I remember, a forum I was part of when I was in my youth had a good number of libertarians. I was on reasonably good terms with a number of them, and thought them genuine, if misguided.

The speed at which they changed their labeling to out-and-out fascists once Trump was elected was... staggering.

Would you believe there are libertarian communists? It sounds like a contradiction. Old queer couples should be able to protect their Marijuana plants with guns and pay their taxes for welfare.

Or to be more exact: "LET ME BUILD A FUCKING SHED ON MY OWN LAND. ALSO, STOP TEARING DOWN HOMELESS PEOPLES' TENTS."

All that being said, the libertarian party has taken a horrible turn and I hate being conflated with a guy who had brain worms.

Until you get to weed and incarceration

Libertarians are just Republicans that smoke weed.

Wrong, I didn't vote for Donald Trump and I'm not planning to

Again, I didn't vote for Donald Trump last election, but 97% or something of conservatives did,

Mate, they're going for the Tankie vote. This shit is going down to the wire.

It's the other way around. There's a lot of overlap with conservatives and big L Libertarians over idealized "rugged individualism" fantasies. Conservatives like it because it's an excuse to continue marginalizing historically marginalized groups, and Libertarians like it because it feeds their ubermensch delusion.

So when conservatism becomes unpopular, a lot of those voters do the big L protest vote, so Republicans messaging to Libertarians is really just Republicans attempting to form ranks, not embiggen the tent.

They are socially apathetic. To them, they think all social issues and prejudice just magically resolve. They won't necessarily condone the persecution of, say, lgbtq+ or various other minorities... But they also won't lift a finger to stop it either. Their goal is to externalize guilt and responsibility.

And are generally ok with LGBTQIA+, I think it's important to note.

Libertarians are mostly pro choice, against restricting gambling, against censorship, against mass government surveillance, against NIMBYism, for gay marriage, and trans rights. Find me a conservative that checks even half of those boxes

Especially since Libertarian as a word and definition of an ideology was co-opted by American anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard. Prior to that, libertarian meant freedom of will and general liberty, with some association in anarchism.

For anyone confused: https://www.commondreams.org/news/rfk-jr-rejected-by-libertarians-after-they-loudly-booed-heckled-trump