Trump's Libertarian Fumble: A Night of Boos and Brief Cheers
Former President Trump struggles to win Libertarian support despite promises to free Ross Ulbricht and protect Bitcoin.
Last night, former president Donald Trump addressed some Libertarians at the Libertarian Party’s national convention happening in Washington, D.C. this weekend; saying it did not go well is an understatement (his full speech can be seen at the end of this article). Uncharacteristically, Trump clung to his two teleprompter screens and mostly spoke like a robot as he addressed the raucous crowd. Many attendees to the convention chose not to enter the highly secured room for Trump’s speech. The fact that Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. were invited to speak at the convention was unusual since they are the opponents of the Libertarian Party branded candidates seeking the party’s nomination to be President of the United States.
The only real positive during the night was when he got some support, stating he would free Ross Ulbricht, not touch Bitcoin, take free speech seriously, and never allow CBDCs in our nation. He said, “I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. He's already served 11 years. On day one, I will sign an executive order at federal agencies from colluding to censor the whole speech of American citizens. We will remove the bureaucrats who conspired to take away your First Amendment freedoms. We will do that quickly.” He added, “I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin, and we will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.” And then for some reason, he added, “You cannot have capitalism and also have open borders because you will soon be turned into a socialist nation of coordination.” He got heavily booed on the open borders mention, but that was not the only booing he got last night.
My gauge is that at the beginning of his speech, there were about 50/50 for/against Trump, and that quickly deteriorated as he brought up his endorsement from the NRA, when he said, “You're gonna like me, we just got the full NRA, the strongest endorsement they've ever given the NRA.” Talk about a room misread; unlike most Americans, Libertarians do not have a short memory of Trump’s record on the Second Amendment, and many libertarians view the NRA as nothing more than a gun control organization. And it is not just his anti-gun statements of the past like “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” OR “I don’t know why anyone needs an AR-15.”
It is Trump’s actions while in the White House that disturbs most Libertarians. As noted by Amy Swearer at The Federalist Society, “On some occasions during his first term, President Trump publicly indicated his support for several constitutionally problematic gun control policies. Most prominently, after the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Trump said his administration would “work on getting the age [of commercial gun sales] up to 21 instead of 18.” He also suggested that he might support the significant expansion of federal background check laws, including so-called universal background checks. Such policies, if pursued, would likely infringe on the rights of law-abiding Americans without meaningfully preventing gun violence.” So, as with most politicians, he talks a good game on the Second Amendment, but when confronted during a “crisis,” some libertarians are not buying what he’s selling.
Trump proposed a “partnership” between the Libertarians and his campaign. He came asking for the party’s endorsement, outright nomination, or at the very least, their vote in November. He did so while insulting them on the party’s poor performance and basically called them all losers, stating, “You can keep going the way you have been for the last two decades. And get your 3%. Now you want to make yourself winners. It's time to be winners. You have a lot of common sense. So I'm asking I'm asking for the Libertarian Party's endorsement or at least lots of your votes, lots and lots of libertarian voters.” He also stated that he will appoint many Libertarians in his upcoming administration.
I could go on and on with his rhetoric last night, both positive and negative, from last night, but at the end of the day, there will be many Libertarians who will vote for Trump, for many various reasons, and then others who will definitely not, on principled grounds. It’s up to each individual as to how much of his speech you believe he will actually do, and what will be tossed aside. One thing Libertarians and Trump do agree on is that the nation cannot take 4 more years of the Joe Biden “team.”
The Libertarians will vote for their presidential nominee today. They will choose (likely in multiple rounds), between Jacob Hornberger, Chase Oliver, Charles Ballay, Mike ter Maat, Joshua D. Smith, Lars Mapstead, and Michael Rectenwald.