Dave Smith

He says he became a libertarian through the Ron Paul movement, which led him to read Rothbard, Mises and Friedman. By 2017 he was a regular on the New York stand-up circuit and hosted two podcasts on the GaS Digital Network, Legion of Skanks and Part of the Problem, and he announced that his first comedy special, Libertas, directed by Luis J. Gomez, would be released on September 11.⁠[1]

Libertas was released in 2017 and spent more than three weeks at No. 1 on the iTunes comedy chart. He has been a regular guest on The Joe RoganJoe RoganJoe Rogan is an American podcaster, stand-up comedian and UFC commentator whose long-form interview podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, launched in 2009, is among the most listened-to podcasts in the world; he hosted the NBC reality show Fear Factor, and his show’s content and political statements have repeatedly drawn controversy.Open the full entry Experience and on Fox News programs including Kennedy and The Greg Gutfeld Show.⁠[2]

In July 2021 he said he was considering seeking the Libertarian Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, partly because he felt the 2020 nominee, Jo Jorgensen, had not pushed back hard enough on government lockdowns. He argued that libertarians are better than liberals on the issues liberals are best on, and better than conservatives on the issues conservatives are best on.⁠[3]

In May 2022 the Mises Caucus won control of the Libertarian Party at its national convention in Reno, where its candidate Angela McArdle was elected national committee chair with 692 votes, more than 69 percent of delegates; opponents accused the faction of right-wing drift and tolerating racism, which its leaders denied. He was then seen as the rumored frontrunner for a Mises Caucus–approved 2024 presidential nominee.⁠[4]

He said the Mises Caucus’s priorities were basically those of the Ron Paul Revolution: opposing war, Austrian economics and opposing the COVID regime; in a May 2021 speech to a Mises Caucus audience he said, “We reject racism.”⁠[5]

He was described as one of the most visible faces of the Mises Caucus; having built a following in comedy through Legion of Skanks, he turned it into a career as a political commentator, often appearing on cable news and podcasts such as Timcast.⁠[6]

He defines libertarianism as belief in self-ownership, private property rights and the non-aggression principle, and calls war the worst government policy. He says Ukrainians have a right to defend themselves but opposes U.S. funding of the war, attributing the conflict partly to NATO expansion; on Israel he argues that ending U.S. aid would push it to negotiate with the Palestinians. Reason’s Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe challenged these views during the interview.⁠[7]

The 2024 Libertarian National Convention nominated Chase Oliver for president; Smith, on whom the Mises Caucus had once pinned its hopes for the nomination, said afterward that Oliver did not represent him or his camp, and on his podcast called the outcome of the takeover, if this was the result, a failure.⁠[8]

In November 2024 he called on X for “maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump administration,” and Donald Trump Jr. replied that he agreed 100%. He had previously called Israel’s war in Gaza every bit as evil as Hamas’s October 7 attacks and on a much larger scale; a spokesman for Trump Jr. responded that Trump Jr. was not familiar with his views on Israel.⁠[9]

He appeared on episode 464 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, whose description calls him a comedian, libertarian, political commentator and host of Part of the Problem; topics included Ron Paul, the military-industrial complex, the War on Terror, Israel and Gaza, Douglas MurrayDouglas MurrayDouglas Murray is a British author, journalist and political commentator and associate editor of The Spectator whose books include The Strange Death of Europe, The Madness of Crowds, The War on the West and On Democracies and Death Cults; his views on immigration, Islam, identity politics and Israel have long drawn controversy.Open the full entry, antisemitism, Jeffrey Epstein, Sam HarrisSam HarrisSam Harris is an American author, philosopher and neuroscience PhD, host of the Making Sense podcast and founder of the Waking Up meditation app; he rose to prominence with The End of Faith and other critiques of religion and is regarded as a leading figure of the “New Atheism,” and has since written and spoken on morality, free will, meditation and politics, often provoking controversy.Open the full entry, Ukraine and Russia, and conspiracy theories.⁠[10]

In April 2025 he debated British author Douglas Murray on The Joe Rogan Experience about podcasters’ responsibility for information and the Israel–Hamas war. Murray criticized Rogan for hosting self-appointed experts on history and current affairs and argued that misinformation had denied Israel global sympathy; Smith replied that official experts’ errors during the COVID-19 pandemic had destroyed public trust and that people with real power should stop lying.⁠[11]

Commentator Ralph Leonard wrote that Smith was right that one need not be an expert to discuss an issue, but that Murray’s criticism of Rogan for amplifying conspiracists was also legitimate.⁠[12]

Rogan later criticized Murray on his show for using debating “tactics” such as appeals to experts instead of facts, saying Murray was not an expert either.⁠[13]

In June 2025, on the YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry program Breaking Points, he condemned Trump’s handling of the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, called his 2024 support for Trump a “bad calculation,” and called for Trump’s impeachment.⁠[14]

As of October 2026 Part of the Problem offers libertarian commentary on current events, foreign policy and state power and says it has more than 7,000 members.⁠[15]

Personal website: Public link: https://comicdavesmith.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

X: Public account: https://x.com/ComicDaveSmith (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PartOfTheProblem (opens in a new window)⁠[10]