Libertarians turned out for Trump

[mystery-ak]

Libertarians turned out for Trump
By
Brady Leonard
November 12, 2024 2:28 pm
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President-elect Donald Trump made the unorthodox decision to speak at the Libertarian National Convention back in May. No former or future president had appeared at a third-party convention in the past, but in a stroke of what turned out to be political genius, Trump was willing to face a hostile audience and make multiple concessions to libertarians in order to expand his coalition heading into the general election.

Trump pledged to give libertarians a few of their bucket list items in exchange for their votes. The 45th president promised to appoint a libertarian to a Cabinet-level position, call off the regulatory dogs regarding Bitcoin, and free Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the darknet site Silk Road who many believe is unjustly serving a life sentence in federal prison.

The bargain worked. Several prominent libertarians, both within and outside the Libertarian Party, made the unprecedented decision to endorse the former president. Comic Dave Smith, author Tom Woods, radio host Austin Petersen, and Libertarian Party Chairwoman Angela McCardle all threw their weight behind Trump, a decision undoubtedly made easier by the nomination of left-libertarian Chase Oliver by the nation’s third-largest party.

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3226719/libertarians-turned-out-for-trump/

[LadyLiberty]

Right before the election Elon and Ron Paul started a conversion on X re DOGE, which got libertarians on X pretty excited, saying it would make them feel more comfortable voting for Trump. Paul was very open to participating in DOGE.

[berdie]

I would very much like to see Ron participate.

[jmyrlefuller]

It certainly didn't hurt Trump's cause that Chase Oliver was such an unappealing, incompetent candidate even by big-L standards.

Of all the years where a third party candidate could have made inroads that rivaled 2016's, the stunning cession of the third parties this year astounded me. You'd think with as many disaffected voters there were in the pool, at least one of the third parties would have made a serious push for them, but... nothing. The Constitution Party didn't even bother to apply for write-in status in my state.