Trump vs. Biden: The Libertarian Dilemma

Voting for the lesser evil or standing by principles? Libertarians face tough choices.

While we can all agree from a strategic standpoint, Donald Trump is the lesser evil when compared to Joe Biden & Co. Yet, from a Libertarian point of view, he’s hard to take, even though many Libertarians have voiced their intent to hold their nose in November and give him their vote to avoid another disastrous four years of Biden’s policies.

The beef I have with Trump is his rhetoric rarely bears fruit. He’s promised to eliminate the federal Dept of Education, why didn’t he do it while he was president? He’s promised to free Ross Ulbricht, he had four years while he was president, why didn’t he do it? He’s promised to end ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act) yet he never touched it. He’s promised criminal justice reform, and while he made a small in-road, he now has vowed to use the DOJ to attack critics and former allies.

On June 4, 2024, the Libertarian Party posted on X.com the major issues facing the nation:

So, how effective would Trump be in moving the country to be more free and fiscally responsible? If Trump was back in the White House, I argue his effect would be negligible, though admittingly better than a Biden team being in charge. Ultimately, a Chase Oliver in the White House would be best to get the nation back on the right track.

So, let’s take each of these issues as if Trump was re-elected.

$34 trillion in debt Trump will expand our debt and our deficit; Trump is not fiscally responsible. Even when you strip out the pandemic spending, he added between $2-3 trillion to the debt and promised to borrow $2T more if he was re-elected in 2020.

Endless wars While Trump may not have “started” any new wars, he certainly was not “anti-war” as he promotes himself to be. Trump never “brought home the troops” nor did he end the “endless wars.”

Warrantless surveillance will continue and likely expand under Trump as he looks to expand the War on Drugs.

Overregulation is an issue for Libertarians and may feel Trump did a great job in reducing many federal regulations while president. The Institute for Policy Integrity tracked the Trump administration’s record in court throughout Trump’s four years in office. By its count, the administration was “successful” 58 times, and “unsuccessful” 200 times. Just 22 percent of the Trump administration’s regulatory or deregulatory actions that were challenged in court came through the legal process unscathed.

High taxation is an area where Trump may shine for all Americans as he helped lower-income Americans avoid paying any federal income taxes during his presidency. If Trump plans more tax cuts, then they MUST include a reduction in spending as well.

Civil asset forfeiture is the disgusting practice of taking someone’s property before they have been convicted; and once acquitted of any charges, it is very difficult to get your property back from the government. Trump, early in his presidency voiced strong support for this practice, and there is no indication this would change. Civil asset forfeiture is likely to expand with Trump’s hardcore stance on “law and order.”

Central banking manipulation would expand under Trump as he and his advisors are already looking to have more direct input with how the Federal Reserve makes its decisions.

Corporate bailouts are highly likely to continue under Trump. Even before COVID, Trump was handing out checks like they were candy.

Erosion of gun rights will continue under Trump. Let us not forget his sincere comments and work to expand federal background checks of potential gun purchasers, he wanted to raise the minimum age to 21 to buy a gun and worked to ban bump stocks. This is in addition to multiple anti-Second Amendment comments like “I like taking the guns early” and "I don't know why anyone needs an AR-15."

Education monopoly continues to influence with a top-down approach with the federal education department stronger than ever, despite his vow to shut it down while president, he continues the same rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail.

Healthcare mandates are still in effect, and his rhetoric to end ObamaCare never materialized, and there is little reason to believe it will in his second term.

Qualified immunity will not change due to Trump’s infatuation with the police and has even said recently that police should always have immunity from prosecution.

Eminent domain abuses would continue under Trump, and he continues to support the practice.

Mass incarceration may or may not continue under Trump. He did sign The First Step Act which was a baby step toward true reform on the federal level. But it is hard to square this with his other statements of stronger police and more stringent prosecution of “crimes.” What Libertarians view as crimes, and what Trump views as crimes are often on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Subsidies and tariffs should see no end and likely expand under Trump. Trump continues to voice strong rhetoric for punitive tariffs against various countries and has an odd view on trade. He certainly does not endorse free trade or free markets.

Restriction on freedom of speech would likely continue under Trump. Just like with Biden, Trump looks to silence those who disagree or criticize him, even going so far this past week as putting them in prison.

Militarization of police will continue as Trump seeks to arm the police more so than they are today, all for the “rule of law.”

Politicized judiciary is what Trump has been espousing. As much as he has criticized Biden for putting him on trial, Trump has been advocating the same.

Environmental overreach is an unknown regarding Trump. So, no comment on this one.

I can certainly understand why someone would go with Trump, and if one is doing so thinking they will be advancing liberty by doing so is not likely. So, after objectively reviewing these issues, it is hard to imagine a reason for a Libertarian to cast their vote for Trump outside of playing the lesser of two evils game, which, over the last 40 years has gotten us nowhere.