Ep. 344 Bob Murphy Critiques Jeremy Kauffman’s Encounter with the FBI
Bob quotes from Dave Smith saying Kauffman’s viral encounter with two FBI agents was “flawless,” and then proceeds to document Jeremy’s flaws.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- Dave Smith’s interview of Jeremy Kauffman.
- Michael Malice interviews Robby Starbuck.
- Details for the 2024 ExPat Money Summit.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
Doh! What you wanna go and settle us down fer? Cain’t we stretch our legs a bit and see what they’s made of? 🙂 You’re right on, Bro Bob!
Is it the FBI’s job to reduce rhetoric? IJS
Cliff notes: It is not the FBI’s job to reduce rhetoric.
Thank you for your contribution to the discussion.
Hey, Bob. Your take on this incident really surprised me. I expected you to be much more critical of Kauffman. I’m a pretty hardcore ancap, big fan of Dave Smith, I lean right on the culture war, and am certainly no fan of the police. But I’m totally against Kauffman on this one. In fact, I don’t even think the FBI did anything wrong in this case.
The LPNH makes a winking post to an audience of anti-government radicals saying that anyone who assassinated the opposing presidential candidate would be a hero – all shortly after an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. Given the circumstances, any honest law enforcement agency could very reasonably conclude “maybe we should check up on this guy.”
When a shooting occurs, and we learn that the shooter was “known to the FBI,” with a long track record of alarming violent rhetoric, we all like to clown on law enforcement for not investigating sooner. But this is what an investigation is. The agents came with folders to ask questions, in the middle of the day, in plain clothes while still identifying themselves immediately. They weren’t belligerent, they didn’t arrest Kauffman or get hostile with him, they walked away once he made it clear he wouldn’t talk to them. They exercised no more authority than a concerned neighbor would. They were armed because they’re required to be while on duty.
Whether or not Kauffman’s speech was technically legal, the police are allowed to simply investigate a suspicious situation and ask questions. I’m not saying that the FBI’s motives here were pure. Maybe they’ll come back and arrest Kauffman a week from now. But I am saying that their actions in this case were indistinguishable from the actions of an FBI who was purely motivated. And that this was a totally appropriate response from law enforcement to someone who is out in public, talking like a violent lunatic. However they intended it, the LPNH’s post came across as the sort of thing left wing activists do online when they want to hurt or dox someone without incriminating themselves; they post a coy hypothetical to their followers with the realistic hope that they’ll inspire someone crazy enough to carry it out.
These FBI agents refused to identify themselves unless Kauffman stopped filming. They never identified themselves.
They identified themselves as FBI agents, which seems like the important part. It’s completely understandable that they would not want to dox themselves to Kauffman’s audience.