My Friend Hans

 

Hoppe Removed as Mises Institute Senior Distinguished Fellow

In response to “Mises Institute: Quo Vadis?,” Property and Freedom Journal (March 25, 2026), Professor Hoppe has been removed as a Distinguished Senior Fellow (~2000–2026) with the Ludwig von Mises Institute…

I will not attempt to summarize Hoppe’s above-referenced post regarding where the Mises Institute is going.  If you have cared about, or still care about, the Institute, then it is worth a read.  I myself had a long association with the Institute until a few years ago.  My relationship with the Institute was of great benefit, but it became time for me to move on.

In any case, my main purpose in writing this is regarding Hans.  As long-time readers know, I am a big fan of Hans; when it comes to aligning on economic issues or political liberty, I have yet to find a point of disagreement with him, and I have learned immensely from his work.

You will find here several posts I have written about Hans, but my favorite might be “I Love Hans Hoppe!” – well, at least for the title. 

Hans Hoppe is one of the kindest people with whom I became acquainted at the Institute.  The first time I met him, and him knowing nothing about me, he took time to talk with me and understand something about me.  He is also, of course, the most consistent Rothbardian scholar in the world.

He is and always has been a gentleman in all of my interactions with him, and I value all of the time we have had together.  It is unfortunate to see this development in his relationship with the Institute, however I know whatever happens, Hans will be respected and admired by all those who value, liberty, peace, and free markets.  Hans needs no titles for this to remain true.

Is There an Offramp?

 

Before I come to that…

It is clear by now that if this war continues for a time (I hate to be specific as to length of time, because that will be reason to dismiss), Israel, or the United States on behalf of Israel, will send nuclear bombs to Iran.  I have come to the view that this is almost inevitable, unless the United States devises an offramp that could preclude this.  I will come to this possible offramp at the end.

In the meantime… if one wanted to destroy this conservative-leaning populist movement, how to do it?  Well, in 2017, they tried to derail it via Russia-gate, impeachment trials, election shenanigans, etc.  Clearly it didn’t work, as in 2025, the (so-called) champion of that movement found his way back in office. 

So, how to derail it?  Give the people what they want: Trump.  He is imbalanced enough to tear MAGA apart (and isn’t that happening?).  Who wants to vote republican in 2026, and even if you do will anything change?  JD Vance, the heir apparent?  He may have a chance if Trump is impeached and out of office, but almost certainly not no matter what.

Knowing Trump is imbalanced (and who knows how compromised), give the people what they want and let Trump do the rest.  Don’t block anything, don’t vote against anything, don’t deny anything.  Just clear the road, and let Trump do the rest. 

Now, for the offramp.  Park three nuclear-weapon equipped submarines off the coast of Tel Aviv.  Tell Netanyahu to stand down, else they launch and turn Israel into glass.  Tell Tehran that this is what will happen, but they are free to keep firing until they see that Israel has stood down.

If Isreal doesn’t stand down, fire.  If Israel launches a ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear payload, fire – everything, the entire payload. 

I hate this answer.  But I see no other offramp.  I see no reason that Iran will stop, as they know that they will be destroyed unless they bring an end to the madness of Israel and the United States. 

This war is certainly the endgame for the state of Israel.  They know that their time is running out.  If the United States just walks away from the conflict, Israel will fire nukes.  If the United States stays in but the conflict drags on, Israel will fire nukes.  Either way, I think Israel fires nukes. Once they do that, Iran will quickly develop the capability to turn their enriched uranium into a projectile (hat-tip Ted Postel), then boom.

After this, who knows what happens.  As I mentioned in my last post, we may be getting our Armageddon and rapture, but the Christians that will be raptured won’t be the Scofield-reference-bible-believing kind.

Or, maybe, the sadistic murderers will suddenly become rational.  I guess that could happen. I would be thrilled to be wrong.

Biblical Prophecy in Action

 

Look…I am not up on an understanding of end-times theology, how to interpret Daniel or Revelation as it relates to Apache helicopters or anything like that.  So, if I get a couple of details wrong here, please go gently.  Anyway, I got the details from John Hagee, so if I am wrong, blame him.

The year 1948 is found in code in Scripture.  It says that in that year the countdown to Armageddon begins.  What is Armageddon?  An army of two-hundred million wipe out Israel and the good times roll.  Christians from Texas and the rest of the Bible belt will be swept up in the Rapture, clearing the atmosphere just ahead of the nuclear fallout. 

Well, it’s something like this.

Now, I have long felt that this Christian belief would turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Absent the support of tens of millions of Christian Zionists in the United States, all the lobbying millions in the world wouldn’t sway elections toward the policies we have seen pursued in the last decades.

But what if it isn’t a self-fulfilling prophecy.  More accurately, what if it is just as God designed?  He knew that the crazies in America would swallow Scofield completely, leading to this moment.

But what is this moment?  Well, I am terrible at writing about current events.  But is seems to me that there is a greater than zero-percent chance that Iran will outlast Israel and the United States in this war.  And if they do, there is a greater than zero-percent chance that either Israel or the United States will launch a nuke against Tehran.  Once that happens, the Middle East goes poof.

Yes, I know.  Greater than zero isn’t very much of a chance.  But how many chambers do you want in your handgun before you are willing to play roulette with a nuclear tipped round?

And, who knows.  Christians may be raptured just in the nick of time.  The thing is, I think the Hagee-type will be surprised to find out that they didn’t get a ticket for that ride – they might find that they have been “left behind.” 

It might be those other Christians – the “fake” ones – who disappear into the clouds.  You know, the ones that disagree with Dallas Theological Seminary and the like.

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Please note: I don’t believe any of this version of end-times nonsense.  But this is where much of American Evangelical Christianity points.

Matthew 7: 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’