Liberty Lens

Tariffs can disrupt farm markets. Federal relief can replace some lost income. But can a government check replace a reliable customer? Mike ter Maat and Big John examine the policy chain behind the current farm debate: Trump tariffs and retaliation, China and Brazil, farm subsidies, diesel and fertilizer costs, immigration enforcement, and the difference between […]

In Liberty Lens #90, Mike ter Maat and Big John debate AI safety, agentic AI, containment failures, private oversight, government regulation, defensive AI, and recursive self-improvement. Mike argues that a purely market-based answer may not be enough, but conventional government regulation may also be too slow and lack the expertise to manage rapidly developing AI […]

Big John and Mike ter Maat examine Trump’s proposed dividend, its economic trade-offs, and the political credibility behind the promise. In Liberty Lens #89, Mike returns from the Republican midterm convention to discuss what it would take to deliver the proposed payment and why he believes it conflicts with fiscal conservatism. The conversation moves from […]

In Episode 88 of Liberty Lens, Mike ter Maat and Big John take on one of the most difficult questions in criminal law: what should happen when there is little dispute about what someone did, but enormous disagreement over whether that person was legally responsible for doing it? The discussion examines the Lindsay Clancy case, […]

In Episode 87 of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat debate parental responsibility, corporate liability, social media addiction, tort law, and whether Meta should ever have faced this case in the first place. Then Mike makes the deeper argument: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act may have helped create the very Big […]

President Trump’s Canada tariffs and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Iran sanctions campaign may look like two separate stories. In Episode 86 of Liberty Lens, Mike ter Maat and Big John ask whether they’re really the same strategy: using access to the American market—and the dollar-based financial system—as weapons of foreign policy. Chapters:00:00 Canada, Iran and […]

What are Flock cameras, and how far should police be allowed to track drivers without a warrant? In Episode 85 of Liberty Lens, Big John and former police officer Mike ter Maat examine Flock Safety, automated license plate readers, privacy, the Fourth Amendment, and the growing fight over mass surveillance. Chapters:00:00 Flock Cameras and the […]

OpenAI’s AI escaped its sandbox, reached the open internet, and hacked Hugging Face while trying to solve a cybersecurity benchmark. Now Congress is considering an AI “kill switch” that could give the federal government extraordinary power over advanced AI systems. So what actually happened? Does it justify more government control of artificial intelligence? In Episode […]

In Liberty Lens Episode 83, Big John and Mike ter Maat examine the questions left unanswered after Fauci’s testimony. They discuss the legal meaning of invoking the Fifth Amendment, President Biden’s pardon, the case for granting congressional immunity, and whether a serious investigation can still separate truth-seeking from partisan theater. CHAPTERS:00:00 Fauci hearing: evidence versus […]

In Episode 82 of Liberty Lens, Mike ter Maat and Big John examine President Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which calls on AI companies, data center developers, and utilities to cover the cost of the new power plants, transmission infrastructure, and electrical-grid upgrades their projects require. The stated goal sounds simple: data centers should pay their […]

Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act is back at the center of the debate over voter ID, proof of citizenship, election integrity, and the 2020 election. In Liberty Lens Episode 81, Big John and Mike ter Maat ask whether the bill improves election security—or serves as political insurance before the 2026 midterms. Chapters:00:00 SAVE America Act: […]

President Trump has resumed U.S. strikes on Iran after the ceasefire collapsed. Can he reset the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day clock without Congress? The Strait of Hormuz, gas prices, oil markets, and the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham now collide in one story about presidential power. CHAPTERS:00:00 Gas Prices, Hormuz and a War Powers […]

In Liberty Lens Episode 79, Big John talks with Mike ter Maat at FreedomFest about his new Republican vice-presidential campaign, delegate empowerment, the case for a VP floor vote, and why liberty-minded voters may need to fight inside the Republican Party instead of from the sidelines. Mike explains why the current VP selection process concentrates […]

In this episode of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat break down the rise of democratic socialism, the political vacuum created when Republicans and Democrats ignore real economic pain, and why voters often choose politicians who sound like they care — even when their policies do not work. The conversation starts with Mamdani, […]

In Episode 77 of Liberty Lens, Mike ter Maat and Big John break down the growing civil war inside the MAGA media ecosystem — from Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro to Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan, Laura Loomer, Nick Fuentes, Charlie Kirk, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Donald Trump himself. The conversation starts with Iran, […]

In this episode of Liberty Lens, Mike and John break down the Trump administration’s Iran framework, the political pressure around oil prices and inflation, the future of the Strait of Hormuz, and why the U.S.–Israel relationship may be entering a new era. Mike argues that this is not simply about Iran, Israel, or Donald Trump. […]

In Episode 75 of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat examine the changing politics of U.S.-Israel relations: Trump’s public tension with Benjamin Netanyahu, Congress and war powers over Iran, the Gaza fallout, AIPAC and donor politics, the military-industrial complex, Iron Dome funding, and the growing generational divide inside the Republican and liberty movements. […]

Washington says it is targeting dictators. But when sanctions squeeze trade, travel, energy, and basic goods, who actually pays the price? In Episode 74 of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat take on Cuba, Trump, Marco Rubio, sanctions, oil pressure, and the familiar promise that if Washington squeezes hard enough, liberty will somehow […]

Todd Blanche’s DOJ has settled Donald Trump’s IRS case through a proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund — but who controls the money, who qualifies for it, and where is the oversight? Donald Trump sued the IRS after his private tax records were leaked. That abuse was real. But the settlement raises a new liberty question: […]

Trump called it historic. Xi called it a landmark. Neither explained why Trump’s family owned NVIDIA stock before he reversed the national security red line on chip sales to China. The May 2026 Trump-Xi summit produced a Boeing aircraft order, renewed NVIDIA chip access to China, and carefully managed diplomatic optics — but the underlying […]

The person next in line to run this country is chosen by one person in private. No delegates. No vote. No accountability. The vice presidency is constitutionally the only position in the executive branch a president cannot remove, yet the selection process gives total control to a single nominee operating largely out of public view. […]

The war was launched to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The war closed the Strait of Hormuz. That’s not irony — that’s a $400 billion institutional failure hiding in plain sight. Big John and Mike ter Maat put the full ledger on the table: the economic damage, the alliance collapse, and the geopolitical realignment Washington […]

The first American pope just drew a line that Donald Trump’s base can’t uncross. For decades, the Christian nationalist coalition was built on a single assumption: that faith and MAGA politics were inseparable. Then Pope Leo XIV arrived — American-born, theologically unambiguous, and impossible to dismiss — and forced a question no amount of spin […]

21 hours of face-to-face talks in Islamabad. Then America blockaded every Iranian port. Washington calls it “peace through strength.” Tehran calls it piracy. At least one of them is right. The Trump administration launched the most consequential military operation against Iran in modern history — degrading between 40 and 90% of Iranian conventional capabilities at […]

Washington just spent $93 BILLION of your money to send 4 astronauts around the Moon — and almost nobody noticed. Are we going to the Moon as a free people, or as taxpayers bankrolling another permanent political machine? Mike ter Maat and Big John break down the Artemis II mission from a liberty perspective: the […]

Just over 30 days into the Iran War and we have 13 Americans dead, 1,900 Iranians killed, the Strait of Hormuz under siege, and Trump’s approval rating at a historic low of 33%. Here’s what no one in Washington wants to admit. Mike ter Maat and Big John break down Day 32 of the US-Iran […]

The government says the economy is growing. Gas is pushing $4. Rent is out of reach. 60% of Americans say things are getting WORSE. Who’s right? In this episode of Liberty Lens, economist Mike ter Maat joins Big John to break down THREE colliding pressure systems threatening the U.S. economy: the Iran war, a cracking […]

What does it take to run for governor in a state that hasn’t broken from the two-party machine in over a century… and then decide to do it again? Larry Sharpe joins Liberty Lens to talk about his 2026 run for Governor of New York, why the system is designed to keep outsiders out, and […]

In this episode of Liberty Lens, Big John and former Libertarian vice-presidential nominee Mike ter Maat break down the constitutional, geopolitical, and economic consequences of the U.S. strikes on Iran. They examine the War Powers issue, the growing trend of presidents launching military actions without congressional approval, and what this means for American constitutional limits […]

Big John and Mike ter Maat break down the overnight U.S. strike that eliminated Khamenei and 40 senior Iranian officials, the president’s open call for regime change, and what history says happens next. – Why Mike predicted this invasion two weeks before it happened – The CIA is reportedly arming Kurdish forces — what could […]

The Supreme Court just ruled 6–3 that a president cannot use emergency powers to impose tariffs. That should have ended the story. It didn’t. Within hours, President Trump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, announcing a new global tariff starting at 10% — and raising it to 15% less than 24 hours […]

Who really controls your money — the Federal Reserve or the White House?President Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Chair of the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, federal debt has surged past 100% of GDP, interest payments are racing toward $2 trillion per year, and a DOJ investigation hangs over Powell. Is this […]

DHS funding hits a wall — and the fight isn’t really about money. Congress funded the entire federal government for 2026… except the Department of Homeland Security. Now the debate over ICE reform, federal enforcement power, judicial warrants, masking, body cameras, and constitutional limits is coming to a head. Are Democrats pushing necessary oversight? Are […]

Claims of election fraud are once again being recycled — from rigged machines to stolen ballots — despite a lack of credible evidence. At the same time, there is increasing pressure to move election administration away from the states and into federal hands. On this episode of Liberty Lens, we examine why elections in the […]

A 37-year-old ICU nurse and U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed during a Border Patrol operation in Minneapolis. Within minutes, senior Trump administration officials labeled him a terrorist and an assassin. The problem? Videos and eyewitness accounts tell a very different story. On this episode of Liberty Lens, we examine what actually happened, […]

President Trump is once again floating the idea of the United States acquiring Greenland — and this time, it’s not just a joke, a headline grab, or a real estate fantasy. On this episode of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat break down why Greenland matters, what the U.S. already has there, and […]

In this episode of Liberty Lens, Big John and former law enforcement officer Mike ter Maat break down the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis — not with slogans or outrage, but with law, training, and hard reality. This case doesn’t offer simple villains or clean answers. It raises serious questions about ICE tactics, crowd control, […]

Is this just law enforcement, or the start of a new American Empire? In this episode of Liberty Lens, Big John and Mike ter Maat kick off 2026 by dissecting the Trump administration’s aggressive new foreign policy moves. From Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s blunt “FAFO” statements to Marco Rubio’s warnings against Cuba, the messaging […]

President Trump claims the Russia-Ukraine peace deal is “90% done,” but with missiles still flying, is this reality or political spin? We break down the 20-point plan and why the White House might have miscalculated. Big John and former Libertarian Party VP nominee Mike ter Maat Mike ter Maat dig into the headlines dominating the […]

Trust in government is collapsing. Not because Americans suddenly became cynical — but because our leaders earned it. In this episode of Liberty Lens, Mike ter Maat and Big John dig into why integrity, not vibes or tribal loyalty, is the real political fault line right now. From MAGA infighting to podcasters-turned-powerbrokers, to why even […]