Kevin Gaughen 🦉 Profile picture
Aug 30 30 tweets 13 min read
THREAD: 🧵 The bad publicity the LP is incurring has led many to question the recent Mises PAC takeover of the LP and the motivations behind it. In this thread, I will demonstrate that it was likely a sabotage operation by the Trump camp.

(01 of 30)
I will also demonstrate that there was a direct line of communication between the Mises PAC and the Trump camp.

(02 of 30)
The Mises Caucus was started on or around 2017. The Caucus' goal from day one was to take over the Libertarian Party and oust everyone it disagreed with.

(03 of 30)
Previous Libertarian Party chairman Nicholas Sarwark has alleged that the Mises Caucus was formed in response to the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA.

(04 of 30)
Michael Heise organized his caucus into an official political action committee in 2019. He did this to raise money for his takeover, explicitly stating multiple times that he wanted to monetize, and take a paycheck from, Libertarian infighting.

(05 of 30)
One of the Mises Caucus's major donors from the very beginning was the CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne. According to Heise himself, Byrne donated a considerable amount of money to the Mises Caucus.

(06 of 30)
Byrne wasn't just a donor. He was someone to whom Heise went for strategy and advice. They know each other personally and apparently communicated on a regular basis. Heise apparently discussed his takeover plans with Byrne.

(07 of 30)
Byrne is a hardcore Trump supporter. But he's not just any Trump supporter. He was also a major donor to Trump's post-election audit, he is in Trump's inner circle, and he advised Trump directly.

newsweek.com/former-oversto…

(08 of 30)
In fact, Byrne was seen in the oval office on December 18, 2020, advising Trump to use the National Guard to seize voting machines. He was a regular visitor to the White House.

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

(09 of 30)
The Southern Poverty Law Center has alleged that Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, met with prominent members of the Mises Caucus on more than one occasion during the Trump Administration.

splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022…

(10 of 30)
In 2021 and 2022, Heise's Mises PAC took control of multiple state affiliates of the Libertarian Party. It was doing this by spending large sums of money of unknown origin.

(11 of 30)
The Mises PAC's financial disclosure filings are notoriously unreliable. The Federal Elections Commission has publicly put the Mises PAC on notice on more than one occasion for late, incomplete, or inaccurate reports.

docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg…

(12 of 30)
As each state affiliate of the Libertarian Party fell under Mises PAC control, Mises loyalists were added to the roster of delegates to the 2022 National Convention. Mises steamrolled ~40 state conventions to take control of those states' National Delegate seats.

(13 of 30)
By the time the National Convention gaveled in, approximately 70% of the delegates present were Mises. By displacing the organic delegate selection, they won total, complete control of control every single seat on the LNC.

facebook.com/photo.php?fbid…

(14 of 30)
Someone paid for airfare and hotel rooms for all of those shill delegates. But this isn't reported anywhere. It's not on the Mises PAC's FEC filings. There are no independent expenditure reports. No one is saying where this money came from nor who donated it.

(15 of 30)
Now that the Mises PAC has full control of the Libertarian Party, what is the new administration doing? Well, for starters, it's losing money. The most recent profit and loss report showed a net NEGATIVE $32,394 for July.

(16 of 30)
It is also posting extremely inflammatory content via the National Party's social media and through its state affiliates' social media.

(17 of 30)
This inflammatory content has generated a lot of bad press for the Libertarian Party. The Mises-backed LP leadership is actively destroying the image and reputation of the Libertarian Party in the minds of voters.

(18 of 30)
The messaging has gotten so bad, that the New Mexico affiliate of the LP (one of the states Mises did NOT take over), has decided to disaffiliate itself from the national party.

(19 of 30)
The question is: Why are they doing this? What's the strategy?

Honestly, I don't know.

But I have two theories.

(20 of 30)
1st theory: the 2020 LP candidate, Jo Jorgensen, beat the margin between Trump and Biden in a number of swing states. If the saboteurs can cause the LP to implode, the 2024 Republican nominee might absorb the usual Libertarian votes and win.

270towin.com/maps/2020-elec…

(21 of 30)
2nd theory: if Trump is denied the 2024 GOP nomination, he may run as a Libertarian. The Libertarian Party has (or HAD) 50-state ballot access and it would be the ONLY viable vehicle for Trump to run if he doesn't get the Republican nod.

politico.com/news/magazine/…

(22 of 30)
The major takeaways from this thread:

(23 of 30)
A) LARGE amounts of money were spent on approximately 40 state takeovers and the national convention. Possibly a seven-figure sum. This is an abnormally large expenditure for third party politics. Where did this money come from?

(24 of 30)
B) Mises PAC chairman Michael Heise is being (or has been) advised by Patrick Byrne, who also confers with Trump. High-level Mises Members allegedly met with Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist.

(25 of 30)
C) The Mises PAC took complete, unilateral control of the Libertarian Party earlier this year, and Mises PAC is being advised by those in Trump's inner circle.

(26 of 30)
I suspect there was nothing grassroots about the Mises PAC's takeover of the Libertarian Party. I believe it was planned and executed by people with a lot of money and power.

(27 of 30)
The Libertarian Party has gone through periods of growth and implosion before. But the Mises takeover is something new. I believe the LP has become the zombie host of a very dangerous MAGA parasite.

(28 of 30)
The Libertarian Party we knew and loved is dead. It is not coming back.

If you love freedom, I'd advise you to NOT donate any of your money or volunteer time to a compromised organization.

This is a call to boycott to Libertarian Party.

(29 of 30)
@B1Coyle has compiled a pretty good list of worthy alternatives - places where you can safely donate time and money knowing that neither will be misused to discredit the liberty movement:

b1coyle.medium.com/moving-beyond-…

I wish you all the best. </thread>

(30 of 30)

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More from @gaughen

Jan 27
This is a short story about the lengths the political establishment will go to to evade accountability and oversight.

I ran a write-in campaign (as a Libertarian) for Auditor of Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania this past November.
[Part 1 of 19] Image
To my surprise, I won my election! It's pretty unusual for a Libertarian to win an election. I received a nice congratulations letter and a nifty Certificate of Election from the County Bureau of Elections. [Part 2 of 19] Image
But I never heard anything from the Township where I was to be seated. Dead silence. [Part 3 of 19]
Read 20 tweets

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