Election 2024

Ben Birnbaum | 11.5.2024 7:00 AM

A little more than eight years ago, former New Mexico governor and Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson nearly turned the two-party system on its head, coming within a couple percentage points of achieving the 15 percent threshold needed to join the 2016 presidential debate stage with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But as has historically been the case with third-party candidates, Johnson's support faded in the final weeks, and he and running mate Bill Weld ended with a little more than 3 percent of the national popular vote (still a Libertarian Party record). After another abortive Libertarian run for U.S. Senate in 2018, Johnson largely disappeared from politics, enjoying the good life in New Mexico at his homes in Santa Fe and Taos with longtime partner Kate Prusack and, as he related, spending 100-plus days on the ski slopes and taking part in the annual 2,800-mile Continental Divide Mountain Bike Race. But he broke his silence Monday in an interview with Reason to share his thoughts on the 2024 election.

Johnson, who says he voted for Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver, predicted a Trump victory—an outcome about which he confessed to having mixed feelings. "Half of what Trump does is good," he says. "The other half is crazy."

Johnson supports some of Trump's tax policies and sympathizes with his approach to the Russia-Ukraine war, but also chided the former president for anti-immigration rhetoric and says fears about Trump's threat to democracy are "legitimate." He's no more favorable to Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden. Calling the Biden administration's record "horrible," Johnson says Harris is honest and competent but opposes her "inflationary" policy proposals, including rent control, limits on food prices, and a wealth tax. He fears both candidates would continue to explode the national debt, the "biggest issue facing the country right now." Johnson is encouraged (and vindicated) by recent rhetoric from both candidates in favor of marijuana legalization. He still believes an independent candidate for president could win in the future, but that it would need to be a billionaire with the personal resources to compete with the two major parties.

Reason: The election is Tuesday. Have you voted yet?

Johnson: I have. I voted for Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate for president.

How do you see the future of the Libertarian Party, of libertarianism as a whole, and what do you think the party can do to become relevant again?

Well, based on my own experience, it is a two-party system. And the only way a Libertarian wins is if they have the resources to actually match what the Republicans or Democrats have, and I don't see that. I think most of us, whether we're registered that way or not, are independent, and it's too bad there is a two-party system.

Let's talk about the major candidates. Trump was in New Mexico recently, so let's start with him. Back in 2016, you called Trump "the epitome of who I would never be." What did you mean by that?

My whole existence is telling the truth and not embellishing. I found myself after the fact to have misstated a lot of things along the way, but I go out of my way to correct that with those that I've made a false or inaccurate representation of. That's my life. My life starts with the truth: Tell the truth, and you don't have to remember anything. And Trump is the person I don't want to be regarding the truth, regarding "who are you?" My best friends will say: "Gary, you're the only person that I play golf with that I don't keep your score........

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