The L.A. Riots and Mass Deportation: Both Evil

Podcast Audio:

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the ongoing mass protests in Los Angeles and how the Trump administration’s response also shows a disregard for the rule of law.

Among the topics covered:

• The scale of the violence;
• Evidence that the rioters do not care about immigrants’ individual rights;
• Why the right to peaceably assemble does not imply a right to mass protest;
• The bad jurisprudence that supports the alleged right to mass protest;
• The lawlessness of Trump’s immigration policies;
• What a proper response to Trump’s lawless immigration policy looks like.

Recommended in this podcast are The Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on free speech, Ghate and Bayer’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech,” and Bayer’s article “The Specter of Lawlessness Is Darker than You Think.”

The podcast was recorded on June 9, 2025 and posted on June 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.