The Libertarian Institute - All Podcasts

The midterms didn’t just bruise Republicans, they humiliated them, and I think the clearest explanation isn’t a sudden national conversion to Democratic ideology. The vote looks like a blunt punishment of Donald Trump’s second-term priorities, with one issue towering over the rest: the war with Iran and the real, immediate costs Americans feel at home.

I walk through why the “Iran is a 4% issue” talking point collapses when gas prices and cost of living spike right after escalation. We listen to Trump himself concede Iran played a role, then compare that to JD Vance’s...

Election night coverage is usually sold as a scoreboard, but we treat it like a stress test for the whole system. While results roll in, we argue about what a “blue wave” actually means if it’s powered by disappointment, low enthusiasm, and voters choosing to sit out rather than buy another round of party promises.

We dig into the real drivers people feel in daily life: prices, budgets, missed vacations, and the sense that both parties keep feeding the same donor ecosystem. Then we go where most election shows won’t: third party lockouts, ballot a...

In this episode, I sketch the life and exploits of one of my three Peak Guerrillas from the beginning of the 20th century, German GEN Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck. I want to explore what I consider the next step in guerrilla evolution employing age-old techniques and strategies harnessed to modern technology and employment within the new age of mechanized warfare and not so mechanized warfare as the Allies would discover during their four year campaign against the poorly supported but brilliant innovations and TTP of Lettow-Vorbeck and his Schutztruppe (German for “Protection Force”) .

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Ed...



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Scott interviews Emily Jashinsky about the recent report detailing Trump’s activities with Jeffrey Epstein and his circles. They also talk about the likely consequences of next week’s midterm elections.

Discussed on the show:

Emily Jashinsky is an American journalist, commentator, and media critic known for her work i...



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Journalist Kevin Gosztola returns to the show to discuss yet another story of the US government using the Espionage Act to protect its own aims and interests from the American people.

Discussed on the show:

Kevin Gosztola is the managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” He is the author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange. Follow him on Twitter...

Preemptive pardons used to sound like a fringe fear. Now they’re getting floated like standard operating procedure, and we dig into what that says about the health of the American system. We talk through why “blanket” or “preemptive” pardons feel like an admission of guilt, why they short-circuit the rule of law, and why the public is so fed up with a political class that seems to treat accountability as optional.

Then the conversation swings to a bigger, more dangerous arena: war with Iran. We break down Axios reporting on a tense Trump-Netanyahu call and the pu...



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Scott interviews Andrew Day from The American Conservative about what’s happening with the Iran war. They discuss whether Trump will restart the air campaign after the midterms, Israel’s calculated moves that have prevented a lasting negotiated peace from taking hold, how JD Vance plays into all this and more.

Discussed on the show:

Andrew Day is...



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Scott brings Daniel Davis back on the show to dig into some of the claims western war hawks are making that the Ukrainians are actually starting to win on the ground in their war against the Russians. Davis explains why these characterizations are misleading and dangerous.

Discussed on the show:

Daniel Davis did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during his time in the army. He is a Senior Fellow at Defense Priorities and is the author of the reports “Dereliction of Duty II...

War isn’t distant when it’s priced into every gallon of gas. Dave Benner from Liberty Vault joins us for a blunt end-of-week rundown on the war in Iran, the midterm backlash building around it, and why the administration’s promise that it won’t become a forever war is landing with a thud for a lot of voters.

We react to Vice President JD Vance’s messaging and ask the uncomfortable question: if the public doesn’t “vote on foreign policy,” why do the consequences of intervention keep showing up as inflation, debt, and diesel price...

Join CJ as he reads the following Halloween-y poems & short stories:

“SOCJ!” — Save Our CJ (& the DHP!)

Due to events of the past couple months — including Mrs. CJ undergoing yet another spinal procedure the week before last! — CJ has not only been slowed down on multiple DHP projects, but, unfortunately, this has also caused his family to be in an acute financial emergency!

If you’re not in a financial crisis yo...

(*This episode is mostly comprised of DHP Eps. 171 & 174, which were originally made & published back in 2018.) In this DHP Reissue Two-Fer, CJ-in-2018 turns the DHP Heroes spotlight on one of his favorite filmmakers of all time, John Carpenter, best known for the horror & scifi films he made in the last […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Patrick Pillow about the series he just started publishing on the regime change in Egypt in 2011. Discussed on the show: “Anatomy of a Regime Change 2011: Egypt, Part One” (Libertarian Overwatch) Patrick Pillow is an independent researcher and writer focused on protest movements, foreign policy, and regime-change case studies. […]

Starlink sounds like a simple story about connectivity, until you ask one question: who gets to decide when a “civilian” network becomes a weapon? We start by digging into Elon Musk’s statement on Ukraine, where he draws a hard boundary around Starlink and offensive drone strikes, and we explain why SpaceX points to Starshield as […]

They’ve spent years telling you an independent vote is a wasted vote. We don’t buy it, and we walk through why the “safe” choice keeps delivering the same disappointment, the same hypocrisy, and the same top-down control. Karen Kotowski sits in for Kyle and talks with producer Chris Leonard about what independent voting actually looks […]

A citywide Russia Ukraine ceasefire tied to a Melania Trump backchannel sounds absurd on its face, which is exactly why it’s worth taking seriously. We walk through what’s actually being reported, why a humanitarian corridor can still count as a diplomatic breakthrough, and how even “small” agreements test whether Moscow and Kyiv can coordinate anything […]

An inch is not a “near miss” in politics, it’s a different timeline. Ken Silva joins me to lay out what we actually know about the Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally shooting, what still makes no sense, and why the FBI’s slow drip of records feels more like narrative management than transparency. We talk about the […]

A president under pressure almost always looks for a villain, and today we’re asking a sharp question: is Zelensky becoming the White House’s favorite scapegoat? We react to Zelensky’s on-camera response, then pull the thread on how blame travels during a long proxy war, especially when diesel prices rise, approval drops, and the Iran war […]

John and I continue reading and commentary on Ordinary Men.

Download Audio. Scott interviews Bill Buppert about Iran, the defense industry, the geopolitical delusions of the West, how evolving weapons technology will shape the next few decades and more. Discussed on the show: The OKCBOMB Files The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited by Sheldon Richman “The Royal […]

John and I continue reading and commentary on Ordinary Men

A rumored Putin Trump Xi summit sounds like diplomatic fireworks, but the bigger story is what it reveals about power and leverage as Ukraine’s position weakens. Larry Johnson joins me to parse the Reuters report, the shifting tone coming out of Washington, and the growing sense that US leaders are preparing to treat Ukraine as […]

Download Audio. Scott brings Larry Johnson back on the show to talk about all the Middle East news they couldn’t get to last week. They discuss the Iran war and the status of Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Saudi’s escalating war with the Houthis of Yemen. Discussed on […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Robert Wright, author of the book The God Test, about how AI will impact our future. They discuss the threats AI poses to our safety and our economies. And they talk about the right and wrong ways to minimize those risks without sacrificing the genuine benefits offered by the technology. […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Libertarian Institute Fellow Joseph Solis-Mullen about what’s happening in Ethiopia. Solis-Mullen gives us the historical context of the escalating conflict, the broader geopolitical context in the region and explains how Washington fits into all of this. Discussed on the show: “Things Fall Apart in Ethiopia…” (Libertarian Institute) Joseph Solis-Mullen is […]

Nationwide there has been an epidemic of police officers sexually abusing teens they are meant to mentor through Learning For Life’s Police Explorers Program.

It’s been quite some time since I have responded to “mail” so I have curated these questions to address:. Why the future of warfare is not clone wars? The Fall of Europe is inevitable, here is what it will look like. The rifle is no longer the future in any form of warfare. How systems […]

Trump is turning up the heat on Ukraine and Zelensky, and the timing is impossible to ignore: voters feel foreign policy in their wallets through gas prices and diesel prices. Kyle sits down with Connor Echols of Responsible Statecraft to parse what’s real policy movement versus loud rhetoric, including Trump’s complaints about U.S. aid and […]

The midterms are fast approaching, as is the “fall back” to Standard Time: that blissful-but-all-too-brief 4-month period in which our clocks & schedules align in a healthy way with our natural circadian rhythms, allowing us to flourish for 1/3 of the year until we “spring forward” back into the earthly hell known as “Daylight Savings.” […]

The fastest way to misread a war is to believe one leader can simply declare it over. We dig into President Trump’s claim that the Iran war will end “very soon” and test it against the hard constraints that actually decide timelines: the Strait of Hormuz, shipping attacks in the Persian Gulf, and the kind […]

I went fishing, and many of y’all had suggested I livestream while fishing. During the stream I discuss Sandra Birchmore.

The fastest way a “regional conflict” becomes a global problem is through chokepoints, and we spend this conversation mapping the ones that matter. Dave DeCamp joins me to explain why a US move toward direct intervention in Yemen could trigger the exact kind of escalation Washington says it wants to avoid, including threats to US […]

Download Audio. Scott interviews Larry Johnson about the status of Washington’s campaign to weaken the current Russian regime. Discussed on the show: “Dispatch from Moscow: The Collapse Narrative Keeps Missing the Real Russia” (Sonar21) “The Human Cost of The War Nobody Is Counting: Sulfur, Fertilizer and an Email from Florida” (Sonar21) Larry C. Johnson […]

If you feel like the headlines about Ukraine, Russia, and “energy deals” never add up, you’re not imagining it. We sit down with Larry Johnson to separate political theater from the underlying mechanics that actually move wars and markets and to ask why so many public claims collapse the moment you put real numbers next […]

A single debate clip can reveal an entire foreign policy reality: we demand ritual condemnation of October 7, then treat any mention of Gaza’s devastation as taboo. Kyle is joined by Nolan Denaro to unpack a heated Michigan campaign exchange and the bigger story behind it, including how U.S. politicians lean on inflated or debunked […]

A promise not to attack Iran before the US midterm elections sounds calming until you ask the uncomfortable question: who benefits from the world believing it? We sit down with Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to sort through the noise, the incentives, and the real risk of escalation hiding behind confident social media posts and campaign […]

Something big hides inside a simple question: if the US and Israel are thinking about striking Iran, why would the timing cluster around elections? We pull apart a Reuters-style headline and treat it like a map, tracing how US midterm politics and Israel’s vote can shape escalation decisions just as much as military “readiness” can. […]

“Let them take out Los Angeles” is the kind of line that explodes online, but the real story is what comes after the clip: how an unpopular Iran war gets sold to the public, and how critics keep missing the most effective, factual attacks. Andrew Day returns to help us separate viral framing from what […]

The fastest way to sell a war is to blame the same villain for everything, and right now that villain is Iran. We walk through Donald Trump’s comments on the alleged FlyDubai attack and the broader pattern of turning unclear events into “proof” of an Iranian terror campaign. We talk attribution, the Sunni extremist profile […]

a Download Audio. Scott interviews Ian Proud about how he recently traveled to Russia to hear a speech from Putin, only to be detained by his own government upon his return. Scott and Proud talk about what happened and why he decided to go to Russia. They then discuss the broader state of the war. […]

We react to the new Down, listen to Church of Misery, and discuss Douglas Carter getting released from prison after 41 years on death row.