As the Trump Administration appears to double down on protectionist trade policies, many critics have taken a sneering, condescending attitude toward those who think that tariffs might just make America great again. Matt Kibbe sits down with economist Antony Davies to try to address these concerns with empathy and understanding, while at the same time demonstrating that high tariffs actually hurt American workers by making everything more expensive. There are good reasons to be dissatisfied with the state of America’s economy, but raising taxes on consumers will only make things worse.

To celebrate the confirmation of Jay Bhattacharya as director of the NIH, this week’s “Kibbe on Liberty” features unseen footage from Matt Kibbe’s series “The Coverup,” in which Dr. Bhattacharya explains how he was demonized and attacked for his opposition to COVID lockdowns, as well as some greatest hits from Jay’s previous appearances on the show.

At the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Mexico City, Matt Kibbe caught up with the tremendously successful entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas to talk about the battle for hearts and minds being waged between the collectivists and individualists who believe in personal freedom and responsibility. Salinas explains how he is using his business empire to expand opportunities for the Mexican people, particularly in offering educational alternatives to the state-run schools. They also talk about the dangers of central banking and the potential for Bitcoin to do an end run around government control of currency.

Following the recent dust-up over the continuing resolution that maintained Biden-era levels of spending, it’s fair to ask whether the Trump administration is serious about cutting spending, reducing the national debt, and balancing the budget. The Department of Government Efficiency has identified hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending, but Congress still has to act in order to actually make those cuts. Matt Kibbe is joined by Virginia state Delegate Nick Freitas (R) to talk about the Trump administration’s diverse coalition and whether it can hold together long enough to enact Trump’s agenda.

In this special solo episode of “Kibbe on Liberty,” Matt Kibbe weighs in on Donald Trump’s threat to primary Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) over his refusal to vote for the latest continuing resolution that maintains Biden-era levels of spending and funds all of the waste, fraud, and abuse that Elon Musk and the DOGE have uncovered. Kibbe recounts his time as a budget economist and explains why the budgeting process doesn’t work as it’s supposed to and how entrenched special interests are committed to keeping it that way. Massie is one of the few congressmen who understands that and who is willing to fight for the America First spending cuts that Trump campaigned on. He’s absolutely the wrong target for the president’s ire.

Nearly a century after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spearheaded a sweeping set of economic policies known as the New Deal, the debate still rages over whether he was a hero or a villain. Defenders of the New Deal credit it with ending the Great Depression and pioneering a number of important social programs. Detractors claim it prolonged the Depression due to the reckless government spending demanded by Keynesian economics. Matt Kibbe sits down with George Selgin, author of "False Dawn," who argues that both of these viewpoints miss important details about the New Deal and its impact on the economy. In the first place, it was not particularly Keynesian in its approach to spending. Instead, it was Roosevelt's hostility toward private industry that delayed America's recovery for so long.

One of the benefits of America’s federalist system is that individual states can experiment with different policies, allowing the rest of the country to see what works and what doesn’t. New Hampshire has taken that idea and run with it, attempting to gather as many libertarians as possible in one place to create the freest state in the country. Matt Kibbe sits down with Eric Brakey, executive director of the Free State Project, to discuss why this effort is so important, how effective it has been, and why every libertarian, regardless of where they live, should be invested in what happens in New Hampshire, as it reflects the health of the movement and the prospects for expanding freedom in our lifetime.

The first month of the new Trump administration has been a whirlwind of activity, some good and some not so good. The chaos is causing large-scale freak-outs among the legacy media and Washington insiders, who don't know how to deal with this level of disruption. Matt Kibbe sits down with John Papola, founder and CEO of Emergent Order Foundation, to discuss the potential good that can come out of shaking the establishment out of its comfort zone. With Trump's trans-partisan coalition of antiauthoritarian voices, including former left-wing figures like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, the administration is in a position to effect change in a way the swamp has never seen before.

As Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency ramp up their efforts to dismantle the federal Department of Education, its defenders are screaming that returning education to the states will destroy schooling in this country. Matt Kibbe is joined by pro wrestler and Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs to debunk these nonsensical claims. From their shared love of the band Rush and the Austrian school of economics, Kibbe and Jacobs discuss the common-sense notions that underlie good economic and political thinking: the power of the individual, the virtue of not wasting taxpayer money on ineffective and corrupt programs, and the desperate need for reform in Washington's broken system. The only people who can oppose such obvious wisdom are the ones who have a financial stake in perpetuating institutions that serve legislators and bureaucrats rather than the people themselves.

Continuing revelations about the origins of COVID-19 woke America up to the dangers of bioweapons research. But if you thought viruses were scary, wait until you hear about directed-energy weapons. Matt Kibbe sits down with journalist Steve Baker to discuss his latest investigation into the military's use of sound and radio waves as weapons of war. It's bad enough to deploy such weapons against enemy combatants, but it's increasingly clear that the government has been illegally using this technology against American citizens, not just to harm them but to actually control their behavior and to provoke them into doing things they otherwise never would. It's the stuff of dystopian fiction, with one important difference: It actually exists.