotten more views than the actual podcast. But it did showcase a masterful performance by Rob against an entire room that was entirely hostile to him. The topic went to the mRNA vaccines and when Robbie made several points that were not approved by the establishment, Corrine started rolling her eyes and the room started objecting. In a show of their "intelligence", Corrine and her co-host (or maybe another panelist or producer) start researching some of the claims and state their doubt that Nature.com is a reputable source, not knowing that it's one of the most well-known peer-reviewed scientific journals available. If you've done any kind of scientific research, no matter how shallow, you've probably come across Nature. At one point, they found an immunologist in the crowd and the others at the table as well as the room erupted in laughter, so confident that Robbie was about to get truth-bombed. The immunologist came up to the mic and after beating on a strawman, Robbie set her straight and the immunologist ended up agreeing with everything Robbie said, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room. The conversation later shifted to inflation, and nobody in the room was going to be equipped to argue with Robbie, who is maybe not an expert in, but is at least familiar with Austrian economics. At one point, an audience member complains about rising gas prices, arguing with the leftist trope of "record profits", to which Robbie explained how inflation works and how decreased purchasing power renders the record profits on paper meaningless. The audience member actually retorts with "I don't care about inflation, I care about what it costs at the pump!" Wow. At one point Corinne derisively joked that Robbie is just smarter than everyone else in the room. Yeah, that was actually just a true statement.

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