Jack Hunter | The Libertarian Institute

Republican Senators Want War, Republican Voters Don’t

by Jack Hunter | May 22, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics

Last week over two-hundred Republicans, including every GOP senator except Rand Paul (R-KY), signed a letter urging President Donald Trump to insist that Iran give up all enrichment capabilities in any nuclear deal with that country. In other words, they don’t want a new Iran deal. But most Republicans do want a deal. As Responsible Statecraft’s Stavroula Pabst reported on May 12, “As U.S.-Iran talks continue, new polling finds that nearly two-thirds of Republicans support a negotiated deal on Iran’s nuclear program over military action intended to destroy it.” Pabst explained: “Indeed,...

Bill Kristol vs. The Holy Father

by Jack Hunter | May 8, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Recently when President Donald Trump shared an AI image of himself as the next pope in the wake of the death of Pope Francis, apparently in jest, it caused controversy. For neoconservative godson Bill Kristol, it created an opportunity to needle Vice President J.D. Vance, who is Catholic. Hey, @JDVance, you fine with this disrespect and mocking of the Holy Father? https://t.co/xbPs1hf5Gn — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 3, 2025 Vance replied: As a general rule, I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen....

On Free Speech, Trump’s as Bad as Biden

by Jack Hunter | Apr 30, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

In September, candidate Donald Trump vowed, “I will bring back free speech in America...I will sign an executive order banning any federal employee from colluding to limit speech, and we will fire every federal bureaucrat who is engaged in domestic censorship under the Harris regime.” Trump was addressing the clear danger that Democrats posed to the First Amendment. The Republican presidential nominee was talking about the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, who had once threatened to sic the Justice Department on social media platforms that “profit off hate.” In 2022, her choice...

Exclusive: Rand Paul Gives History Lesson on Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates

by Jack Hunter | Apr 14, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics

Whether it was President Barack Obama ordering airstrikes on Libya and Syria over a decade ago, or President Donald Trump directing strikes on Yemen and the Houthis today, non-interventionists often insist these presidents need congressional approval, as the Constitution demands. And, without fail, hawkish advocates of such unilateral, executive acts of war without congressional approval will cite President Thomas Jefferson going after the Barbary pirates for attacking ships that sailed Mediterranean in the early nineteenth century. They insist that Jefferson just did this, bypassing...

Only Thomas Massie Understands the Problem of Tesla ‘Terrorists’

by Jack Hunter | Apr 1, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles, Politics

As Donald Trump's administration rushes to call the vandalism of Teslas across the country “terrorism,” at least one Republican is not comfortable with doing so. In a recent story for Semafor on Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), reporter David Weigel highlighted a quote from Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) that he posted on X. Weigel wrote of Massie, “He was also uncomfortable with Republicans using the word ‘terrorism’ to describe what was being done to the cars.” The story continued, “That term is overly used by both sides,’ he said. ‘It’s just vandalism and bad behavior.’...

Don’t Treat Pro-Palestine Protesters Like J6 Protesters

by Jack Hunter | Mar 25, 2025 | Featured Articles, Politics

“Treason.” “Sedition.” “Coup.” These were the words used immediately to describe the protesters—or “insurrectionists” who participated in the January 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill. As ugly as that day was without having to embellish, Democrats and Never Trump Republicans were still insistent that this event was not merely a political protest turned violent, but a legitimate attempt to overthrow the United States federal government. Never mind that there was zero chance that was actually going to happen. Never mind that there was no organized effort to do so, or a particular foreign state or...

Civil asset forfeiture challenged by Rand Paul

by Jack Hunter | Mar 18, 2017 | Featured Articles, Justice

Rand Paul introduces the most sweeping reform of civil asset forfeiture law in decades Sen. Rand Paul has long taken the lead in calling for the reform of civil asset forfeiture laws, a controversial police practice in which authorities basically steal the property of citizens without due process and little recourse. Billions have been seized from citizens by the police based on nothing more than suspicion, which many see as a direct violation of the Fifth Amendment. It’s state-sanctioned theft. “Under civil forfeiture laws, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent,” says the...

Rand Paul: ‘It would be a really rotten, no good, bad idea to have ground troops in Syria’

by Jack Hunter | Feb 9, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In 2015, I asked, “Why is Rand Paul the only Republican who knows our foreign policy is crazy?” Among the crazy characteristics is the U.S.’s constant habit of intervening militarily in other nation’s civil wars. It was precisely this sort of suggestion during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Tuesday featuring former Defense Department and CIA Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash and national security adviser and U.S. Ambassador James Jeffrey, that seemed to incense committee member Sen. Paul. The senator vehemently rejected sending American troops to Syria, “I’d like to go on record as...