The Libertarian Party issued a response on Wednesday to President Donald Trump’s recent address to Congress, criticizing his administration over what it regards as a continuation of government overreach and reckless spending. The response, delivered by National Committee Chair Steven Nekhaila, criticized Trump’s reliance on executive orders and economic policies, saying they reinforce centralized power rather than promote “true liberty.”
In the statement, which was published on social media, the Libertarian Party acknowledged areas of agreement with the Trump administration, such as the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and efforts to end U.S. involvement in Ukraine. However, the party opposed Trump’s broader foreign policy stance, advocating for a complete withdrawal from NATO and an end to all foreign aid. The statement also condemned tariffs as a tax on American consumers and called for more substantial reductions in government spending, including an audit of the Pentagon.
The party’s response framed the presidency itself as the fundamental issue, arguing that no leader can deliver true liberty through government action. Instead, Nekhaila argued that freedom comes from dismantling centralized power and limiting the federal government’s role in the economy and individual lives.
The full response from the Libertarian Party as presented is below:
Libertarian Party Response to Trump’s Address: Cut Spending, End Foreign Entanglements, Restore Liberty
President Trump’s recent address was filled with grand declarations, but behind the rhetoric lies the same government overreach and reckless spending that has plagued every administration. While he boasts of signing nearly 100 executive orders in 43 days, libertarians recognize this as further expansion of executive power—a trend that both parties embrace when it suits them. True liberty comes not from choosing the right ruler but from dismantling the unchecked power of the presidency itself.
We applaud the withdrawal from the World Health Organization—an unaccountable globalist entity that seeks to dictate American policy. We also support efforts to end the war in Ukraine and encourage a full withdrawal from NATO and other entangling alliances. But real non-interventionism means ending all foreign aid, including to Israel and Taiwan—if they want weapons, let them buy from the private sector, not the American taxpayer.
Trump speaks of efficiency, yet his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is meaningless unless it audits the Pentagon, the biggest source of waste, fraud, and abuse. His tariffs masquerade as economic nationalism, but they are just a tax on American consumers that fuels inflation. The only real path to prosperity is free trade, deregulation, and eliminating cronyism… not government-managed protectionism.
While we support deregulation, reducing bureaucracy, and lifting restrictions on domestic energy production, the real fight is cutting spending and ending Washington’s grip on our economy. A “Golden Age” will not come from executive orders, tariffs, or military expansion—it will come from unleashing free individuals, not a bloated government.
No president will save us, because the problem is the presidency itself, the bureaucracy, and the machine of centralized power. Libertarians stand for something different: a government that exists only to protect rights, not to dictate lives—if it is fit to exist at all. It’s time to restore liberty, take back control from Washington, and put power where it belongs—with the people.
– LNC Chair
[Steven Nekhaila]
“While he boasts of signing nearly 100 executive orders in 43 days, libertarians recognize this as further expansion of executive power”
LOL! No we don’t. Did you even bother to read any of the executive orders, before saying something so diametrically opposed to reality?
“True liberty comes not from choosing the right ruler but from dismantling the unchecked power of the presidency itself.”
Libertarians worry about dismantling the unchecked power of government, not (just) the presidency. And that is exactly what many of these executive orders are facilitating – at least to a greater extent than before.
“We also support efforts to end the war in Ukraine and encourage a full withdrawal from NATO and other entangling alliances. But real non-interventionism means ending all foreign aid, including to Israel and Taiwan”
Demonstrating once again that you have completely missed the entire point of libertarianism. Isolationism and non-intervention are tools, means to an end but not and end in themselves. The end is, of course, liberty.
Fighting for liberty and against socialism, whether at home or abroad, is libertarian. The reason that non-interventionism is currently an improvement, is only because the US has become so utterly rotten that it invariably supports evil – whether that evil be nazi “ukraine”, nazi “palestine”, communist “china”, or whatever other totalitarian terrorist movement.
Nazi “ukraine” and NATO are totalitarian entities that must be opposed – so withdrawing support is better than continuing to support their evil but it is nowhere near good enough! The US should be paying war reparations and damages to Donestk, to Luhansk and to freedom-loving Russia. We should be helping to eradicate every last self-professed “ukrainian” and restoring the 1917 borders between Russia, Hungary and Poland.
Just so, the US should be supporting freedom-loving Israel against nazi “palestine” and the freedom-loving Republic of China against the communist “people”‘s “republic” of “china”. They can “buy weapons from the private sector” with the money the US currently owes them!
The US is the reason why nazi “palestine” and communist “china” are still around to form a threat today. The US lent false credence to these totalitarian terrorists’s false claims. The US constantly stabs nominal “allies” Israel and to the Republic of China in the back and aids their enemies.
And that is the reason why libertarians want the US to not try removing motes in other countries’ eyes until we have removed the beams in our own eyes: because the US cannot be trusted!
“Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is meaningless unless it audits the Pentagon”
Where have you been the past month, and where do you think the rest of us have been, that you want to imply DOGE is not working on exactly that?
“His tariffs masquerade as economic nationalism, but they are just a tax on American consumers that fuels inflation.”
Ideally tariffs are supposed to protect domestic markets. You can call that economic nationalism until the jobs come home, but so long as there are distinct countries rather than one global anarchy, it is necessary. And even when tariffs aren’t protectionist in nature, they are still far preferable to any (direct) form of taxation.
“The only real path to prosperity is free trade, deregulation, and eliminating cronyism”
Yes indeed, so until free trade is possible internationally, national markets need to protected. This isn’t rocket science…
“A ‘Golden Age’ will not come from executive orders, tariffs, or military expansion—it will come from unleashing free individuals, not a bloated government.”
Again, the executive orders and tariffs ARE ending military expansion, slimming government and unleashing free individuals.
“No president will save us, because the problem is the presidency itself, the bureaucracy, and the machine of centralized power.”
Exactly, so then why are you mad about the president doing more to cut down bureaucracy and decentralize power than his predecessors?
“Libertarians stand for something different: a government that exists only to protect rights, not to dictate lives—if it is fit to exist at all.”
Indeed, which is why you cannot be a libertarian if you do not support protecting the rights of unborn lives, and of lives in eastern Europe, the Middle-East and Eastern Asia, and of lives belonging to those in the US workforce. Ergo, you cannot be a libertarian and sign this ridiculous letter!
Trump is expediting through executive orders what Republicans are trying to codify in law. For example Senator Tuberville’s Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, in the Senate. However Democrats and some RINOs are just in full resistance mode to do any damage they can to this administration. During Trump’s speech Democrats didn’t even clap for No Tax on Tips which Harris also ran on.
“True liberty comes not from choosing the right ruler but from dismantling the unchecked power of the presidency itself.”
So true. Otherwise, we are just moving from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.