(Note language in paragraph 18 that readers may find offensive)
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his ardent loyal supporters.
Libertarians, who believe in limited governmental and individual freedom, blame Trump, a Republican, for rushing the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine when he was president and for not doing more to stop public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic. pandemic.
When Trump took the stage in Washington, there were boos and jeers. A small part of the crowd, Trump supporters, applauded him.
Just before appearing, a member of the Libertarian Party shouted, “Donald Trump should have been shot!”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hostile reception.
Trump, who was president between 2017 and 2021, immediately mentioned the total of 88 criminal charges he faces in four federal and state cases.
“If I weren’t a libertarian, I am now,” he said. He denounced the administration of President Joe Biden, his opponent in the Nov. 5 election rematch, and Biden’s fellow Democrats as being part of a “rise of left-wing fascism.”
Trump was trying to appeal to libertarians, who have more in common with Republican policy positions than Democrats on issues such as taxes and the size of government, in what is expected to be a close election.
He added: “We shouldn’t be fighting each other.” He called on libertarians to work with him to defeat Biden, a call that was met with loud boos, even though the vast majority of the crowd fiercely opposed Biden and his administration.
Libertarians won just 1.2% of the national vote in 2020, or about 1.8 million votes, but the November elections could be decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states, so Trump is try to withdraw some libertarian support.
Trump’s appearance at the libertarian rally, unusual for a Republican candidate for the White House, also signaled how seriously he and his campaign take the threat from a third-party candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long opposed to vaccines and mandates, and who spoke to the convention on Friday.
Trump has stepped up attacks on Kennedy, who is running as an independent, recently calling him a “fake” anti-vaccination proponent.
Opinion polls suggest that Kennedy will siphon votes away from both Trump and Biden, but it remains unclear which of the major party candidates will be most harmed by Kennedy’s long-shot bid for the White House.
Libertarian Party organizers said Biden was also invited to speak at the convention but declined to attend.
“The Libertarian Party can make a big difference. If we come together, we will be unstoppable,” Trump said, to a mix of applause and boos.
Trump said he was a “libertarian without even trying to be one” and that the Libertarian Party should support him, another phrase greeted by boos and jeers.
Undeterred, Trump taunted the crowd, saying that if they did not support him, they would continue to garner only a small portion of voter support in national elections.
He promised to put a libertarian in his cabinet if he won the election, which was met with cries of “bullshit!”
Trump received huge applause for a promise. A rallying cry for libertarians is the case of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for creating and operating the Silk Road website, which allowed users to secretly buy and sell drugs and other illegal products.
Libertarians believe Ulbricht’s 2015 ruling represents governmental and judicial overreach. Before a crowd holding “Free Ross” signs, Trump promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if he wins back the White House.
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington; Editing by William Mallard)
