Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has accepted the Libertarian Party’s invitation to address its national convention later this month, an opportunity for the former president to win over third-party voters.
The Libertarian National Convention will be held from May 23 to 26 in Washington. Both President Trump and President Joe Biden were invited to participate, but the Libertarian Party said that only the former president has so far responded to the invitation.
“Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, DC, later this month,” President Trump said in his message to the Libertarians. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump Administration will achieve that goal.”
“I look forward to speaking at the Libertarian Event, which will be attended by many of my great friends,” he added, emphasizing that he shares Libertarians’ goal to deny a second term to President Biden.
“If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election won’t even be close. We cannot have another four years of death, destruction, and incompetence. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER AND WIN!”
The theme for the 2024 Libertarian National Convention is “Become Ungovernable.” This was chosen because of what the party calls authoritarian actions by the federal and state governments in which citizens were confined, indoctrinated, lied to, and inoculated against their will.
The theme was picked to honor Americans who have resisted government overreaches in recent years. The convention will feature various speakers and conclude with the party selecting its own candidate for the 2024 White House race.
President Trump’s speech is scheduled for May 25. Members of the Libertarian Party will share a list of their top 10 issues with him before the convention, hoping to make an impact on his policy positions.
Some other speakers confirmed thus far for the convention include Dr. Peter McCullough, an outspoken skeptic of COVID-19 vaccines; Gabriel Shipton, a filmmaker and brother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and Dave Smith, co-host of the popular libertarian podcast “Part of the Problem.”
Angela McArdle, chairwoman of the Libertarian National Committee, described President Trump’s response as a dream come true for her party.
“For 50 years, we’ve been trying to get our candidates on the main stage with major party POTUS candidates and we’ve finally succeeded in bringing one to our stage,” she said. “We will do everything in our power to use this incredible opportunity to advance the message of liberty.”
The views of most Libertarians, who focus on limited government and protection of personal liberty, align more closely—except on social issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights—with those of Republicans than Democrats.
The past two decades have seen two Republican-turned-Libertarian presidential candidates: Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia; and Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico who finished with 3.3 percent of the national vote in 2016—the highest in the party’s history.
The 2020 Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen, won 1.2 percent of the national vote and was blamed by some commentators for “spoiling” a Republican victory.
The assumption is that Libertarian votes could have supplemented Trump’s margin in key states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, although the party underperformed in 2020 compared to the previous election.
Months ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans and Democrats are alarmed by the potential threat of third-party candidates.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fueled speculation that he could join the Libertarian ticket before announcing this week that he officially made the California presidential ballot on the American Independent Party line.
