For a time, Libertarians thought history was on their side.

Back in 2010, the movement was flush with cash and certainty. Think tanks expanded. Ayn Rand novels were fashionable again. Tea Party rallies drew huge crowds. The assumption was simple: America was naturally libertarian and all that remained was to manage the decline of government until someone like Ted Cruz took the Oval Office.

Then Donald Trump happened and exposed the libertarian movement’s limits.

In many ways libertarians got what they wanted — tax cuts, deregulation, and an aggressive assault on bureaucratic waste through DOGE. In other ways, Trump has governed at odds with their agenda. He imposed a sweeping tariff regime to stand up for forgotten post-industrial communities that establishment conservatives say “deserve to die.” He has also cracked down on visa abuse, illegal immigration, and Silicon Valley abuses.

So how is Libertarian Inc. handling this?  (RELATED: Tom Homan Fires Back At CNN Reporter Accusing ICE Of Instilling ‘Fear’)

Not well. Instead of adapting, it unraveled.

The most visible example is the Cato Institute, which increasingly behaves less like a right-leaning think tank and more like a progressive NGO with a lower tax preference. Its public-facing voices routinely minimize the real-world costs of open........

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