Topline
Former President Donald Trump won’t be among the pool of candidates for the Libertarian presidential nomination because he never submitted the paperwork necessary to qualify, CNN first reported Sunday, news that comes one day after the Republican nominee was met with boos and heckling during a half-hour speech at the party’s national convention.
Key Facts
Registered delegates at the Libertarian National Convention are expected to choose a party nominee from a list of eligible candidates on Sunday, but that list won’t include Trump after party chair Angela McArdle determined Sunday he did not qualify to be considered, according to CNN.
The list of potential nominees will include independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who accepted being put forward as a candidate in a video and called for “an alliance” between all third-party voters looking to stop Trump or Biden from being elected president.
Both RFK Jr. and Trump spoke at the Libertarian National Convention over Memorial Day weekend, where the latter was met with raucous booing and heckling from a crowd that called him a “liar,” “panderer” and “wannabe dictator.”
Trump started his speech by asking the Libertarians to “combine with” Republicans by voting for the Trump ticket to keep President Joe Biden—who he called the “worst president in the history of the United States”—out of office.
He then made a series of promises that included nominating a Libertarian to a cabinet position, cutting taxes and defending gun rights before turning on the hostile crowd and mocking the party for its poor voting record, saying that it could “keep getting your 3% every four years.”
RFK Jr. and other Libertarian presidential candidates spoke against Trump receiving the party’s nomination—Chase Oliver called Trump “a war criminal” and Michael Rectenwald said Libertarians were not “at risk for falling for Trump’s bulls–t.”
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Cucial Quote
“Only if you want to win. Only if you want to win,” Trump responded to crowds at the convention who booed his pleas for votes. “Maybe you don’t want to win. Maybe you don’t want to win. Only do that if you want to win. If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your 3% every four years.”
Key Background
The Libertarian vote has been seen as particularly important this campaign season as more and more polls show voters disenfranchised with the traditional party candidates of Trump and Biden, NPR reported. With a narrow margin of victory expected in battleground states like Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and others, swaying independent voters could make a big difference for either candidate. Libertarian Party organizers said Biden declined an invitation to speak to the convention, Reuters reported.
Big Number
3.3%. That’s the percentage of votes former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson earned as the Libertarian Party candidate in 2016. It was the largest number of votes ever won by a Libertarian presidential candidate. Activist Jo Jorgensen won 1.2% of the votes in 2020.
