“In terms of sunk cost and opportunity cost, Trump is the one for liberty. Job #1, after all, is to defeat Biden/Harris or Harris/Biden.” (Bradley, below)

“But these are extraordinary times, and perhaps ‘all things considered, the other guy’s worse’ is a profound compliment. That’s why this libertarian is voting for Donald J. Trump, and recommending that my fellow opponents of the welfare-warfare state do the same.” (D. Dowd Muska, below)

It is fair to say that Donald Trump has upended politics and the Republican Party in the last five years or more. But he has also fractured the libertarian movement too, with some turning into Never Trumpers, even Trump Haters, namely David Boaz, gatekeeper at Cato, and Tom Palmer of Atlas Network.

In contrast, I appreciate the many openings Trump has provided to free-market groups coast-to-coast, border-to-border.…

“No fracking, no fracking, no fracking. All of a sudden [Biden] gets a nomination, he says, ‘There’s got to be fracking.’ For Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota … your energy jobs are gone if they get in. Just remember I said it.”

– Donald Trump, “Donald Trump White House Rally Speech Transcript October 10: First Event Since COVID Diagnosis.”

Consistency applies to Donald Trump and his energy positions unlike his rival. As such, the American Energy Alliance, the advocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research, has endorsed Trump for reelection.

But there are disappointments and room for improvement with Trump energy policy. Ethanol’s continuing grip on the transportation market continues under his watch. Protectionism that reaches the energy industry (steel pipe for pipelines, for example), should be relaxed.…

“Despite the relatively small size of the … Global Warming Policy Foundation, Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), as well as the German Europäisches Institut für Klima und Energie (EIKE), the Austrian Economics Centre (AEC), Institut Économique Molinari (IEM) in France, Instituto Juan de Mariana (IJM) in Spain and the Liberales Institut (LI) in Switzerland…. [they] nevertheless have a ‘remarkable’ level of political influence.”

“The study found that groups on both sides of the Atlantic consistently use the same rhetoric, drawing heavily on libertarian, free-market ideology… and their influence is ‘still growing’.”

Desmog blog has a peculiar methodology of stating a number of facts about disliked individuals and organizations as if this record is prima facie evidence of wrongness and duplicity.

In fact, the same record can be (and is by me) used to make just the opposite point–guilty as charged and proud of it.…

“… the President of the United States has proven quite a match for the anti-energy, anti-industrial, anti-sovereignty climate crusade.”

“Climate change? Nary a mention. Maybe this was one of the highlights of the 2020 State of the Nation.”

MasterResource has chronicled the energy-related speeches of Donald Trump on the campaign trail and as president.

Promises made, promises kept.

While his tariff policies have increased input costs for energy infrastructure (steel for pipelines, in particular), and split-the-baby biofuel subsidies stubbornly continue (what politician other than Ted Cruz has been able to say no?), there are many bright spots for the nation with the liberation of oil and gas exploration and production, pipeline projects, and other infrastructure needs.

And in the greatest pro-liberty energy campaign of all-time, President Trump has said YES to regulatory reform, NO to the anti-energy agenda of the Obama Administration, and HECK NO to global governance in the name of addressing the so-called climate change.…