Trump's Tariffs Present Opportunity for Libertarian Party Revitalization

As the Trump administration attacks libertarian values, there is an opportunity for the Libertarian National Committee to seek accountability to move forward and grow again.

Dear Friends,

Did you know the Libertarian Party was founded over five decades ago in response to a corrupt Republican president using his executive authority to violate free market principles?

A corrupt Republican president abuses his executive power to restrict free markets, placing legal constraints on free trade in goods and services, and then uses the granting of specific exceptions to shake down contributions from businessmen who are hurt by the restrictions. This political extortion is seen as such an abuse of office and betrayal of conservative economics principles that members of his own party band together to oppose him.

That corrupt Republican president? Richard Milhouse Nixon.

That’s the opening paragraph of my recent article on MSNBC, suggesting that Trump’s tariffs create the same need for a strong Libertarian Party that Nixon’s wage and price controls did.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter over the last few years, you know that Angela McArdle and Michael Heise’s takeover of the Libertarian Party caused immense damage to the party’s finances and reputation. Early this year, McArdle resigned from the Libertarian National Committee, allegedly to take a job in the Trump administration.

An internal vote of the LNC to fill the vacant Chair position ended with Steven Nekhaila being chosen over Mises Caucus founder Michael Heise. His tenure got off to a shaky start, with Heise continuing to be employed as a contractor and messaging that continued McArdle’s MAGA positioning.

Nekhaila came out against Trump’s tariffs, which is a good sign that the Libertarian Party is turning back toward the party’s platform and principles and standing against illegal and authoritarian actions from the White House.

At the same time, the derivative suit brought by former LNC member Beth Vest is proceeding through the discovery process against Angela McArdle. If you want to catch up on all of the pleadings in that case, you can visit the DC Superior Court search portal and enter “Civil Action No. 2024-CAB-002804” in the search field.

If you remember, Angela McArdle lost a motion to dismiss the case last year. Instead of just moving forward, she then filed a motion to reconsider last year’s order denying her dismissal. Earlier this week, the judge handed McArdle another defeat, denying her motion to reconsider. In that same order, the judge also allowed the Libertarian National Committee to substitute in different lawyers from the ones defending McArdle.

Denied!

With that denial, the case will continue with the discovery process already started to gather answers and documents from Angela McArdle and other relevant witnesses in the case. The lawyers at the Veritas Law Firm have been doing an incredible job of handling the case in face of extra work from McArdle’s procedural attacks. If you are able to contribute to the legal fund, please visit their website and put “LNC Derivative Suit” in the Reference field; the identity of donors will not be shared.

This change in legal posture gives the Libertarian National Committee the chance to take the baton from pursue accountability and restitution from Angela McArdle directly. Making that change would take the burden off of Beth Vest, who acted when the LNC wouldn’t, and also show that the board takes allegations of embezzlement of member funds seriously.

There is an open letter circulating among former LNC members that urges the current LNC to do just that.

Opening paragraphs of an Open Letter to the Libertarian National Committee

After just a few days, the letter already has dozens of signers who have served over a period of five decades, from the early 1980s to 2024. If you know of a former LNC member who would like to review the letter, they can view the document directly and comment with their name and years of service on the committee. Names will continue to be added and the letter will be sent to all members of the current LNC by the end of this week.

We are at a critical point in American politics. If the Libertarian Party is to meet this moment, it must turn away from the mismanagement and failure of Angela McArdle and turn back to its founding principles of free people and free markets.

Yours in liberty,

Nick

P.S. If you have other ideas for how we can reconstruct the Libertarian Party, please send them in and they may feature in a future column.