Spike Cohen

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Spike Cohen
Spike Cohen (52277790320) (cropped, high quality).jpg
Cohen in 2022
Born
Jeremy Cohen

(1982-06-28) June 28, 1982 (age 43)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Other namesSpike
CitizenshipUnited States
OccupationsPolitical activist; entrepreneur; podcaster
Years active1998–present
Organization(s)Muddied Waters Media; You Are The Power
Known forCo-owner of Muddied Waters Media; founder and president of You Are The Power; Libertarian vice-presidential nominee (2020)
Notable workThe Muddied Waters of Freedom; My Fellow Americans
TitleFounder and president, You Are The Power
Political party Libertarian
Movement Libertarianism
Spouse
Tasha Cohen
​
(m. 2010)​
Spike Cohen's voice
Cohen speaks in front of the New Hampshire State House
Recorded 29 September 2020
Website Official website

Jeremy "Spike" Cohen (born June 28, 1982) is an American libertarian political activist, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He is the founder of Muddied Waters Media, a platform for libertarian commentary and discourse, which he has used to advocate for individual liberty, voluntary solutions to societal issues, and reducing government overreach. [1] [2] He has also been a prominent advocate for private charity and mutual aid networks as alternatives to government welfare programs, emphasizing the importance of community-driven initiatives. [3] Cohen frequently engages with grassroots organizations and local communities, promoting education on libertarian principles and supporting efforts to dismantle systemic barriers to personal and economic freedom. [4] [5]

Contents

He was the Libertarian Party's nominee for vice president of the United States in 2020, serving as Jo Jorgensen's running mate. [6] As the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in 2020, Cohen focused on a range of issues, including ending qualified immunity for law enforcement, criminal justice reform, scaling back U.S. military interventions, and reducing federal taxation and regulation. [7] [8]

Personal life

Cohen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1982. [9] [10] Cohen's father is Jewish, and he was raised as a Messianic Jew, including having a bar mitzvah. [11]

He picked the nickname "Spike" at the age of 3, after the character from the 1986 children's film My Little Pony: The Movie . [10]

Cohen has been married to his wife, Tasha, since 2010. [12] He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. [13] He is a Christian. [14]

Career

In 1998, at the age of 16, Cohen began learning web design and subsequently started a profitable business within a few years. [10] [ self-published source ] [15] In 2016, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Cohen sold his web design business and turned his focus to libertarian messaging, entertainment, and activism. [10]

Media and broadcasting

Podcasts and shows

Cohen has produced libertarian-oriented content through Muddied Waters Media, including the shows The Muddied Waters of Freedom and My Fellow Americans. [16]

Guest appearances and interviews

During the 2020 election cycle, Cohen and Jo Jorgensen participated in joint broadcast interviews about their campaign and platform. [17] In 2024, Cohen participated in campus programming at Dartmouth College and was interviewed by student media in connection with those events. [18] [19]

Speaking engagements

Cohen has appeared at political and civic events, including Libertarian campaign stops during the 2020 cycle. [20] In 2024, he took part in a Dartmouth Political Union debate on gun policy. [19] [21]

Activism and mutual aid work

Cohen founded You Are The Power, a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. [22]

Community outreach and charity initiatives

In 2023, Cohen and You Are The Power became involved in advocacy related to a homeless encampment in Gastonia, North Carolina, including public comment before the city council. [23]

Partnerships and coalition work

Cohen has participated in issue coalitions with groups across the political spectrum. In 2021, he traveled to Ohio to support a petition drive seeking to end qualified immunity for law enforcement and other public employees. [24]

Cohen has supported campaigns that moved through election-law review and related court proceedings as part of ballot-initiative activity on qualified immunity in Ohio. [25]

2020 vice presidential campaign

Cohen speaking at a vice presidential campaign rally in Tempe, Arizona Spike Cohen (50280800452).jpg
Cohen speaking at a vice presidential campaign rally in Tempe, Arizona

Cohen ran as the proposed running mate of presidential candidate Vermin Supreme in the 2020 Libertarian presidential primaries, and was actively involved in campaigning. [26] [27]

After Supreme lost the Libertarian presidential nomination to Jo Jorgensen on May 23, 2020, Cohen remained in the race for the party's vice presidential nomination. Despite Jorgensen having expressed a preference for John Monds to be her running mate over Cohen and Ken Armstrong, Cohen defeated Monds with 533 delegate votes to Monds' 472 after three rounds of voting. [28] As the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee, Cohen became the first Jewish vice presidential nominee of a political party since Joe Lieberman in 2000. [11]

Political positions

Cohen speaking alongside Maj Toure at FreedomFest 2021 Spike Cohen and Maj Toure (51363527427).jpg
Cohen speaking alongside Maj Toure at FreedomFest 2021

Cohen has asserted that his and Jorgensen's platform was derived from the Libertarian Party platform. This includes reducing the national debt by reducing the size of government, extensive criminal justice reform and the immediate release of those incarcerated for victimless crimes, demilitarization of the police and the creation of police accountability programs. [29] [30] [15]

Cohen supports presidential pardons for Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Ross Ulbricht, and Leonard Peltier. [31] [32] [33]

Cohen, a former ally of performance artist and perennial candidate Vermin Supreme, ran during his vice presidential primary campaign on a largely satirical platform promoting free ponies, mandatory tooth brushing, "zombie power", killing "baby Hitler" and "baby Woodrow Wilson", and promoting anarchy. [13] [10] [34] Cohen promised that should these not be achieved within the first 100 days of his vice presidency, he would resign and be replaced with Baby Yoda. [10]

After officially receiving the Libertarian vice presidential nomination, Cohen acknowledged that such humor tactics were "all fun satire to bring people in", adding "(t)hen you hit them with the actual message. The actual Libertarian message of self-ownership and non-aggression and voluntary solutions and property rights, and so forth." [30]

Political activism after 2020

Party activity and endorsements

Following the 2020 election, Cohen continued participating in Libertarian activism and issue-oriented events, including appearances connected to debates and campus programming.

Issue campaigns

Cohen has remained active in criminal-justice and policing-related advocacy. In 2021, he appeared in Ohio in support of a proposed constitutional amendment campaign focused on ending qualified immunity. In 2025, the measure advanced after litigation related to the ballot language and review process.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Muddied Waters of Freedom". Muddied Waters of Freedom. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  2. ↑ Onneweer, Nienke (September 15, 2020). "The Other Candidates: Libertarian Spike Cohen makes a case for college students". Mesa Legend. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  3. ↑ "An Interview with Libertarian Spike Cohen". The Dartmouth Review. April 22, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Spike Cohen-The Libertarian Party's Jewish VP Nominee". May 30, 2020.
  5. ↑ Bass, Paul (September 29, 2020). "VP Hopeful Veers Right, & Left".
  6. ↑ Doherty, Brian (May 24, 2020). "Libertarian Party Picks Spike Cohen as Its Vice-Presidential Candidate". Reason. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Group Hopes To Ask Voters To End Qualified Immunity In Ohio". The Statehouse News Bureau. May 4, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  8. ↑ Onneweer, Nienke (September 15, 2020). "The Other Candidates: Libertarian Spike Cohen makes a case for college students". Mesa Legend. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Spike Cohen's Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Spike Cohen for VP". Vermin Supreme 2020. Archived from the original on May 25, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Fox, Blake (May 30, 2020). "Interview with Spike Cohen-The Libertarian Party's Jewish VP Nominee". The Times of Israel . Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  12. ↑ Newlands, Ettie (August 14, 2020). "Local VP candidate says Libertarians' time has come". MyHorryNews.com. Waccamaw Publishers. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Papantonis, Nicholas (January 30, 2020). "Myrtle Beach man plans to ride ponies and plutonium to 2020 VP nomination". WPDE . ABC News. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Two Freed Men: Ross Ulbricht Finds Justice, Spike Cohen Finds Christ | Libertarian Christian Institute" . Retrieved January 25, 2025.
  15. 1 2 O’Sullivan, Joseph (September 7, 2020) "Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee Spike Cohen stumps in Western Washington, calls for ending ‘every single bad policy’ ", Seattle Times . Retrieved September 17, 2020
  16. ↑ "Muddied Waters Media". SoundCloud. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  17. ↑ Houck, Taggart (May 30, 2020). "2020 Libertarian presidential ticket candidates sit down for first time with WYFF News 4". WYFF4. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  18. ↑ Zhang, Christine (April 16, 2024). "Q&A with former vice presidential candidate Spike Cohen". The Dartmouth. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  19. 1 2 "Dartmouth Political Union Sponsors Gun Debate". Dartmouth. April 11, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  20. ↑ "Libertarian VP candidate rolls into Fargo". InForum. September 23, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  21. ↑ "Debate on Gun Control with David Hogg and Spike Cohen". The Ethics Institute at Dartmouth. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  22. ↑ "You Are The Power Inc". ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  23. ↑ "Protestors gather at Gastonia courthouse in support of homeless encampment". WSOC-TV. June 20, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  24. ↑ Kasler, Karen (May 3, 2021). "Group Hopes To Ask Voters To End Qualified Immunity In Ohio". The Statehouse News Bureau. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  25. ↑ "Ohio attorney general certifies proposed ban on police immunity after loss at US Supreme Court". Associated Press. April 22, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  26. ↑ Winger, Richard (January 1, 2020). "Two Libertarians Seeking National Office Campaign in Libertarian North Carolina Presidential Primary". Ballot Access News . Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  27. ↑ Kilgore, Ed (May 27, 2020). "Libertarians Decide to Become a Joke in 2020". New York Intelligencer. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  28. ↑ Winger, Richard (May 24, 2020). "Libertarian Party Nominates Spike Cohen for Vice-President". Ballot Access News. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  29. ↑ L.P. Colorado (June 5, 2020). "A Message from Spike Cohen, Jo Jorgensen's Running Mate".
  30. 1 2 Houck, Taggart (May 30, 2020). "2020 Libertarian presidential ticket candidates sit down for first time with WYFF News 4". WYFF4.com. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  31. ↑ "Spike Cohen". m.facebook.com. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  32. ↑ Montgomery, Lisa Kennedy (December 23, 2020). "Libertarian: Trump should pardon Snowden, Assange before end of term". Fox Business. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  33. ↑ Howman, David (June 25, 2020). "Libertarian VP Candidate Calls For Release of Imprisoned Native American Activist". The Libertarian Republic. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  34. ↑ Kilgore, Ed (May 27, 2020). "Libertarians Decide to Become a Joke in 2020". New York Magazine. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
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