#801 - Gary Johnson

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Gary Johnson, what's happening, buddy?

Gary Johnson (0:01)

Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan (0:02)

Thanks for coming aboard. I appreciate it, man.

Gary Johnson (0:04)

Oh man, other way around.

Joe Rogan (0:05)

You're on the short list of people that folks consider a rational person that's running for president.

We're in a very strange time. Would you agree?

Gary Johnson (0:15)

I think we're in the strangest time ever. Maybe in the history of politics, certainly in my lifetime.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make a lot of, it almost seems like this is the last gasp of the idea of running for president.

Gary Johnson (0:29)

You know, when you just do the mathematics of the fact that Hillary and Donald Trump are arguably the two most polarizing figures in American politics today, that Trump has to go out and get 30% of the far right to get the nomination. Hillary has to go out and get 30% of the far left. When 50% of Americans right now who are registering to vote are independent, at the end of the day, don't the two major parties represent about 30% of the electorate?

And so where is, where are the interests?

Where is the representation for the majority of interest in America? I think it's the Libertarian Party. I think it's Libertarian. People just don't know it. And speaking with a broad breast, Libertarian. Fiscally conservative, socially liberal.

Joe Rogan (1:19)

Yeah, that seems to be where most people hang their hat, but it's not something that most people identify with when they talk about their actual political persuasion. They usually say, you know, they're on the left or they're on the right. When someone says they're a Libertarian, that's that dude at the office that has guns.

You know what I mean?

Gary Johnson (1:37)

Yeah, well, I'm sorry. That what?

Joe Rogan (1:39)

The dude at the office, the crazy dude at the office, you know?

Gary Johnson (1:43)

Well, so we hit the streets the other day in New York, a film crew, and asked 40 people what a Libertarian was, and it was zero.

Joe Rogan (1:53)

No one knew.

Gary Johnson (1:54)

No one knew. So, you know, I'm with you. I understand the crazy guy with the guns, but for the most part, Libertarian is just undefined. Nobody knows.

Joe Rogan (2:03)

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a Libertarian. I'm just saying, when you think about Libertarian, it's the guy who is fed up and is sort of on the fringes.

That seems to be what a lot of people associate with being a Libertarian.

Gary Johnson (2:19)

I would, and I'd carry that a little bit further and say that the baggage that the Libertarians carry is survival of the fittest. The notion that you're about no government whatsoever. People are gonna die in the streets.

Joe Rogan (2:30)

Anarchists.

Gary Johnson (2:31)

Yeah, no government. Well, that's the rap.

Joe Rogan (2:35)

Yeah, that is the rap. And it's almost like everyone knows that the two-party system is kind of stupid, but everyone seems to think that any other party, other than the two-party system, is unrealistic, or any other party, like a Libertarian Green Party, somewhere along, anything independent, is unrealistic.

Gary Johnson (2:53)

Well, back to right now. 50% of all people that are registering to vote or are registering is independent. Statistically, right now, 43% of America is independent, but new registrations, 50%. So I don't know as people do identify with the two parties, the rig game of the system is is that we're only presented with two choices, and that really starts with just being in the polls.

Look, right now, if Mickey Mouse were the third name in any poll, Mickey would be polling at 30%, but Mickey's not on the ballot in all 50 states, and if I'm the Libertarian nominee, and I hope to be the Libertarian nominee, that happens next weekend, I'm gonna be the only other candidate on the ballot in all 50 states. So polling, I just wanna be in the polls. There is no way a third party wins without being in the presidential debates. That's just not gonna happen. A Super Bowl of politics. To get in the presidential debates, you have to be at 15% in the polls. Joe, the rig game is, is that if you're not in the polls, there's no way that you can poll at 15%, but it has to be a consistent polling starting now.

I was in the first national poll that I've been in a month ago. I haven't been in a national poll since, but in a month ago, I was at 11% against Hillary and Trump.