Presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made a significant appeal to the Libertarian Party on Saturday evening, promising to appoint members from their party to positions in his administration if he is elected with their support.
Trump spoke at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., where he sought to win over third-party voters. He urged Libertarians to avoid “risking” the reelection of President Joe Biden by voting for him instead.
“Nominate me or vote. Vote for me. Because the Libertarians want to vote for me and most of them will, and it’s very important. Because we have to get rid of the worst president in history, and together we will,” Trump said, referring to Biden. “And without it, there’s a risk that we could have four more years we won’t have a country left.”
Trump questioned the value of the Libertarian Party aiming for a small percentage of the vote, saying, “So, what is the purpose of the Libertarian Party getting three percent? What is the reason to take a chance of having this horrible president destroy our country, which he will do in far less than four years. It’s not gonna take four years.”
He made a commitment to the Libertarians, stating, “That is why I’m committing to you tonight that I will put a Libertarian in my cabinet and also Libertarians in senior posts.” This promise elicited an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
“That’s pretty good. That’s pretty big,” Trump noted. “Or you can keep going the way you have for the last long decades and get your three percent and meet again, get another three percent. No, you want to make yourself winners. It’s time to be winners. You have a lot of common sense. It’s time to be winners.”
Trump’s appearance at the convention sparked mixed reactions. While some attendees cheered, others booed. Additionally, tensions flared when one Libertarian group attempted to remove Trump and Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the convention’s agenda, leading to physical altercations and vulgar shouting matches, as reported by Politico.
In response to Trump’s promise to include Libertarians in his administration, Libertarian National Convention Chair Angela McArdle told The Daily Caller, “We are grateful and we remain cautiously optimistic.”
Trump also pledged to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the “Silk Road” website, who is serving two life terms plus 40 years in prison for facilitating illegal transactions. Trump remarked that Ulbricht “already served 11 years” and promised to “get him home,” which was met with strong approval from the audience.