Libertarians warned about the 'imperial presidency.' Too few actually warned about Trump.

[Nevilledog]

https://www.ms.now/opinion/libertarians-warned-trump-told-you-so-executive-power

When I saw the headline “Libertarians Tried to Warn You About Trump” atop a New York Times op-ed last Monday, I thought, “Hmmm, that’s not quite how I remember it.” Adorned with the striking image of the Gadsden flag’s “Don’t Tread on Me” snake about to get curb-stomped by an enormous black jackboot, the piece was written by Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of the libertarian magazine and website Reason — where I worked as a journalist for roughly six years. (I left shortly after President Donald Trump’s first inauguration.)

Sure enough, upon reading the column, I discovered the headline didn’t accurately reflect Mangu-Ward’s argument. She primarily made the case that libertarians have warned for years — under presidents in both major parties — about the dangers of ever-expanding executive authority, what’s been aptly coined the “Imperial Presidency.” Rather than claiming to have specifically warned “about Trump,” the writer boasted that libertarians had long sounded the alarm over the consolidation of such power — power now being used for nefarious purposes by a president who just happens to be Donald Trump. (The Times later that day amended the headline to the less specific but more honest, “Libertarians: We Told You So.”)

I can’t argue with that. To the extent most self-identified professional libertarians warned about Trump, they warned about the awesome powers that could be abused by a generic authoritarian president from either party.

But Trump is not a hypothetical. He always told us who he was. And there are far fewer of us who took (and continue to hold) the comparatively unpopular view among libertarians and other right-of-center fellow travelers that Trump presented as a uniquely authoritarian, vindictive, racist, corrupt and lawless demagogue — of which there isn’t remotely an analog on the other side of the aisle.

*snip*

[C_U_L8R]

1. Libertarians are a bunch of phonies and poseurs

Liberty for ME is not liberty for ALL.

[pandr32]

2. That's not how I remember it either.

[haele]

5. I know a lot of Libertarians who voted for *rump both times.

Because he was fighting Woke, and the woman and tampon guy were Woke, and would infringe on their freedumbs.

It didn't matter that the Heritage Foundation or Putin was behind *rump; Project 2025 wasn't as bad as Woke - because Woke would turn the US into a weak third world country (tell me you didn't understand the Cold War without saying it out loud) run by RuPaul and Jane Fonda, full of a homeless middle class, brainless savages and feminazis. At least Protect 2025 would be good for business and return the US to an inner strength...

That sort of selfish, classist, racist, Prosperity Gospel drivel was coming out of their self-proclaimed Libertarian mouths for decades. It's always someone else's fault - like Government Give-Aways to the Lazy Takers - that they're feeling economically uncomfortable or failed in their mediocrity, or got scammed or stepped on by some rich grifter...

[stopdiggin]

3. the 'dereg' / 'small gov' tropes (which the libertarians were all in on - for YEARS)

HELPED in large part - bring a man like Trump into office. Really no other way of slicing it. Might not have been what you meant .... But you damned sure helped popularize the 'bully boy', 'get outta' my way' train of thought.

And - Thanks for that .. !

[markodochartaigh]

4. I'm no political analyst.

But in Texas, since the 80's, I met many people who said that they were libertarians. A very, very few would acquiesce in, perhaps, granting some equal rights to lgbtq+, although without employment discrimination protection since that is always the sole prerogative of employers in their mind. A few would also agree that women should have reproductive freedom, although that depended on the religious affiliation of the libertarian.
Almost all, maybe all, libertarians I ever talked with were mostly concerned about drugs, guns, and money. They wanted looser controls on all of these. Basically, they thought that the country would be stronger when the people were stronger and that the people would be stronger when there were as few rules as possible to constrain their behavior, and that the strong should be able to indulge in whatever pleasures they choose.
It isn't difficult to see why this philosophy attracts wealthy White people who have never developed empathy and who probably never will. But a lot of people who should know better drink the Kool aid when they see it in a golden goblet at a banquet attended by the rich.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. I Knew The Libertarians, As A Party...

...had lost their way, when the party convention was on CSPAN back in '00 or '04, and 3 candidates in a row talked about curbs on abortion.
Libertarians promoting restrictions on personal freedom? The opposite of what they claimed to stand for.

[durablend]

6. "Don't tread on me" turned into "TREAD ON ME HARDER, DADDY"

[617Blue]

7. "Libertarians" are Embarrassed GOPers. Mostly racists.

The know the whole Fundie thing is absurd but they like the racism parts.

[harumph]

9. Nowdays, I see few to none intellectually consistant self described libertarians.

Today to be a libertarian means "liberty for me - not so much for thee..."

[Miguelito Loveless]

10. Libertarians

are what Conservatives with just enough awareness to know that "Republican = Nazi", call themselves.

[Wounded Bear]

11. I consider Libertarians complicit in getting trump in office...both times...nt