When the Libertarian Party recently invited Donald Trump to speak at its annual convention later this month, the move sparked plenty of outrage inside the partyand a lot of intrigue outside it.
The idea that I completely wrote the GOP off only to have Trump follow me into the Libertarian Party really upsets me and upsets a lot of people, Jonathan Casey, whose involvement in Libertarian Party politics dates back to 2016, told The Dispatch.
Until the Trump invitation, the Libertarian Party had mostly been an afterthought for outside observers in the 2024 presidential campaign, but it shouldnt have been. Whoever wins the partys nomination for president later this month at the Libertarian National Convention will be on the ballot in at least 37 states, including the battlegrounds of Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada. The last two presidential election were decided by a few states where the victor prevailed by less than 1 percentage point, so its plausible the Libertarian candidate could sway the outcomeeven if he falls short of winning the 3.3 percent of the national popular vote won by 2016 Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson or the 1.2 percent of the popular vote garnered by 2020 nominee Jo Jorgenson.
So why, exactly, did a minor party whose raison dtre is to reject the two major parties invite the presumptive GOP nominee to potentially overshadow the convention where Libertarian Party delegates will pick their own presidential nominee? That is a hotly contested question within a Libertarian Party that is deeply divided between two factionsthe Mises Caucus and the Classical Liberal Caucus.
The Trump invitation is absolutely designed to discourage anybody who would challenge [the Mises Caucus] from showing up, said Casey, who serves as chair of the Classical Liberal Caucus. Moreover, Joshua Eakle, a classical liberal who served as Tennessee state party chairman until 2021, worries that if Rectenwald wins the Libertarian Party nomination, he could theoretically suspend his campaign, either immediately after being endorsed or, say, before the election and endorse Trump.
The difference between Trump and Biden is like the difference between stomach cancer and pancreatic cancer. You definitely dont want either one, but one might kill you a little slower, Harris said, before identifying Trump as maybe the less-bad cancer.
Trump admitted he's just going there to beg the party to vote Republican:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lA1c_Xzmd30
What the fuck is libertarian about Donald Trump? This seems like it's just the party going mask off.