David Smith (born April 20, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and libertarian political commentator.[6][7][8] He has frequently appeared on Fox News Channel's Kennedy[9][10] and The Greg Gutfeld Show.[11][12][13] Additionally he was a recurring panelist on CNN's S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered.[14]
Dave Smith | |
---|---|
Born | David Smith April 20, 1983 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Comedian |
Political party | Libertarian[1][2][3][4][5] |
Other political affiliations | Mises Caucus |
Children | 2 |
Website | comicdavesmith |
Smith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party.[15] As of 2022, Smith was reportedly running the party's social media.[16]
In 2013, Smith was featured as one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He was a featured performer on the New York Comedy Festival's "New York's Funniest" showcase in 2014 and 2015.[17]
He hosts the Part of the Problem podcast and cohosts the comedy podcast Legion of Skanks.[6][11][18][19] He has made appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience and Timcast.[20][21][22][23][6]
He was the MC for FreedomFest, a libertarian festival, in 2021,[24] and a featured speaker there in 2022.[16] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Smith was running the Libertarian Party's social media as of 2022,[16] but he has denied having any official role within the party. He is scheduled to speak at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention.[25]
Smith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party.[15][26][27][28][29] Smith said in a 2017 Reason interview that he "became a libertarian through the Ron Paul movement".[30] He has opposed what he sees as big tech hegemony, describing it as "the biggest threat to liberty" aside from the "tyranny of COVID-19".[31] He said to Reason in 2021 that he did not plan to vaccinate himself or his child against COVID-19.[31][20] Reason described him as "a vocal opponent of wokeness and political correctness".[31] An admirer of the anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard, he told Reason that like Rothbard he would abolish government if he could.[32]
Smith has been noted for interviews and debates with far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes,[33][34] Nick Fuentes, Richard Spencer, and Christopher Cantwell.[33][35][16] Smith has called Fuentes a "fellow traveler", according to the SPLC.[16] In 2021, The New Republic called Smith "a Nazi sympathizer".[33] The SPLC noted that Smith is Jewish and has disagreed with far-right figures on the creation of a white ethnostate and the alt-right's tactics.[35] Debating with Fuentes, the SPLC said, Smith argued for "hard-right libertarian viewpoints".[35]
Smith has two children with his wife.[18]
In 2017, Dave Smith used a TGMS guest-hosting spot to interview Richard Spencer and Christopher Cantwell, giving both a friendly platform to lay out their vision for a white ethnostate.
Smith is connected to white nationalist Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes and appeared on Pool's show in September.
Smith ... has long invited extremists and hard right and fringe figures – including HotepJesus – on his podcast, "Part of the Problem" (PotP).