David Smith (born April 20, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and libertarian political commentator.[3][4][5] He has frequently appeared on Fox News Channel's Kennedy[6][7] and The Greg Gutfeld Show.[8][9][10] Additionally, he was a recurring panelist on CNN's S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered.[11]
Dave Smith | |
|---|---|
 Smith at 2022 Revolution hosted by Young Americans for Liberty | |
| Born | David Smith April 20, 1983 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Political party | Libertarian[1][2] |
| Other political affiliations | Mises Caucus |
| Spouse | Lauren Smith |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | comicdavesmith |
Smith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party.[12] Smith hosts the libertarian podcast Part of the Problem. Smith has criticized some COVID-19 policies, such as vaccine passports.
Career
editIn 2013, Smith was featured as one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He was a featured performer on the New York Comedy Festival's "New York's Funniest" showcase in 2014 and 2015.[13]
He hosts the Part of the Problem podcast and cohosts the comedy podcast Legion of Skanks.[3][8][14][15] According to PorcFest, Part of the Problem is one of the top two libertarian podcasts in the world.[16] On Part of the Problem, Smith has interviewed political figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy[17] and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[18] Smith has also made repeated appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience and Timcast and is considered to be a close friend of Rogan's.[19][20][3]
On September 11, 2017, Smith released his first comedy special, Libertas.[14]
He was the MC for FreedomFest, a libertarian festival, in 2021,[21] and a featured speaker there in 2022.[22] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Smith was running the Libertarian Party's social media,[22] but he has denied this saying that he only "helped with the Twitter".[23]
Smith considered running in the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential primaries but ultimately decided against it.[18] He also declined to run as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vice presidential candidate, citing Kennedy's support for Israel in its war in Gaza.[18] Smith spoke at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention.[24]
Political views
editSmith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party.[12][25][26] Smith said in a 2017 Reason interview that he "became a libertarian through the Ron Paul movement".[27] He has opposed what he sees as big tech hegemony, describing it as "the biggest threat to liberty" aside from the "tyranny of COVID-19".[28] He believes vaccine mandates are an infringement of personal liberty[29] and told Reason in 2021 that he did not plan to vaccinate himself or his child against COVID-19.[28][30] Smith defended the Libertarian Party of Kentucky when it criticized proposed vaccine passports by comparing them to yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear.[31] Reason described him as "a vocal opponent of wokeness and political correctness".[28] An admirer of the anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard, he told Reason that like Rothbard he would abolish government if he could.[32]
Smith has been noted for interviews and debates with far-right figures, such as Gavin McInnes,[33][34] Nick Fuentes, Richard Spencer, and Christopher Cantwell.[33][35][22] Smith has called Fuentes a "fellow traveler", according to the SPLC.[22] In 2021, The New Republic called Smith "a Nazi sympathizer".[33] The SPLC noted that Smith is Jewish and has disagreed with far-right figures on the creation of a white ethnostate and the alt-right's tactics.[35] Debating with Fuentes, the SPLC said, Smith argued for "hard-right libertarian viewpoints".[35] In an interview with Nick Gillespie, Smith defended his friendliness towards alt-right figures, saying "People who listen to my podcasts have no doubt about where I stand on all of these issues" and said that his libertarian beliefs are "the antithesis of National Socialism."[14]
Smith has said he will not support the 2024 Libertarian Party nominee, Chase Oliver, saying that he did not do enough to fight COVID-19 policies, such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates.[36] Smith had the same criticism for the party's 2020 nominee, Jo Jorgensen.
In 2024 Smith endorsed Donald Trump and said that he would vote for Trump.[28] Smith cited Trump's promise made at the 2024 Libertarian Party National Convention to "...commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht on the first day [of being elected president]...", as a major part of his reasoning for voting for Trump. Smith also said on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience after Trump had been declared the winner of the presidential election that Trump "...better follow through on that promise and free Ross, because a lot of libertarians got behind Trump because of that promise..."[37]
In 2024, Smith hosted a Twitter space with Chase Oliver, Angela McArdle, and other Libertarian Party figures. He admitted that, after the second cabinet of Donald Trump did not include the appointment of any Libertarians to the cabinet, that they had "lost" the battle to keep "warhawks" out of the cabinet.
Personal life
editAccording to Smith, he was raised in Brooklyn, New York by his single mother.[14] Smith has two children with his wife, Lauren.[38] He is Jewish and has stated that he is the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor.[35][39]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Libertarian Presidential Candidates Champion 'Open Borders'". February 26, 2020.
- ^ "Libertarian Party Rebuffs Mises Uprising". July 4, 2018.
- ^ a b c Gillespie, Nick; Weissmueller, Zach (June 20, 2022). "Dave Smith: Comedian, Podcaster…Presidential Candidate?". Reason.com. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ "What Is the Ideal Strategy for the Libertarian Party? A Soho Forum Debate". Reason.com. September 19, 2019.
- ^ Cleary, Tom (April 27, 2021). "Comedian Slams Vaccine Passports on Joe Rogan's Podcast [WATCH]". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ "Kennedy: Vaping ban is a 'knee-jerk, nanny state' reaction". Fox Business. January 21, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ "'Kennedy' panel flips the political script in 'Party Swap' game". Fox Business. November 13, 2020.
- ^ a b Cleary, Tom (April 27, 2021). "Comedian Slams Vaccine Passports on Joe Rogan's Podcast [WATCH]". Heavy.com.
- ^ "Halftime Report: A shout out to 'Red Eye' fans". Fox News. September 12, 2017.
- ^ "Gutfeld: NBC decides to not air 2022 Golden Globes over lack of diversity". Fox News. May 12, 2021.
- ^ Page, Nicholas (December 21, 2017). "S.E. Cupp Eviscerates Ex-Obama Advisor Ben Rhodes for Wishing Death on GOP Foes: 'Try Therapy'". Mediaite.
- ^ a b Weissmueller, Zach; Gillespie, Nick; Thompson, Danielle (June 15, 2022). "Inside the Mises Caucus Takeover of the Libertarian Party". Reason.com. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
- ^ "Home". Dave Smith.
- ^ a b c d "Libertarian Comedian Dave Smith on the Alt-Right, Christopher Cantwell, and How the Left 'Went Off the Rails'". Reason.com. September 8, 2017.
- ^ "Nick Gillespie on Libertarianism, Why Gary Johnson Is a Success, Trump, Clinton, and Millennials". Reason.com. October 31, 2016.
- ^ Carroll, William (June 28, 2021). "Free Staters' Porcfest draws a capacity crowd". The Conway Daily Sun.
- ^ Frevele, Jamie (November 8, 2023). "'You're the Wokest Out of Everybody!' Ramaswamy and Comic Dave Smith Attack DeSantis For Crackdown on Anti-Israel Speech". Mediaite. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ a b c Weigel, David (February 9, 2024). "Libertarians could supercharge RFK Jr's campaign. But can he prove he's one of them?". Semafor. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ Gipson, Johnell (November 15, 2020). "Joe Rogan Questions How America Will Improve With Joe Biden as President — 'Things Aren't Going To Change for the Better With Him'". cheatsheet.com.
- ^ Carman, Ashley (April 27, 2021). "Spotify is okay with Joe Rogan's anti-vaccine remarks". The Verge.
- ^ Wargo, Abby (July 21, 2021). "Gov. Noem, Dennis Quaid headline first night of FreedomFest". Rapid City Journal.
- ^ a b c d Newton, Creede (July 13, 2022). "Andrew Yang To Speak Alongside Far-right Figures at 'FreedomFest'". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- ^ Dave Smith (July 17, 2022). "A Response to the S.P.L.C". Part of the Problem (Podcast). GaS Digital Network. Event occurs at 29:09. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
I don't run the party's social media. That's just not true. I've helped with the Twitter. That's it. I don't even run the Twitter. Most of the tweets aren't from me.
- ^ "Become Ungovernable". 2024 Libertarian National Convention. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
- ^ Welch, Matt (July 4, 2018). "Libertarian Party Rebuffs Mises Uprising". Reason.com. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
- ^ "Tom Woods, Dave Smith, and Jason Stapleton Join the Libertarian Party". The Libertarian Republic. July 13, 2018.
- ^ "Libertarian Comedian Dave Smith on the Alt-Right, Christopher Cantwell, and How the Left 'Went Off the Rails'". Reason.com. September 8, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Gillespie, Nick (July 28, 2022). "Dave Smith: Libertarians vs. Big Tech, Big Government, and…Other Libertarians". Reason.com.
- ^ Farivar, Masood (August 4, 2021). "Why Some Libertarians Support Vaccine Mandates". VOA. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
- ^ Amore, Samson (April 27, 2021). "Joe Rogan Slammed for 'Deeply Irresponsible' Anti-Vaccine Comments". The Wrap.
- ^ "KY Libertarian party bashed for comparing vaccine passport to Jewish Holocaust badges". kentucky.com.
- ^ Weissmueller, Zach (July 25, 2022). "Should Libertarians Root for a National Divorce?". Reason.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
- ^ a b c Simons, Seth (February 9, 2021). "The Comedy Industry Has a Big Alt-Right Problem". The New Republic. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
In 2017, Dave Smith used a TGMS guest-hosting spot to interview Richard Spencer and Christopher Cantwell, giving both a friendly platform to lay out their vision for a white ethnostate.
- ^ Horowitz, Justin (December 20, 2022). "Extremists, bigots, and conspiracy theorists: YouTuber Tim Pool's 2022 guests in review". Media Matters for America. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
Smith is connected to white nationalist Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes and appeared on Pool's show in September.
- ^ a b c d Newton, Creede (May 22, 2022). "Mises Caucus: Could It Sway the Libertarian Party to the Hard Right?". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
Smith ... has long invited extremists and hard right and fringe figures – including HotepJesus – on his podcast, "Part of the Problem" (PotP).
- ^ Weissmueller, Zach (June 6, 2024). "A Power Struggle Consumes the Libertarian Party". Reason.
- ^ "Dave Smith, David Stockman, and Jacob Grier: Who should win the election?". Reason.com. October 31, 2024. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ @ComicDaveSmith (October 27, 2021). "Happy anniversary to my beautiful wife, Lauren. The best thing I ever did in my life was marry her and it's not even close. She gave me two beautiful babies and a beautiful life. No matter what I do I will never be able to repay her, but I will spend the rest of my life trying" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ The Soho Forum (September 20, 2019). "How Can The Libertarian Party Effect Real Change?". Reason (Podcast). Reason Foundation. Event occurs at 1:13:42. Retrieved June 14, 2024.