The first current or former president to speak at the third party’s convention,Trump made several major promises to Libertarians in the crowded,rowdy room,including assuring the audience that he would appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet if elected in November.
Republican presidential candidate,former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington.AP
But the presumptive Republican nominee also taunted the third party that has typically garnered about 1 to 3 per cent of the vote in presidential races,saying they should nominate him if they want to win.
“Maybe you don’t want to win,” Trump said to a loud chorus of boos from the crowd. “Keep getting your 3 per cent every four years.”
The raucous event for the former president marked a sharp departure from the typical celebratory atmosphere at such Trump campaign gatherings,normally full of thousands of supporters who travel from other states to see him while laughing and clapping to their favourite,often biting punchlines. Trump is said to derive energy from these trademark rallies and reacts to any disruption by threatening to have that person or people removed.
A Libertarian delegate yells as Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump speaks.AP
He is unaccustomed to dealing with a divided audience,such as the one on Saturday night – some of whom didn’t seem to want him there.
“I don’t think it is a good idea for the party to invite candidates who can take our voters,” Illinois Libertarian voter Gavin Hanson said. “I don’t think he got any voters from that.”
Nonetheless,Trump lobbied for an invitation to,aiming to appeal to their voters amid concerns from the two major parties that third-party candidates could attract voters who could swing a close presidential contest with President Joe Biden.
Despite the hostile crowd,Trump received his warmest response when he said if re-elected,he would pardon,the mastermind behind the online drug market Silk Road,who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015.
Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton.AP
Tensions were high in the room ahead of Trump’s speech as libertarian delegates entered to discover that Trump supporters were already seated in the front rows where they had planned to sit.
Organisers pleaded with Trump fans to move in order to allow delegates who paid to travel to their convention to sit. Most Trump supporters reluctantly gave up their seats.
Libertarians unloaded on Donald Trump at a convention in Washington.AP
Still,the two factions in the room at times battled by chanting. Some with Trump T-shirts and red baseball caps chanted their candidate’s name,while Libertarians chanted “Free Ross.”
In the midst of Trump’s address,a fistfight broke out between a Trump supporter and Libertarian activist,and the Libertarian was escorted out by security guards.
Libertarian chair Angela McArdle previously toldThe Washington Post she decided to invite Trump to speak to her members. She did so along with Biden,independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy jnr and other non-Libertarian candidates in what she described as an attempt to garner more national attention for the party.
Kennedy accepted,receiving a lukewarm response Friday as he appealed to Libertarians’ shared concerns with coronavirus public health requirements. But many in the audience took issue with Kennedy’s interest in reforming government agencies rather than disbanding them.
Before he spoke,McArdle requested the Libertarian delegates “behave themselves” at the Trump event.
“The party has been largely irrelevant for 50-plus years and all of a sudden we have … a national media spotlight on us because of Trump,” she said.
McArdle,who is part of a right-wing faction of the party called the Mises Caucus,has faced criticism from left-leaning Libertarians for inviting Trump and recently commenting that he is “better” than Biden. (McArdle was re-elected as the party’s chair with 53 per cent of the vote shortly before Trump’s speech.)
In the week after his invitation was announced,libertarians,including some within the party’s leadership,sought to disinvite Trump,but McArdle refused.
Many of the Libertarians berated Trump’s four years in the White House,shouting “hypocrite” and “no” at Trump’s suggestions he would reform the US government. “You had your shot,” Daniel McCarthy,a Texas delegate said. “It’s just more pandering,just like RFK pandered last night.”
The Washington Post
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