Ep 359 | The UK's Speech Laws Are Absolutely Mental | Guest: Reem Ibrahim

The right to keep and bear arms is one of the most sacred and unique features of the American system of government, allowing citizens to defend themselves not only against criminals, but against potential tyranny as well. Yet in spite of this fact, the corporate press is determined to misrepresent the statistics on gun violence in order to push for stricter gun control laws. John Lott, Senior Litigation Counsel NCLA, sits down with Matt Kibbe to tell the real truth about guns and gun owners, such as the fact that almost all mass shootings occur in gun-free zones, that armed citizens prevent thousands of crimes every year, and that gun registries disproportionately impact the poorest Americans. In almost all cases, the attempts to disarm Americans are built on emotion, not data.

When Javier Milei was first elected president of Argentina in 2023, no one was really sure whether his populist, free-market policies would work to fix the nation's struggling economy. Two years later, he has made tremendous strides, as reflected in Argentina's 2025 legislative elections, in which Milei's party received a clear mandate from the masses. Matt Kibbe sits down with Agustin Etchebarne, director-general at Fundación Libertad y Progreso, to discuss why Milei has become so popular and why he has been so successful in presenting the ideas of Austrian economics to his voters.

Freedom of speech may be under assault in America, but that's nothing compared with what's going on in the United Kingdom, where police are arresting 33 people every day for social media posts. Matt Kibbe sits down with Reem Ibrahim, head of media for the Institute of Economic Affairs, to discuss how Britain has become so authoritarian, the difference in attitude between the British and American public, and whether there is any hope for the nation that gave us the Magna Carta to embrace liberty again.

After calling out the neocons like Jeb Bush and John McCain and building his campaign on promises of peace and putting America first, President Trump is now flirting with the idea of intervening in Venezuela to take out Nicolás Maduro, using the specter of drug cartels as a pretense. Matt Kibbe is joined by Cato Institute fellow Brandan Buck to explain why this would be a really bad idea. U.S. intervention is what led to the rise of Chavez and Maduro in the first place. Combine that with our nation's history of catastrophic nation-building experiments and the fundamental impossibility of central planning, and it's clear that America's power would be far better used in trying to improve the lives of our own citizens.

In the second half of his marathon conversation with Rep. Thomas Massie (R), Matt Kibbe asks the Kentucky congressman about his discharge petition to release the Epstein files. It turns out that one of the main reasons why the government remains shut down — and why Speaker Johnson (R-La.) is preventing the House of Representatives from convening — is that Massie has the votes to release the files. Since President Trump has called these files a hoax and FBI Director Kash Patel says the files don't exist, the big question is why Republicans are so determined to prevent Massie's petition from going through.

In this special two-part episode of “Kibbe on Liberty,” Matt Kibbe sits down for a marathon conversation with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to discuss President Trump’s plans to import Argentinian beef, both as a way to lower prices for American consumers and to help out Argentinian President Javier Milei. This is a little puzzling given Trump’s historic hostility toward foreign trade and his campaign promise to put America first. As someone who personally raises cattle, Massie is uniquely positioned in Congress to present the perspective of the American farmer. There is certainly no shortage of beef in our own country, but lowering prices requires relaxing a suite of crony regulations designed to protect Big Agriculture from the competition of local and independent farmers.

Of all the online fights Donald Trump picks, one of the most perplexing is his repeated attacks on Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. Known for his commitment to the U.S. Constitution and his unfailing habit of putting America first, Massie should be exactly the kind of person Trump wants in Congress, but the fact that he won’t bend the knee to Trump on budget votes continues to nettle the president. Matt Kibbe sits down with Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, to talk about how the internet spat, instead of destroying Massie, is actually elevating him to a national figure, helping him raise money, and highlighting his commitment to principle and refusal to sell out.

Cancel culture may be on the wane, but more insidious than social media mobs is the government’s ability to cut controversial figures off from their finances through the process of de-banking. Matt Kibbe sits down with Jorge Jraissati, president of Economic Inclusion Group, to talk about this little-understood means of censorship that is a growing threat to individual liberty. As cash becomes less and less useful, we’ve become increasingly reliant on banks and credit card companies to allow us to conduct basic commerce. When that tool is taken away, it’s the equivalent of being totally banished from society.

In an era when most Americans have put so much of their lives online, it’s easy to be complacent about online privacy. We’ve been told that as long as we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to fear. But in fact, an increasingly powerful surveillance state is a major threat to individual liberty and to the country as a whole. Matt Kibbe sits down with Naomi Brockwell, founder and president of the Ludlow Institute, to talk about why privacy still matters and to outline several ways that ordinary people can easily safeguard their digital data. This is important, because once the government knows everything about you, it can use that information to silence criticism and stifle dissent. Even those who approve of the current administration have to imagine that at some point, someone else is going to be in power, someone who might want to crack down on all the freedoms we hold dear. Without privacy, it becomes almost impossible to push back against oppressive regimes.

Author Matt Ridley is well known for his book "The Rational Optimist," which argued that the world is consistently getting better year after year. In the 15 years since that book was published, however, world events have convinced many people that the opposite is actually true. Matt Kibbe sits down with Ridley to discuss his next book project, in which he will update and reflect on his earlier conclusions to see whether there is still reason to be optimistic or if in fact it is rational to be a pessimist.