Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump repeatedly sparred with the unwelcoming crowd during his campaign speech at the Libertarian Party convention in Washington on May 25.
The Libertarian Party leadership invited Trump, as well as third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy and President Joe Biden, to address their presidential nominating convention. Trump and Kennedy accepted while President Biden declined.
Kennedy, who addressed the group on Friday, May 24, was given a somewhat chilly reception from the crowd. But when Trump appeared the next day, the boisterous group didn’t disguise their anger over his appearance at the convention.
Throughout the former president’s remarks, pro-Trump attendees and Libertarians engaged in verbal sparring matches that at times grew so chaotic that security had to escort several attendees out of the room.
Meanwhile, Trump’s speech was accompanied by boos and jeers from the unruly crowd.
The visibly agitated Trump repeatedly taunted and argued with the group, at one point telling them that they could keep “getting your 3 percent” in every presidential election and suggesting that Libertarians “don’t want to win.”
The Trump campaign said the former president agreed to speak at the convention, not to win the Libertarian nomination but to try to convince some members to vote for him in November.
Trump said in his remarks that he supported commuting Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence – a position that is part of the Libertarian Party platform.
Kennedy also tried to appeal to Libertarians by promising to free their heroes.
The independent candidate vowed to pardon infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden and promised to drop the charges against Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.
Many of the convention attendees who objected to the Libertarian Party leadership extended invitations to Trump and Kennedy made their feelings clear at the start of the convention.
During a business session on the first day, delegates to the convention shouted obscenities at party chair Angela McArdle. When she tried to restore calm, the delegates responded with loud boos.
