During his speech at Saturday’s Libertarian Party national convention, former president Donald Trump was booed often and loudly, especially when he urged the audience to “nominate me or at least vote for me.”
As soon as the former president stepped onto the platform, heckling started, and some of his fans attempted to counter the boos by chanting, “We want Trump.”
“I believe we can win together if you nominate me or even just vote for me,” Trump stated. Why? Because I’m hoping to win over the Libertarians. … it’s crucial because we must remove the most unfit president in American history.
Just do it if you want to win, Trump continued; if you want to lose, don’t do it. Persist in receiving your 3% annually. (The Libertarian Party reached a new high peak in 2016 when Gary Johnson, its presidential candidate, received over 3% of the popular vote.)
This was one of Trump’s briefest campaign addresses to date; at 34 minutes, he departed the stage. We should expect to see the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee announced on Sunday.
Although Trump’s visit to the Libertarian convention was out of character for a Republican front-runner, it shows how seriously his campaign is taking the threat of third-party candidates. After weeks of intensified attacks, Trump has now turned his attention to the Libertarian Party. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president as an independent, and his advisers are beginning to see his high-profile campaign as a possible obstacle in an election that could be decided in a handful of states by a narrow margin.
On Sunday, a delegate nominated Kennedy, who had already spoken at the convention on Friday; other delegates booed his candidacy.
In a brief video speech, Kennedy acknowledged the nomination and expressed gratitude to party members for the “unexpected honor.” To oppose Trump and Vice President Joe Biden, he argued that Libertarians should form “an alliance” with independents and third parties.
Even though former president Trump was nominated on Sunday at the convention, Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle determined that he was not qualified to be nominated as he did not submit the necessary paperwork.
On Saturday, there were moments of commotion inside the Washington Hilton as libertarians and Trump supporters clashed. Prior to Trump’s address, the party chair, McArdle, rose to the platform and urged the former president’s supporters seated in the front rows to make way for the Libertarian delegates.
I would rather not get into arguments or resort to pleading and begging. Since the delegates are the ones you intend to convince, why don’t you just make way for them? I have already convinced you. According to McArdle, “President Trump is here to try to sell them,” but our delegates are still not convinced.
“My hope for tonight is that all of us, including those of you who support Donald Trump, can put aside our differences, work together, and discover common ground, even if we can’t agree on who to vote for,” she continued.
Additionally, prior to the event, agents from the Secret Service seized rubber chickens that had been distributed to participants by the super PAC associated with Kennedy’s presidential candidacy.
As people waited to pass through the security barrier, one agent shouted, “No lighters, no water bottles, no noisy chickens.”
The pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC’s co-chair, Tony Lyons, acknowledged to AWN that the rubber chickens had been distributed at Saturday’s conference.
Trump supporters and libertarians in the crowd clashed on occasion, leading to the removal of some spectators. After one libertarian critic of Trump was caught punching a Trump supporter, AWN had to ask him to leave the event. As Trump spoke, a number of individuals in the front of the audience turned away from him.
During one of his few remarks Saturday that elicited strong applause, Trump stated his intention to shorten the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind the dark web marketplace Silk Road. Ulbricht oversaw the anonymous sale and purchase of narcotics and hacking guides on Silk Road. Many Libertarian conventiongoers have been calling for Ulbricht’s pardon since his 2015 conviction on seven charges (including drug trafficking and money laundering) and life sentence in prison.
When Trump announced his intention to hire Libertarians to key posts in his administration and include one in his Cabinet, supporters cheered.
The Trump team had warned that some guests would be hostile before the address; for example, Trump surrogate and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy got a round of boos when he brought up the late president during his Friday speech.
“Are we aware that it’s not exactly the starting point?” Without a doubt. According to Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller, who talked to AWN, “We’re on offense and competing for nontraditional votes in order to unite the country.” This means that there will be supporters and detractors of Trump’s presence.
Trump was portrayed by Biden’s campaign as “anti-freedom” before to his speech.
“The women who have had their pregnancies monitored by the government and their freedom to make their own health care decisions ripped away can tell Donald Trump that his Republican Party is the party of freedom,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Kevin Munoz said Saturday in a statement.
According to what McArdle told AWN earlier, Biden was also asked to speak at the conference but chose not participate.
A Libertarian presidential candidate named Chase Oliver held a press conference right after Trump’s address. Oliver expressed his belief that inviting Trump was a mistake, but he was proud of the fact that Libertarians heckled the former president while he spoke.
It bothers me to have a war criminal up here. “I don’t think he deserves to be here,” Oliver remarked. “Even though I believe it was a poor decision to invite Donald Trump, I’m pleased that he experienced a taste of a genuine Libertarian welcome.”
With Trump’s promise to commute Ulbricht’s sentence in mind, Michael Rectenwald—another Libertarian presidential candidate—said he thought the party made progress by inviting Trump to the convention.
“A prominent candidate from one of our political parties has pledged to release Ross Ulbricht,” Rectenwald announced during the press conference. “The needle shifted toward liberty.”
Rectenwald did concede, though, that Libertarians would be hard-pressed to be swayed by Trump’s comments.
“No one here from the Libertarian Party is going to fall for Trump’s BS,” he declared.
Despite Trump’s promise to commute Ulbricht’s sentence, Tennessee Libertarian delegate Trent Nestle told AWN that the former president still wouldn’t have his support.
Nestle expressed his desire to witness the event unfold. “I will still cast my ballot in November regardless.”