Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. both spoke at the Libertarian National Convention over the Memorial Day weekend. Joe Biden was also invited by the Libertarian Party, but unsurprisingly did not accept.
I listened out of order. I watched the Trump speech first. I later listened to Kennedy’s speech. It seemed like they didn’t take place at the same event in front of the same crowd. To be fair, the crowd might have been a little different, as I’m sure some of those who attended Trump’s speech did not attend RFK’s speech.
With Trump’s speech, there is background noise during the entire thing. Some of the videos were shaky, which is probably the fault of the people running the event, but the video of Kennedy seemed better, so it is not clear what happened there.
Trump’s Content and the Reactions
Trump’s speech was mostly filled with boos. The crowd was hostile and rude to Trump. There were certainly some Trump supporters there and others who had certain sympathies with him, but the loud boos and talking are going to prevail in this situation.
It is understandable that a Libertarian crowd will be somewhat hostile to Trump, but it would have been nice to show a little more respect and at least let him talk. You can express your discontent for the really bad parts and then let him continue.
It was also a bit confusing for outsiders, which probably includes many Trump supporters. Trump said something about staying out of foreign wars and the crowd booed. I saw comments in one of the YouTube videos with several people wondering why libertarians were booing at that.
I understand the reason, but it is not so obvious to those outside our circles. The reason people were booing is because Trump’s comments do not reflect what he actually did as president. This is the man who surrounded himself with people like Nikki Haley, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo. Trump continued support for wars in Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He bombed Syria. He ordered the assassination of an Iranian official.
The sad thing is that Trump was probably the best president in terms of foreign policy in at least a generation. He didn’t start any new major wars. He may have entered office with the best of intentions. I don’t know. But he was still bad. His comments were hypocritical. That’s why the crowd expressed disapproval, but I think it would have been better optics to only boo the parts where Trump was saying things that were bad or incorrect.
Of course, there were probably many Libertarians there with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). They wouldn’t think through the optics and the message that the hostile attitude was sending to others watching.
The one high point of Trump’s speech was when he said he would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. You could also visibly see “Free Ross” signs in the crowd in many of the videos. This was Trump’s safe play to the crowd, and it got a lot of positive cheers.
This was the safe play because Ross Ulbricht isn’t hated and feared by the state as much as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Ulbricht set up a website that was partially used for activity that the government deems illegal, particularly buying and selling drugs. Snowden and Assange actually exposed corruption and criminality of the state. So, it is much easier for Trump to pander to libertarians by saying he will commute (not pardon) Ross.
On this topic, it was a good play for the Libertarians in the crowd to emphasize their desire to free Ross. That’s because it was something they could get out of Trump. I don’t think signs saying “Free Assange” would have done any good, at least with changing Trump.
When I first wrote about Trump speaking at the LP convention, I said that maybe something good will come out of it like this. If Trump does end up getting elected and taking office, there is a good chance that Ross will be freed from prison. For this reason alone, it is good that Angela McCardle (Libertarian Party chair) was able to get Trump to attend.
Overall, the speech was a disaster for Trump. He is not accustomed to this kind of environment. He is usually speaking in front of big crowds that love the things he is saying. If he had to do it over, I’m guessing Trump wouldn’t have gone. He should have just sent Vivek as a representative, who spoke well in an informal debate at the convention.
It was hilarious when Trump had to take his shot at the Libertarian Party saying that they can just be happy with their 3% if they don’t want to vote for him. Of course, that 3% is the reason that Trump and Kennedy were there. They both need every little percent they can get.
The Biden handlers knew not to show up because almost all libertarians dislike Biden and his policies. In addition, Biden is too mentally incapable of persuading anybody of anything. His support relies solely on other people’s hatred for Trump.
The Libertarian Speech from Kennedy
The speech from Kennedy was completely different. I almost have to wonder if he consulted with a hardcore libertarian to help write the speech that he gave. There was just one time that I heard someone yell from the crowd. Kennedy calmly said that he would be happy to talk to anyone afterwards. Other than that, I heard nothing but applause.
Kennedy’s speech was written for libertarians. He talked about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He mentioned the 9th and 10th Amendments, which is music to most libertarian ears. He said he would pardon Snowden and drop charges against Assange. He spoke of rights and how the government is not authorized to take them away.
It was hardcore libertarian in almost every way. There was one time when he mentioned reforming an agency (instead of eliminating it), so it wasn’t the perfect speech. But I was extremely impressed by his knowledge and how deep he went. Most conservatives wouldn’t have been able to articulate or even understand the things Kennedy said. Even if he had someone help him with the speech, I am impressed that he was in tune enough to get that help and speak the words that he did.
At the end of the speech, he said that we (Kennedy and the Libertarians) don’t agree on everything, but we need to be united against those who don’t understand what America is supposed to look like. Overall, it was an amazing speech.
Of course, Kennedy didn’t address the issue of Israel and its bombing campaign in Gaza. He didn’t mention his support of U.S. funding for that particular conflict.
With the nomination of Chase Oliver at the convention (the really bad part of the convention weekend), I have nobody to vote for. If Kennedy would just soften his position on Israel, I could probably overlook everything else in terms of flaws and vote for him.
If Kennedy were to govern half as good as his speech, I would vote for him.