On Saturday night, former President Donald Trump gave a historic speech at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, offering to place libertarians in cabinet positions and senior leadership roles within his administration in exchange for their support.
This marks the first time in US history that a major party nominee has attended another party’s convention in an election year. The Washington DC crowd reacted with a mix of cheers, boos, and chants as Trump made his speech. Trump began his speech by criticizing President Joe Biden and the “rise of left-wing fascism.” He also appealed to the libertarian crowd by emphasizing freedoms of expression, religion, firearms, and opposition to high taxes.
Throughout his speech, he made several offers to the Libertarian Party, aiming to secure their presidential nomination or their votes in the general election.
Hours before the speech, Trump stated via Truth Social that he was “very positive and open minded to cryptocurrency companies, and to things related to this new and burgeoning industry.” He reiterated this in his speech, promising to “keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your bitcoin.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin.”pic.twitter.com/3rzQISm1JQ
— Coinage (@coinage_media) May 26, 2024
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Trump further offered to nominate a libertarian to a cabinet position and bring some on as senior administration officials. He also promised to commute the sentence of libertarian icon Ross Ulbricht, founder of darkweb market site Silk Road, and stop the creation of a central bank digital currency in the US. Recently, a bill passed the House that would prohibit the federal government from creating a CBDC, but it has yet to become law.
As some attendees booed the former president, he taunted them, saying, “maybe you don’t want to win.” He also mocked their low vote totals in past presidential elections, asking if they were content to continue winning 3 percent of the vote every election cycle.
Trump challenges Libertarians to vote for him but “only if you wanna win.” pic.twitter.com/Iw44D8qMv1
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 26, 2024
The Libertarian Party has never managed to have an official party member in Congress, the Presidency, the cabinet, or the Supreme Court. For libertarians, having a cabinet member in charge of a federal agency would be the high watermark for political influence in the history of the party. However, as the boos during Trump’s speech indicated, a sizable portion of the party does not support the Republican nominee’s return to office.
Ultimately, the Libertarian Party nomination went to longtime activist Chase Oliver, who previously served as a third-party spoiler during the 2022 runoff Senate election in Georgia.
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