The Libertarian Institute - All Podcasts

The Iraq War has been a “still going” story for so long that it barely feels real when someone says it might finally be ending. We sit down with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson to talk through what the last American forces leaving Iraq could actually mean, not just for Baghdad, but for the bigger U.S. posture across Southwest Asia and the political reality that Washington may be getting pushed out rather than choosing to leave.

From there, we move into the Iran file: reports of sanctions relief and unfrozen funds tied to nuclear concessions, why a le...

“Only because I wanted to go further.” That single line from Donald Trump’s Time magazine interview changes how you should read the entire Iran war timeline. I’m solo today, digging into the most relevant sections of the interview and separating performative victory claims from what the conflict actually looks like on the ground and in the policy choices coming out of Washington. If the plan keeps shifting midstream, the danger isn’t just mission creep, it’s a leadership structure that can’t tell the truth about costs, objectives, or end states.

We also rewind th...

A lot of foreign policy talk collapses into slogans until you ask one simple question: if things are going fine, why are oil prices still telling a different story? We bring Larry Johnson back to sort through the gap between public claims and what the Strait of Hormuz, tanker security, and the energy market seem to be signaling in real time. Along the way, we react to Iran’s blunt skepticism about negotiations after attacks and alleged deal violations, and we talk through why US Iran diplomacy looks frozen despite confident headlines.

From there, we ge...



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Gordon Hahn returns to the show to talk about the notable rise of Azov’s Andriy Biletsky. He and Scott also discuss the obstacles to peace that are keeping this war going and some potential flashpoints for further escalation.

Discussed on the show:

Gordon M. Hahn is an expert for Corr Analytics and a senior researcher for the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, Akrib...



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Scott interviews Ted Snider about Ukraine. After years of Western journalists acting like Ukraine had just started turning the tide toward victory, the conflict remains frozen in a bloody stalemate. Scott and Snider dig in and discuss what’s actually going in and why all parties seem unlikely to pull back or stop any time soon.

Discussed on the show:

Ted Snider is a Fellow...

Trump takes the UN stage and talks about Iran the way politicians talk when they want options to expand a war without owning the cost. I walk through what he said, why it lands as bluster instead of strategy, and how that kind of rhetoric can still be dangerous when it becomes the basis for real policy. If you care about US foreign policy, Middle East war risk, and how diplomacy gets weaponized, this one is for you.

From there, I compare the Iranian president’s response to the American narrative about “state sponsor of terr...

I watched the Caleb Flynn trial and was shocked by how little physical evidence there was. Although I think the jurors got it right, could innocent people be convicted?

A single phrase can change the whole global chessboard: nuclear first use. We start by reacting to speculation about a US nuclear strike in Iran and lay out why even “unlikely” decisions matter when escalation could pull in Russia, China, and every other nuclear-armed state. Deterrence is supposed to prevent war, but it also creates terrifying edge cases where leaders gamble for leverage and everyone else has to guess what comes next.

From there, we pivot to the Korean Peninsula and the reality that keeps colliding with Washington’s talking points. North Korea has been crysta...

Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has dragged on for years, but one detail should stop you in your tracks: the New York Times reports Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reached out to Donald Trump three times asking for US military help against Ansar Allah and each time Trump declines. That raises a bigger question than day-to-day headlines ever do: what is it about the Houthis and Yemen’s battlefield that makes even Washington hesitate?

We sit down with Bill Buppert to break down the core drivers of Houthi resilience, from mountain terrain and loca...



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Scott interviews the Quincy Institute’s Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick about their new book Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power.

Discussed on the show:

Eli Clifton is a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute and Investigative-Journalist-at-Large at Responsible Statecraft. Follow him on Twitter @EliClifton.

Ian Lustick is an American political scientist and specialist on the modern history and politics of the Midd...

Download Audio. Scott interviews Rich Baris about his new book and the broader political trends he’s uncovered through his work as a pollster. Baris shares some unique insights into the dramatic shifts happening on both the left and right—especially with younger Americans—that are going mostly unnoticed thanks to antiquated polling conventions. Discussed on the […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Ben Aris about the war in Ukraine. Aris uses his deep expertise of Russian society and the ongoing war to give us a window into the evolving nature of the conflict and the barriers to peace facing both sides. Discussed on the show: Radio Moskva IntelliNews Ben Aris is the […]

A miracle survival story can be true and still be used as propaganda, and that tension is exactly what we can’t ignore. We bring back Lt.Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to react to the long-awaited 60 Minutes appearance by the rescued Iran shootdown survivor known as “Bravo” and to explain why the interview lands as flat, scripted, […]

Sixty thousand bombs is not a headline you just scroll past, especially when the bill is picked up by U.S. taxpayers. We start by unpacking reports that Washington has agreed to provide Israel a huge package of heavy munitions, including 2,000-pound bombs and penetrator “bunker buster” style weapons. We talk through what that amount of […]

Download Audio. Charles Goyette returns to the show to talk about the terrible, unsustainable and outright destructive economic situation the US government has gotten us in and the many ways the Trump administration is making everything even worse. Discussed on the show: Empire of Lies by Charles Goyette “Beware: Monetary Geniuses At Work” (Libertarian […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Brian McGlinchey about an article he wrote recently telling the story of Ameneh Abbasi, a 23-year-old Iranian woman who died while waiting for a lifesaving medical procedure that was delayed by the “crippling sanctions” the US government has put on the country. McGlinchey and Scott dig into what happened and […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Kyle Anzalone about the latest news in foreign policy. They discuss the escalation between the Houthis and Saudis, the differences between this round of fighting in Yemen and the last, how the Iran war is impacting domestic politics in the US and more. Discussed on the show: “More U.S. troops […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews writer and analyst Elfadil Ibrahim about the current state of Iraqi politics. The US-backed Iraqi government sits in a strange, awkward and concerningly unstable place between Washington and Tehran amid this ongoing war. Ibrahim breaks it all down and also provides some clarity on the recent escalation between the Houthis […]

We continue reading and commentary of Ordinary Men.

One comment from Donald Trump cuts through the usual talking points: Ukraine should stop hitting Russian diesel refineries. We dig into why that matters, what it says about U.S. intelligence support for Ukrainian strikes, and how energy infrastructure attacks ripple into global diesel supply and American prices. If you’ve wondered why fuel feels expensive in […]

Download Audio. Eric Margolis returns to the show to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East. They cover the Iran war, Netanyahu’s advance knowledge of the October 7 attack, the relevance of the Epstein files to American foreign policy and more. Discussed on the show: American Raj by Eric Margolis War at the […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews John Dudlicek, a civil engineer from Indiana, about the critical state of America’s water mains, dams and other crucial components of the infrastructure we rely on every day. John Dudlicek is a civil engineer and VP of a construction firm based in Northwest Indiana.  Sign up for the Scott Horton […]

World War II is the one war we’re still not allowed to talk about like history, and that’s exactly why we should. I’m joined by Darryl Cooper to dig into what happens when a past conflict becomes a civic religion, complete with taboos, approved villains, and moral shortcuts that shape how Americans see today’s wars. […]

Bush says America didn’t overreact after 9/11. We don’t let that pass. Kyle Anzalone sits down with Scott Horton to walk through what Washington knew before the attacks, what it chose to ignore, and how a moment that demanded focused justice became an open-ended Global War on Terror. If you’ve ever wondered whether there was […]

Dave Smith joins Kyle Anzalone for a wide-ranging conversation about Trump’s failures, the changing American political landscape, and what Dave sees as the rise of “Woke 2.0.” After years of backlash against progressive politics, is the pendulum beginning to swing back? Dave and Kyle discuss whether the Trump administration’s record is breathing new life into […]

The loudest voices keep insisting the U.S. is “winning” against Iran, but winning should be measurable and explainable, not just repeated until it feels true. We sit down with Matt Hoh to test the claims against what’s happening in the Persian Gulf, where the Strait of Hormuz remains a pressure point and U.S. forces are […]

Netanyahu doesn’t just hint at confrontation with Iran, he says the quiet part out loud: the aim is to bring the regime down. We play the clip, then pull apart what that means in practice, especially when U.S. leaders keep selling the war as a narrower fight about nuclear weapons and missiles. If Israel’s stated […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Elizabeth Lane about the domestic and geopolitical situation facing the country of Georgia. Lane, who is Georgian, digs deep into the relevant history and explains how the various factions, on all sides, try to distort the historical narrative to better serve their interests. Discussed on the show: Elizabeth Lane TV  […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Scooter Downey, a producer at the Tucker Carlson Network, about his new documentary series on the Oklahoma City bombing. Discussed on the show: The OKCBOMB Files An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th (IMDb) Tucker’s interview with Margaret Roberts The OKC Bombing Archive  Scooter Downey is a filmmaker who, […]

Hybrid warfare Is a can of worms, a fascinating conjoining of kinetic and non-kinetic means of achieving victory or stale between warring nations. This second episode examines an historical example of what I think is the closest modern hybrid warfare modality in the Japanese Empire in the 1930s leading to WWII; the.Imperial Japanese Army’s Tokumu […]

AOC gets asked a simple question with enormous consequences: should Benjamin Netanyahu be arrested if he lands in the United States while an ICC warrant hangs over him? We unpack why her cautious answer lands like a warning flare for the 2028 election, especially with younger Democratic voters who want clear accountability, a real break […]

Kyle and I talk.

“Total control” is easy to say on a podium, but war has a way of grading claims in real time. We sit down with Larry Johnson to sort through the latest reports of US strikes linked to the Strait of Hormuz, why mine warfare is still shaping the battlefield, and how a single chokepoint can […]

John and I continue reading and commentary on Ordinary Men.

Download Audio. Scott interviews writer and podcast host Nolan Denaro about several columns he’s written recently for Antiwar.com. They dig into the shortcomings, failures and overall depravity of the war hawks in the current MAGA movement. Discussed on the show: “JD Vance’s Iran War Dilemma” (Antiwar.com) “How Trump Took the U.S. to War With […]

Timeline, Buck’s article, my thoughts.

A foreign government buying ads on a US senator’s podcast sounds like satire until you follow the money. We dig into reporting from Connor Echols at Responsible Statecraft on how Israeli government “I Am Israel” ads ran on “Verdict with Ted Cruz” and how that ad revenue, via iHeartMedia, flowed to a pro-Ted Cruz Super […]

“Economic D-Day” might sound like a clean alternative to missiles, but economic war has its own escalation ladder. Today with guest Andrew Day, we break down the Trump administration’s reported shift on Iran from overt military action to “Operation Economic Isolation,” and why secondary sanctions, trade pressure, and financial choke points can ricochet into global […]

The Strait of Hormuz is where slogans go to die. Today we take a hard look at the claim that the United States “controls” the strait because mines were cleared and surveillance is perfect, then we test that claim against something more revealing: the reported message relayed through Pakistan offering to lift sanctions if Iran […]

John ad I continue reading and commentary on Ordinary Men