Archive for the ‘Libertarian’ Category
Trump, Wooing Libertarian Voters, Agrees To Speak at Party’s Convention as Concern Waxes on the Right Over RFK Jr. – The New York Sun
Donald Trump will speak at the Libertarian Partys convention at the Columbia District later this month signaling how worried Mr. Trump must be about third-party spoilers and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s appeal to libertarians.
Mr. Trump lost several swing states, including Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia, in 2020 by fewer votes than those cast for Libertarian Party candidate, Jo Jorgenson. Polls indicate the 2024 election will be as close, with third-party candidates potentially determining the winner in key swing states.
Mr. Kennedy ruled out seeking the Libertarian Partys presidential nomination just two weeks ago, but he has courted the libertarian vote since he entered the race as a Democrat one year ago. He has made the rounds of libertarian podcasts and spoke at gatherings like PorcFest, Freedom Fest, and the Libertarian Party of Californias convention at Costa Mesa in February.
The Libertarian Partys chairwoman, Angela McArdle, says she extended an invitation to speak at the partys convention to both Mr. Trump and President Biden. Mr. Trumps acceptance is a sign he is taking third-party voters seriously. Hes also likely taking a page from his former Republican primary opponent-turned-advisor, Vivek Ramaswamy, who actively courted the liberty vote.
Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our country, and I am honored to join them in Washington DC, Mr. Trump said in a statement Wednesday. If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election wont even be close.
While much of the focus on third party candidates this year has centered on the threat to Mr. Biden, recent polls that show Mr. Kennedy pulling more votes from Mr. Trump are sounding alarm bells in the Trump orbit. Mr. Trump has stepped up his attacks on Mr. Kennedy, calling him a Democrat plant, far-left, and a wasted protest vote.
The announcement Wednesday that Mr. Trump will be speaking at the partys convention was greeted in typical Libertarian fashion: with fights online about MAGA infiltration of the party and debates about libertarian principle versus political relevance. In May 2022, a paleo libertarian faction called the Mises Caucus took over leadership of the party. Those who oppose them call this faction a MAGA front.
Its just confirmation that the Mises Caucus was a MAGA operation from the beginning, a former chairman of the Libertarian Party, Nicholas Sarwark, tells the Sun. The Mises Caucus is a stalking horse kind of operation to assist Donald Trump in not losing the 2024 presidential election in the same way he lost the 2020 presidential election.
You cant be an independent political party and kiss the ass of one of the other two, Mr. Sarwark says. Thats why the Greens have collapsed, he says of the Green Party.
If libertarians are to succeed at moving politics in a more liberty-oriented direction, then we must build our own brand as far away from Donald Trump as possible, a former Republican-turned-Libertarian congressman, Justin Amash, who is now running for the United States Senate from Michigan as a Republican, posted to X.
If Donald Trump comes to our convention, he will be met with a chorus of boos, a Libertarian Party presidential candidate, Chase Oliver, tells the Sun.
Ms. McArdle, though, says party members should take Mr. Trump coming to speak to them as a win and a way to bring the message of liberty to a wider audience. She said the same about Mr. Kennedy when he courted the party.
For 50 years, weve been trying to get our candidates on the main stage with major party POTUS candidates and weve finally succeeded in bringing one to our stage, Ms. McArdle said in a statement.
Is this a secret plot to make Trump our candidate? No. Are our candidates doing a head to head debate with him? No. They are doing their debate first, then he is speaking. (Take the W.), Ms. McArdle posted to X.
I know there are some libertarians who have a severe allergy to relevance, but it is undeniably a great thing that Trump is speaking at the Libertarian Party National Convention, comedian and podcaster, Dave Smith, posted to X. This isnt an endorsement of Trump, its an endorsement of relevance and a desire to engage with the real world.
If the LP is actually able to create a Libertarians vs. Trump moment, it would be an absolute W. Theres a huge vacuum of intelligence on the right, as well as a vacuum of opposition to Trump on the right, and it would be great to have the LP be in that space, a Libertarian Party of New Hampshire delegate, Jeremy Kauffman, tells the Sun.
Libertarians are such open-minded people, he adds, that well even discuss our ideas with far-left gun-grabbing money-printing pro-lockdown socialists like Donald Trump.
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Trump, Wooing Libertarian Voters, Agrees To Speak at Party's Convention as Concern Waxes on the Right Over RFK Jr. - The New York Sun
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Trump to address Libertarian National Convention this month – SRN News
Wed, May 1, 2024 | from Greg Clugston 0 Comments
Donald Trump is going to be courting Libertarians later this month. The former president will speak at the Libertarian National Convention later this month here in the nations capital, as he tries to woo voters beyond the Republican base. In a statement, Trump said, If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election wont even be close. The event comes as Trumps campaign has ramped up its attacks against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent.
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Trump to address Libertarian National Convention this month - SRN News
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Donald Trump speaking at Libertarian national convention Deseret News – Deseret News
Former Republican President, and presumptive GOP nominee, Donald Trump will speak at the Libertarian Party presidential nominating convention later this month.
Trump will address the top 10 concerns of Libertarian national delegates who may ask him to defend past policy decisions and explain how a second Trump administration would align with Libertarian principles of limited government, free markets and non-aggression in foreign policy and personal interactions.
Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, D.C., later this month, Trump said in a statement released Wednesday by the Libertarian Party. We all have to remember that our goal is to defeat the Worst President in the History of the United States, BY FAR, Crooked Joe Biden. If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election wont even be close. We cannot have another four years of death, destruction, and incompetence. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER AND WIN!
Libertarian National Committee chair Angela McArdle told the Deseret News the event will attract unprecedented levels of media coverage to the Libertarian Party and will give Libertarians an opportunity to influence the Republican Party standard-bearer.
For 50 years weve been trying to get our candidates on the main stage with major party POTUS candidates and its never happened. ... And so we finally succeeded in bringing one of the major candidates to our stage, McArdle said. This is a huge opportunity for us. ... Theres no downside.
But many within the party fear the decision to associate libertarianism with a political figure who does not espouse its principles will taint public perception of libertarian policies and will serve only to help Trump remove an electoral obstacle.
I think its ridiculous, said Barry Short, chair of the Utah Libertarian Party, in an interview with the Deseret News. Theres nothing in his track record thats appealing to Libertarians.
Short pointed to the former presidents response to COVID-19 allowing lockdowns, elevating Anthony Fauci and encouraging mass vaccination as well as his proclivity for spending increasing deficit spending by trillions while in office as evidence that Trump has nothing to offer Libertarians.
A Trump keynote speech is totally a money move, according to Short. Since the Libertarian Partys national leadership was replaced by members of the controversial Mises Caucus in 2022, the party has faced historic fundraising shortfalls, Short said. Bringing Trump on stage even if that means platforming an opposing party could mean an influx of attention for an organization that has historically existed on the fringe of American politics.
This reeks of desperation to me, Short said.
Desperate though it may be, Short said it could have a long-lasting effect on the future direction of the party. But that direction could be toward increased irrelevance if Libertarian voters cast their ballot for Trump instead of the Libertarian nominee, or their ideas become conflated with the anti-establishment rhetoric of Trump and other populist candidates like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
This is the intended outcome of the planned Trump speech, according to Joshua Eakle, a longtime Libertarian political operative and founder of the Project Liberal PAC. There is evidence Trump blames Libertarians for his 2020 loss in key swing states, Eakle alleged in a post on X, and since the Mises Caucus takeover, Libertarian Party messaging has become more extreme and friendly toward some Trump talking points.
Asking Trump to headline their presidential nomination event, including selling Trump-themed merchandise, further supports the influence of Trump on the Libertarian Party, Eakle said.
This speech is engineered to pull Libertarian Party support from their own party and and get them to support the opposition, Eakle said. The Libertarian Party will effectively be over at that point in the minds of the public. It will be an extension of MAGA authoritarianism. I dont see any upside to this at all I see the upside for Trump. But I dont see the upside for the Libertarian Party.
Brian Doherty, senior editor at the libertarian Reason magazine, said the quote Trump gave to the Libertarian Party explicitly states that Trumps goal in being there is to ... win votes for himself. So that kind of speaks for itself.
Dohertys colleague at Reason, Liz Wolfe, said even if the speech does attract media attention to Libertarians, that wont necessarily be a good thing.
I think what will happen is the word libertarian will increasingly be associated with RFK Jr. and Donald Trump. And these are two celebrity politicians who, as far as I understand it, do not really stand for libertarian values, Wolfe said.
McArdle, who was elected to chair the national party as part of the Mises-Caucus wave in 2022, pushed back, saying Trumps appearance will not serve as a typical stump speech.
We need to be moving the Overton window in the direction of liberty. We need to be exposing people to the ideas of libertarianism, that is why the party was founded. And if we have the opportunity to influence a potential future president were gonna do it, McArdle said.
President Joe Biden was also invited to speak at the partys national convention but has not agreed to do so.
At the Libertarian national convention, delegates from across the country, including 14 from Utah, will select a presidential nominee from a crowded field of over 30 candidates.
Trump will not participate in the debate Theres no talk about him becoming our nominee, McArdle said. Instead, he will take the stage immediately after Libertarian Party hopefuls argue over which is the most viable candidate to bring libertarian ideas to the White House.
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Donald Trump speaking at Libertarian national convention Deseret News - Deseret News
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Trump to speak at Libertarian National Convention – Washington Examiner
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will deliver remarks at the Libertarian Partys national convention.
In a move that could help him win over third-party voters, Trump will speak to a group that traditionally enjoys close ties to Republicans later this month.
The Libertarian National Convention will be held May 23-26 at a hotel in Washington, and party officials both Trump and President Joe Biden have been invited to participate, with the former president agreeing.
The post does not mention whether Biden has responded. When asked whether the president would attend the Libertarian convention, Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz responded, Nothing says freedom like telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies and rigging the economy for billionaires.
With the theme of Become Ungovernable, the Libertarian National Convention features a four-day schedule of events and will conclude with the party selecting its own candidate for president.
Libertarian National Committee Chairwoman Angela McArdle said the party has been trying for 50 years to get a major party presidential nominee to speak at its convention and that Trump is the first to accept the offer.
We will do everything in our power to use this incredible opportunity to advance the message of liberty, McArdle said.
Trump released a statement thanking the party for the opportunity.
Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, D.C., later this month, he said. We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump Administration will achieve that goal.
If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election wont even be close, he added.
Libertarian presidential candidates often hail from the GOP ranks, as their strict limited government approach aligns them closer to Republicans than Democrats. For example, 2008 Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr was a former GOP congressman from Georgia, while 2012 and 2016 nominee Gary Johnson was a former Republican governor of New Mexico.
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The 2020 Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen, finished with 1.2% of the national vote, in third place behind Biden and Trump.
Both major parties are concerned about the threat of third-party voters sinking their campaigns, with independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rumored to be a threat to both in what is expected to be a close contest.
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Trump to speak at Libertarian National Convention - Washington Examiner
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