(Note language in paragraph 18 that readers may find offensive)
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous crowd at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday evening, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fiercely loyal supporters.
Libertarians, who believe in limited government and individual liberty, blame Trump, a Republican, for rushing the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine during his presidency and not doing more to ease public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic. to put a stop to it.
When Trump took the stage in Washington, there were loud cheers and cheers. A smaller section of the crowd, Trump supporters, cheered him on.
Shortly before he appeared, a Libertarian Party member shouted, “Donald Trump should have taken a bullet!”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hostile reception.
Trump, who served as president between 2017 and 2021, immediately listed the total of 88 felony charges he faces in four federal and state prosecutions.
“If I wasn’t a libertarian, I am now,” he said. He denounced the administration of President Joe Biden, his challenger in the rematch of the Nov. 5 election, and Biden’s fellow Democrats as part of a “rise in left-wing fascism.”
Trump sought to appeal to libertarians, who have more in common with Republican policy positions than Democrats on issues including taxes and the size of government, in what is expected to be a hard-fought election.
He added: “We should not fight with each other.” He asked libertarians to work with him to defeat Biden, a call that was greeted with many boos, even though the vast majority of the crowd was strongly opposed to Biden and his administration.
Libertarians won just 1.2% of the national vote in 2020, or about 1.8 million votes, but the November election could be decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of battleground states, so Trump is trying to peel away some libertarian support.
Trump’s appearance at the libertarian rally, unusual for a Republican candidate for the White House, also signaled how seriously he and his campaign are taking the threat from third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long opposed vaccines and mandates , and who spoke to the convention on Friday.
Trump has stepped up attacks on Kennedy, who is running as an independent, recently calling him a “fake” anti-vaccine advocate.
Opinion polls suggest Kennedy will siphon votes from both Trump and Biden, but it is not yet clear which of the major parties’ candidates will be hurt more by Kennedy’s long-awaited bid for the White House.
Libertarian Party organizers said Biden was also invited to speak at the convention, but he declined to attend.
“The Libertarian Party can make a big difference. If we unite, we will be unstoppable,” Trump said to a mix of applause and cheers.
Trump said he was a “libertarian without even trying to be one,” and that the Libertarian Party should support him, another statement that was greeted with boos and jeers.
Undaunted, Trump poked fun at the crowd, saying that if they didn’t support him, they would continue to capture only a small portion of voter support in the national election.
He promised to put a libertarian in his cabinet if he won the election, which was met with cries of “nonsense!”
Trump did receive a huge applause for one promise. A rallying cry for libertarians is the case of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for creating and operating the website Silk Road, which allowed users to secretly buy and sell drugs and other illegal products.
Libertarians believe that Ulbricht’s 2015 sentence represents an overreach by the government and the judiciary. In front of a crowd holding “Free Ross” signs, Trump vowed to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if he wins back the White House.
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington; Editing by William Mallard)
