Thread by @JoshEakle

Today, Mises Caucus leaders of the Libertarian Party announced Donald Trump as the headliner for the Libertarian National Convention in May.

The MAGA "infiltrate and destroy" op of the Libertarian Party is officially complete.

Today, I get to say, "I told you so."

A thread 🧵

In 2020, Trump watched the @LPNational Presidential candidate @JoForLiberty cost him reelection by "covering the spread" in several swing states.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty For four years, I've been warning that major influencers within Trump's orbit were working to infiltrate and destroy the party to ensure this could never happen again via the 2022 @LPMisesCaucus "takeover" of the Libertarian National Committee.

https://twitter.com/88016448/status/1772976002429223060

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus This is a thread on how MAGA Republicans infiltrated and destroyed the 3rd largest political party in the country and co-opted the libertarian brand to push authoritarianism. 👇

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus I've been an operative in the Libertarian Party for over a decade.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus I ran the country's largest county affiliate in the 2010s, was a state chairman, worked on national LP campaigns, and helped launch the last remaining meaningful opposition to the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (LPMC) in 2022.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus I watched LPMC launch, grow incredibly quickly, and systematically dismantle and destroy every element of the party's operations, rendering it worthless and unable to foment any opposition to the two major party candidates in 2024.

Here's how we got here.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus LPMC was founded three days after the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

According to the former LNC Chair, the decision to start LPMC was motivated by grievances that Mises Caucus Founder, Micheal Heise, had with the then-current LNC Chairman, @nsarwark.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark The alleged grievance was Nick's distribution of a press release sent from the LP condemning the white supremacists at Charlottesville, demanding that any sympathizers of white supremacy leave the party.

Read it here: lp.org/libertarians-c…

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Here's an excerpt from this condemnation:

"There is no room for racists and bigots in the Libertarian Party. If there are white nationalists who — inappropriately — are members of the Libertarian Party, I ask them to submit their resignations today."

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark The reaction was met with vitriol from members within the LPMC orbit.

Around that time, Jeff Deist, then the President of the far-right Mises Institute, gave a speech saying, "Libertarians have lost their way," calling for the libertarian movement to transform.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark His remarks ended with a nod to a Nazi slogan: "Blood and soil and God and nation still matter to people. Libertarians ignore this at the risk of irrelevance."

This kicked off a civil war.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark In reaction, the Mises Caucus launched a blitz to take over as much of the party as possible.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark In 2019, it organized into a PAC to raise money to fund these takeover efforts and "monetize the hate," according to Micheal Heise.

One of the LPMC's major providers of seed funding was Patrick Byrne, the Former CEO of . Overstock.com

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Patrick Byrne and Micheal Heise developed a close relationship with regular communication on strategy to support their efforts to take over the party.

Byrne is notoriously a hardcore Trump supporter.

They're pictured together here.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Byrne was an advisor to Trump, a member of Trump's inner circle, and a major donor to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Byrne advised Trump to use the National Guard to seize voting machines.

Read more: washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Steve Bannon also met with leaders within the Mises Caucus on multiple occasions during Trump's administration.

Read more: splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022…

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Immediately after Trump's loss in 2020, Mises Caucus revenue exploded, increasing by over 500% in a short period of time.

With no existing caucus able to compete with this funding, their new revenue fueled their takeover of state affiliates across the country one by one.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark The money was used to pay people to attend conventions, including rooms, flights, and other accommodations.

Some of these expenses were reported to the public, and some never showed up on a single FEC report, leaving questions about who was actually funding the effort.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark In 2022, the LPMC swept the party by placing roughly 70% of the delegates. They elected every single individual they endorsed to the Libertarian National Committee and kicked out everyone who wouldn't tow the caucus line.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Almost immediately afterward, they went on a tirade spreading bigoted, illiberal messaging, using party resources to signal to white supremacists, neonazis, and bigots that the LP was a place for them to call home.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark After Russia invaded Ukraine, their first campaign was to host an "anti-war" rally on the steps of the US Capitol that featured Russian propagandists like genocide celebrator and communist Jackson Hinkle, Russian propagandist and convicted pedophile Scott Ritter, and many more.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark This anti-war rally didn't include a single call for Russia to cease their invasion.

I put out a thread on this event in 2023:

https://twitter.com/88016448/status/1622002768960528389

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark During the early months after the takeover, the party's messaging almost immediately went "full-MAGA."

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Official LP channels and prominent leaders supported things such as:

- Calling January 6 insurrectionists peaceful protestors
- Ending women’s right to vote
- Hanging the scientists who developed the COVID vaccine

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark - Telling prominent African American activists to “go back to Africa”
- Decrying Ukraine’s right to defend itself
- Equating Zelenskyy to Hitler

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark - Unleashing the police on the homeless
- Cozying up to the antisemitic LaRouche cult
- Promoting racist conspiracy theories like “German New Medicine”
- Attacking the LBGTQ+ community as “groomers”

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark - Promoting pseudo-scientific racism and racial segregationism
- Spreading antisemitic images and tropes

And these are only a few.

Find sources and countless more examples at .lncexposed.com

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark Party leaders didn't stop with bad messaging.

They immediately started leveraging party resources to destroy the organization internally:

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark - They used party funds to support Republican candidates.
- They funneled thousands of dollars from donors into the bank account of the LNC Chairwoman, @Angela4LNCChair.
- They started suing LP state affiliates.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair - They raised huge amounts of dark money through shell organizations to fund their "rally.”
- Leaders promoted MAGA-adjacent candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and RFK Jr and attended MAGA events like CPAC.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair - They attacked, maligned, and smeared anyone in the party willing to stand up against them, driving hundreds of leaders out.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair - They also constantly found themselves surrounded by people with histories of abuse towards children.

I wrote an entire article dedicated to just this issue here: queermajority.com/essays-all/the…

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair The situation became so dire that nearly 200 former LNC staffers, party officers, and activists signed a letter calling out this egregious behavior and demanding the ejection of every Board Member from leadership, among other demands.

Read that here: projectliberal.org/phoenix/

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair Over the last couple of months, the results of their takeover have been clear.

During the collapse in mid-2023, @LP_CLC did a comprehensive report on the State of the Party.

Here's my summary from a year ago:

https://twitter.com/88016448/status/1662100464127684608

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC However, since then, the party's collapse has only accelerated.

To date, the results they've produced are as follows:

- Over 35% of dues-paying members gone
- Revenue at 30 year low
- A historically low number of candidates running
- 50 state ballot access lost

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC - 10% of all donor money goes into the Chair's bank account
- New lines of credit opened against the party's only major asset: their D.C. Headquarters
- Thousands spent on lawsuits against other libertarians
- A $300K hole in the budget

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC - An active lawsuit from current members demanding the resignation of all party leaders
- Nearly 50% of elected LP officials either ended their association with the party or lost their reelection

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC It's now been two years since the takeover, and it's clear that their efforts were never to (in their words) "make the party libertarian again" and "grow the membership."

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC By LPMC's results, they objectively destroyed the party, lost its notorious nationwide ballot access, destroyed any/all of its credibility, drove out all of its candidates, left a crater in the budget, and are now party resources to elevate Trump.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC Thanks to @LPMisesCaucus, @LPNational has become nothing more than a satellite of MAGA authoritarianism and has been neutered to ensure it can never cost Donald Trump an election again.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC This thread would not have been possible without the tireless work of activists and leaders across the country who helped compile this data over the years.

Shoutout to the work of @gaughen and @JonathanTCasey, specifically.

Give them a follow!

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC @gaughen @JonathanTCasey @LP_CLC is still working to kick them out of leadership at the upcoming convention over Memorial Day weekend.

If you’re an LP activist who wants to fight back, check them out and consider organizing with them.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC @gaughen @JonathanTCasey Looking forward, I’m convinced that the liberty movement needs a comprehensive realignment.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC @gaughen @JonathanTCasey We need to return to traditionally classical liberal values and build a movement that’s engineered to disgust authoritarians on both the far right and the far left. The identity of this movement must inherently be resistant to being co-opted by these illiberal forces ever again.

@LPNational @JoForLiberty @LPMisesCaucus @nsarwark @angela4LNCChair @LP_CLC @gaughen @JonathanTCasey That’s why we founded @ProjectLiberal PAC.

We’re building a nonpartisan coalition of liberals across all parties and ideological camps. The goal is to defend liberal values against the rising tide of authoritarianism in American society.

Join us at projectliberal.org