- [Narrator] Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party's
nominee for president in 2020,
and the only candidate on the ballot in all 50 States,
other than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
A recent NPR poll showed her pulling 5% nationally,
which could cover the spread between
the President and his challenger.
According to a chorus of pundits and partisans though,
voting for a third party candidate is a waste,
because it doesn't change the high-stakes battle
to either toss out or keep in office Donald Trump in 2021.
- This is not the time to withhold our votes and protests
or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning.
- [Narrator] Jorgensen, a 63-year-old Clemson
psychology lecturer, is running on a blend of standard,
small government rhetoric disgust with career politicians,
optimism about young people,
and of course the occasional craziness
that we all expect from third party nominees.
- I am running for president because government
is too big, too bossy, too nosy, too intrusive.
But the worst part is, they usually end up hurting
the very people they're trying to help.
- [Narrator] She says that most of her followers
are either Independents or first time voters.
And that the real mistake would be
to vote for Trump or Biden.
Particularly in parts of the country where a principled vote
is unlikely to impact the final outcome.
- I would say if you're in a solidly red state, like I'm in,
if you don't like what Donald Trump has been doing,
if you don't like the bigger government he's given you,
then voting for him is a wasted vote.
And to Democrats, especially Democrats in California,
in New York, don't vote for Joe Biden,
vote for what you really want.
- [Narrator] Jorgensen who ran as the LPs vice presidential
nominee back in 1996, wants to bring all the troops home,
cut the size of government in half, legalize drugs,
and in our interview, suggested replacing
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme court
with someone like 82-year-old Alan Dershowitz.
Though she later recanted on social media because
of his statements that torture may sometimes be acceptable,
his opposition to gun rights,
and what she called unresolved questions
about his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Jorgensen says that Republicans have failed
to live up to their promises of fiscal discipline.
- A lot of people don't realize that government grew year
after year after year for eight straight years with Reagan.
People keep saying,
"Oh, look at Donald Trump, we got tax cuts."
Well yeah, but he increased spending,
so the bill is eventually going to come due.
He came in saying, "I'm a businessman,
"I know how to balance a budget,
"I know how to cut spending", and he didn't do that.
And not only did he not cut spending, he increased spending.
Now we've got a bigger deficit, bigger debt.
Whether you're talking education,
healthcare, retirement, it all boils down to,
are you in control of your dollars?
- [Narrator] Biden, says Jorgensen,
has shamelessly pandered to voters for nearly 50 years.
- People wanted to hear him say I'm tough on crime,
so he said, I'm tough on crime.
And now they want to hear something else,
so he's something else, he doesn't have a rudder.
He doesn't have something that's guiding him.
That's true not only about Biden,
but pretty much any Democrat out there.
Young people are shocked to hear that both Hillary Clinton
and Barack Obama were against gay marriage,
just back in 2012, that was only eight years ago.
- [Narrator] Speaking of young people,
Jorgensen is big on Gen Z.
Arguing that young Americans are less about cancel culture
and being woke and more about being Laissez-faire.
- They go, well, why shouldn't you be able to own a gun?
Why shouldn't two people the same sex get married?
If you can drink red wine, why can't you smoke marijuana?
So, that overall they have
a very libertarian underpinning
as far as their kind of live and let live
libertarian philosophy, so that's excellent news.
If I could sit around the kitchen table
of every American family in this country,
I would win by a landslide.