Welcome to the Hyperbole Factory
Plus: A listener asks the editors to consider the libertarian argument against shopping local.
Election 2024
Campus Speech Restrictions Come Back To Bite Universities
Plus: A listener asks if there is any place libertarians can go to start their own country or city state.
DeSantis Returns To 'Too Online' Roots With Debate Comments About Trans Kids
While transgender issues dominated Wednesday's debate, polls suggest that the subject is far from the top of voters' minds.
The Most Obnoxious Blowhard in America
Plus: Grimes the urbanist, Matt Taibbi's fight night, crazy AI applications, and more...
Chris Christie Is Right, Trump's Trade War Accomplished Nothing
Nikki Haley says "Trump was good on trade." What?
Chris Christie Defends Parents' Rights and Trans Rights at GOP Debate
"Republicans believe in less government, not more," he said.
DeSantis Gets Sex Trafficking Wrong at GOP Debate
"We're going to build a wall...I am not going to sit there and let sex trafficking go unabated," DeSantis said.
Nikki Haley Opposed Boeing Subsidies at Tonight's GOP Debate. As Governor, She Gave Boeing Millions.
The former South Carolina governor can't decide whether she likes corporate subsidies or opposes them on principle.
Goodbye to George Santos and Henry Kissinger
Plus: an unexpected digression into the world of Little Debbie dessert snack cakes.
How Reason Helps You Stay Sane During Political Brainworms Season
Turns out subjecting presidential aspirants to libertarian-flavored scrutiny is good for journalism! And sanity.
The DeSantis-Newsom Debate Was Really a Debate About COVID
Too bad that was only a small part of the 90-minute affair.
My New Bulwark Article on Trump and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
The article makes the case for disqualification on moral and pragmatic grounds, as well as legal ones.
Florida vs. California
Plus: Send your questions for the editors to roundtable@reason.com ahead of this week’s special webathon episode!
2024 GOP Candidates Are Competing To Restrict Immigration
Formerly fringe immigration policies have gone mainstream in the Republican Party.
Jeb Bush: What He Thinks of Trump, Biden, DeSantis, and 'Florida Man'
The former two-term governor discusses why Florida is attracting more people than any other state in the country.
Trump Gag Order Raises Unsettled Constitutional Questions
A D.C. Circuit judge says the government’s defense of the order gives short shrift to "the First Amendment’s vigorous protection of political speech."
Ron DeSantis Rediscovers the First Amendment's Protections for Anonymous Speech
The Florida governor is attacking Republican primary rival Nikki Haley over her awful idea to police online speech, but the timing is awkward.
I Used ChatGPT To Make Pokémon Versions of Trump, Biden, and RFK Jr.
The results are interesting and suggest weird and significant biases.
The Two-Party System Abides
Plus: A listener asks the editors why the Libertarian Party waits until election year to nominate its presidential candidate.
Hamas Tunnels Under Hospitals
Plus: Trump's immigration crackdown, housewives and groceries, QAnon Shaman update, and more...
Are Republicans Finally Getting Serious About Social Security?
This week's debate was the first signal that the party's next presidential nominee might actually understand the entitlement crisis.
Republicans Blow Another Opportunity At the Ballot Box
Abortion and the shadow of Donald Trump hobble GOP prospects.
'Unhinged' 'Scum' Ramaswamy Shows His YIMBY Side
"Land use restrictions are constricting the supply of housing," said Ramaswamy at tonight's GOP presidential debate in Miami.
Vivek Ramaswamy Knows That Republicans Who Embrace Cancel Culture Are Fools
"We don't quash this with censorship because that creates a worse underbelly," said Ramaswamy.
Republicans Pivot to Bombing Iran in Third Debate
Sen. Tim Scott: "You actually have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is Iran and not simply their proxies."
Exit Poll: Most Voters Think Trump, Biden Should Not Run in 2024
Why can neither major party find someone who isn't decrepit and disliked?
No Malarkey: Even Democrats Think Biden Is Too Old
Plus: A listener asks the editors about requiring gun buyers to pass a psychological assessment.
Video of University of Minnesota Conference on Potential Disqualification of Donald Trump Under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
The conference includes a variety of legal scholars and other experts on different sides of the issue, including VC bloggers Josh Blackman and myself.
87% of Americans Want Politicians To Do Something Before Social Security Runs Out of Money
Entitlement reform has long been considered a third rail in American politics, but that perspective might be changing.
Ideological Screening
Plus: IDF releases footage from Hamas' evil rampage, cancel culture in Los Angeles, Iceland's ladies go on strike, and more...
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Argue Who Is More Hostile to Refugees from Gaza
DeSantis says that all Gazans are anti-Semitic, while Haley feels that refugees should only go to "Hamas-sympathetic countries."
The Latest Trump Gag Order Is Relatively Narrow but Still Raises Constitutional Questions
A federal judge barred the former president from "publicly targeting" witnesses, prosecutors, or court personnel.
Vivek Ramaswamy Is Right To Oppose the Blacklisting of Harvard Students
Being against cancel culture requires consistency.
Third Party Candidates Shouldn't Get Their Hopes Up
If Joe Manchin or Larry Hogan thinks he’ll be elected on a No Labels ticket, he’ll be sorely disappointed.
RFK Jr. Dumps Democrats, Libertarian Party Blasts RFK Jr.'s Stance on Israel
RFK Jr.'s anti-war supporters are welcome to defect, the Libertarian Party said in a statement.
How Ranked Choice Voting Would Sort the Republican Primary Field
Trump is still a runaway favorite, even when using a vote-counting technique that's meant to make it more difficult for unpopular candidates to win elections.
California's Housing Crisis Looms Over the State's GOP Convention
Away from the speeches of the party's presidential candidates, the Republican Huntington Beach city attorney talked up his efforts to thwart state zoning reforms.
The 'Whack Jobs' Were Right
Plus: A listener asks the editors to weigh in on a hypothetical executive order to establish an American Climate Corps.
At California GOP Convention, Donald Trump Promises To 'Liberate' Communist California
With a second term, the former president promised to end California's water shortage, clear homeless encampments, and conduct the biggest deportation operation in American history.
Josh Barro: A Republican Presidential Debate Detached From Reality
"The orange elephant in the room just never seems to be addressed head on," says Reason's Zach Weissmueller.
The Truth About Ron DeSantis' Fentanyl Horror Story
The culprit is prohibition, not lax border policing.
Gasoline Engines and Sex Changes for Kids
Plus: Minimum wage laws, space exploration, that time when North Africa was less dysfunctional than California, and more...
When the MAGA Movement Sounds Like Bernie Sanders
We already have a party that's committed to progressive ideals, do we really need another?
At Ronald Reagan Library, GOP Candidates Reject Ronald Reagan's Immigration Vision
“I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally,” Reagan said in 1984.
No, Mike Pence, We Should Not Make It Easier To Execute Mass Shooters
Pence suggested executing mass shooters in "months, not years," but that would remove crucial procedural protections—and not just for those who are obviously guilty.
Ban Teenagers From Social Media, Vivek Ramaswamy Says, Because Fentanyl
The Republican presidential candidate ignores the lethal impact of the drug policies he avidly supports.
