Former President Trump’s appeal at the Libertarian Convention to “stand together with us” to defeat President Biden in November drew mixed reactions from the raucous crowd.
“The fact is, we shouldn’t be fighting each other. If Joe Biden is re-elected, there will be no freedom for anybody in our country. Work with us, that’s what I’m asking liberals to do. We have to work together. Work with us. You have to work with us,” Trump told a crowd at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
The remarks were met with boos and cheers from both libertarians and Trump supporters.
The former president said he was attending the conference to “extend a hand of friendship” to the party and claimed he “can bring about great change.”
“I want the support of the Libertarian Party, or at least a lot of your votes,” Trump said, drawing boos but also chants of “we want Trump” from his supporters in the crowd.
“Maybe you don’t want to win … you keep getting 3% every four years,” Trump said, in an apparent criticism of the party’s recent polling success.
As part of his appeal to the party, Trump also promised to appoint Libertarian members to his cabinet if elected president in 2024. He also promised to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for his role in running an illegal drug trafficking platform. Chants of “Free Ross” were heard throughout the evening.
Trump’s comments came a day after independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at the same event. Kennedy, who is seen as unlikely to challenge Trump and President Biden in the fall’s presidential election, criticized the former president on Friday over his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kennedy had challenged Trump to debate him formally at the convention, and while the White House rivals ended up appearing on different days, Trump’s decision to attend a Libertarian Party event highlights the potential disruptive threat posed by Kennedy’s third-party run.
Kennedy’s speech reportedly drew a small audience, but staff brought out extra chairs before Trump’s speech to accommodate the Libertarians and Trump supporters who packed the auditorium. Libertarian leaders urged audience members from across the aisle to listen to each other’s views.
As Trump prepares for a rematch with Biden in the fall, with the two men pledging to hold two head-to-head debates, Kennedy has denounced his exclusion, and several recent polls have shown bad news for Biden in key battleground states.
Biden’s campaign has bashed Trump ahead of Saturday’s speech.
“Freedom is not free in Trump’s Republican Party, and this weekend will be a fresh reminder of that,” Biden-Harris spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement.
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