On May 1, 2021, I published a post about the prospects of Dave Smith running for president in 2024.  It has been a popular post.

I am a Dave Smith fan.  I often have my take on current events, and I find that Dave repeats many of the same things that I thought or spoke to others.  But he does a great job of articulating those thoughts.

It is difficult to find people who are consistent and accurate.  This is why it was so amazing to have Ron Paul as a spokesman for liberty in 2007/ 2008 and 2011/ 2012.

Dave has the right personality to appeal to many people.  He can speak a populist message while still managing to educate others and stick to libertarian principles.

I especially like Dave’s podcast where it is just he and Robbie “The Fire” Bernstein.  Robbie is the perfect co-host.  He leaves Dave alone to speak when Dave is on a classic rant.  At the same time, Robbie will add interesting points.  He also isn’t afraid to ask dumb questions and get Dave to answer things that other people might have been wondering.

There is one major problem with his show that happens to be named “Part of the Problem”.  They like to drop a lot of F bombs, and they tell crude jokes at times.

No, I’m not worried about what the media will say.  That has already been addressed.  Every time Dave gets asked about some horrible thing he supposedly said, he will respond that he isn’t bombing Syria or starving little children in Yemen. Is an off-color joke more offensive than those things?

My worry is appealing to others who might not find Dave to be their cup of tea.  There are a lot of Christian conservatives who will be turned off by Dave, even though many of these same people managed to justify supporting Donald Trump.

Dave is actually a good family man.  He is married with kids.  He just happens to be a New York comedian.  It is his job to tell sex jokes or jokes that are politically incorrect and offensive.

The problem I have is that I am going to have trouble selling him to my wife, my mother, and even my daughter (even though she won’t be old enough to vote at that time).  I can talk to my wife and relay all of the great things he stands for, but it will be difficult with others.

I am not going to refer my mother to a podcast where she will hear the F bomb dropped 50 times in an hour.

Appealing to Another Demographic

Here is my humble suggestion for Dave Smith.  I suggest that he have a “clean” podcast.

I don’t want to take away his mojo.  I don’t want him to stop with his regular podcast.

I know that Dave is capable of being clean because he has been on CNN and Fox News many times.  He has the ability to articulate his positions without dropping a bunch of F bombs.

I think he should release some short episodes that I can send to my mother.  They can be 10 minutes long.  He could put out one episode per week.  Most people don’t want to watch somebody new for longer than 10 minutes anyway.

Dave could also write a book.  I wouldn’t be against this, but I don’t think it plays to his strengths.  I think having Dave go on one of his rants for 10 minutes in front of a camera, minus the F bombs, would be effective.  It is easily shared with others through text and social media.

Dave was recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and it was right after all of the controversy surrounding Rogan.  I can’t imagine how many millions of people saw Dave’s appearance, or at least clips of it.  I think Dave can easily appeal to much of Rogan’s audience.

This should continue to be his focus.  At the same time, I want something I can send to my wife and mother that is relatively clean.  I want a good Dave rant that can be listened to around the kids.

I think he can do this.  I know he is capable of it.

He could just clean up his regular podcasts with Robbie, but I don’t think that’s the way to go.  Some people like the guy talk and the humor, which is fine.

There are also a lot of libertarians out there who aren’t really familiar with Dave Smith.  Some of them are socially conservative people and would consider Dave’s material to be trash.  I perfectly understand that he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  But it would be a mistake for both sides for other radical libertarians to miss out on the things Dave is saying.

Again, I am just asking for maybe 10 minutes per week with a great rant against the state and in favor of liberty.  It can be marketed as the “clean” version of Dave Smith.

I am very excited about his prospects in the next couple of years.  It could be a game changer.

I don’t expect Dave to win the 2024 presidential election.  Dave understands the long game, and he understands that it is about educating others on the benefits of liberty.  We can gain some great momentum in the next couple of years.

There are many people who are tired of big government and all of the lies.  They saw what was done to them by the state in response to COVID.  They want someone who is willing to tell them the truth, even if the truth can hurt at times.