WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump called on a raucous crowd of liberal voters at his national convention Saturday night to abandon their parties and support his reelection campaign, blasting third parties for having “just 3 percent” support.
“Nominate me, or at least vote for me,” he urged the crowd of Libertarian Party and MAGA supporters gathered at the Washington Hilton. “We need your help. We need your support.”
“We’re going to have a lot of fun,” Trump said at the start of his speech, adding that he was “definitely” a libertarian and had extended “the hand of friendship” to third parties after his federal indictment.
Throughout Trump’s speech, chants of “lock him up”, boos and chants of “we need Trump” and “end the Fed” were heard, and the crowd roared when he was asked about his support for the Libertarian Party.
He tried to garner voters’ support by listing his support for the Libertarian Party: “Everybody here tonight believes in fundamental religious freedom, the freedom to own firearms, the freedom to impose taxation.”
He also made some concessions to third parties, promising to put a Libertarian in his cabinet, making cryptocurrencies safe and promising to commute the prison sentence of Silk Road dark web founder Ross Urbicht to time served if he ever enters the Oval Office again, one of the Libertarians’ main demands.
Urbicht has been serving a life sentence since 2015 after being convicted on multiple charges related to setting up Silk Road, a darknet site that sold narcotics and other illegal substances.
Some libertarians believe the web should be free from government interference, and many at the convention also believe in the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
The murmurs of protest began even before Trump took the stage, with Libertarians stating they would boo anyone who opposed the former president, and MAGA supporters erupting in chants when Libertarian primary candidate Michael Recktenwald took the stage.
“Donald Trump has a lot to teach us. I don’t know if he’s capable of learning. But I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Rectenwald said before Trump’s speech and the brief fracas between two groups of his supporters.
Before Trump began speaking, rumors were circulating that supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would interrupt the speech with rubber chickens bearing the words “Debate Bobby.”
Kennedy challenged Trump to a debate at the party convention, but Trump never publicly responded to the invitation.
The chickens were being distributed on a floor below the convention by the pro-Kennedy super PAC American Values 2024, and The Washington Post saw security guards confiscating the rubber toys as attendees passed through metal detectors.
No chickens were present during Trump’s speech, with liberal attendees opting instead to shout.
“What do they do with chickens?” an AV24 rep told The Washington Post, adding that they were only handing out chickens because Trump is a “chicken.”
Former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and 2020 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee Spike Cohen were booed when they mentioned Trump by name during their convention speeches.
The outreach to libertarians follows Trump’s rally in the heavily Democratic Bronx, outreach to Minnesota voters and meetings with the Teamsters, all part of a “unity tour” to defeat President Biden in November, a Trump campaign official told The Post.
The Trump campaign said Trump’s appearance at the convention had “nothing to do” with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who blasted Trump from the same stage Friday afternoon, accusing him of allowing “the greatest restriction of civil rights in the history of our country” during the coronavirus pandemic.
A senior Trump administration official said Kennedy was “not even a libertarian” and called him “far-left.”
Trump’s attendance will be the first time a Republican candidate has accepted an invitation to speak at the Libertarian Convention.
Libertarian members at the convention told The Washington Post they were “shocked” that the former president had accepted the invitation, but welcomed his attendance in the hopes it would bring attention to the party.
One libertarian attendee said Trump’s coming to the convention showed he needed their votes and was “trying to pander to us.”
Libertarians who The Washington Post spoke to at the convention largely welcomed the possibility of some booing, as long as it allowed Trump to express his views before causing too much of a stir.
Trump spoke about his strategy for the convention at a National Rifle Association event last week, emphasizing the need to target all voting demographics to beat Biden.
“we [Libertarians] “Because no matter who’s running, they get 3% every year,” Trump said at the NRA event. “We have to get that 3% because we can’t take the chance that Joe Biden wins.”
Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen won 1.2% of the national vote in 2020. The party will vote on Sunday to select its 2024 nominee.
