The Boos Have It. Trump Ruled Ineligible for Libertarian Nomination
Despite his begging that they “nominate me or at least vote for me,” the Libertarian Convention has rejected Donald Trump for the party’s nomination. The party’s chair ruled the former president is ineligible because he failed to submit the proper paperwork, according to CNN.
Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle determined that Trump could not move forward in the vote for a nominee. Trump addressed the convention on Saturday evening, where he was met with raucous boos and heckling.
Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted his nomination to be considered as a potential Libertarian presidential candidate. Kennedy also received boos when he addressed the convention on Saturday.
In an awkward moment, McArdle phoned RFK Jr. from the convention podium — while some delegates voiced their objections — only to anticlimactically announce, “He’s going to get back to us.”
Kennedy later appeared in a video address to the convention. “I’m very grateful to the Libertarian Party for this great honor, and I look forward to an alliance across the country, a fusion alliance of all of these independent parties who are now challenging the Republican-Democrat corrupt duopoly,” he said. Last week, Kennedy told CNN he did not plan to seek the Libertarian party’s nomination.
In other Libertarian news, Libertarian candidate Michael Rectenwald confirmed to The Washington Post‘s Meryl Kornfield that ate an edible before appearing at a press conference with two other candidates. Semafor’s Dave Weigel noted that Rectenwald was “unusually off in his public remarks last night” and left in the middle of the press conference, saying that he was bored by the questions.
“This was not some sort of a major political scandal, okay. I wasn’t found in bed with Stormy Daniels,” Rectenwald told Kornfield. “I’m at a Libertarian Party convention. Somebody offered me something.”
Before delegates began to vote for nominees, Rectenwald told the convention, “I have a confession to make: I’m high… on liberty.”
After the first round in voting, Kennedy was eliminated from the running, and Rectenwald led the pack with 28 percent of the vote, per Kornfield.