In article <v35rv5$qdg5$26@dont-email.me>, privatemail@protonmail.com wrote:

> Trump booed at Libertarian convention

When cable news channels announced the results of the 2016 election, for the
most part, they displayed the vote totals for the two major party candidates
side-by-side: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They simply left out the
Libertarian Party ticket, which was led by Gary Johnson. It was as if Gary
Johnson didn�t exist.

In a normal election year, that wouldn�t be a very notable omission. Outside
of Ross Perot�s run in 1992, third-party candidates don�t exactly put up very
big numbers on Election Night, so they�re not worth talking about. That�s
been especially true for Libertarian Party candidates, who are mostly known
for taking off their shirts at conventions and debating the merits of
driver�s licenses.

But in 2016, it was a very different story. Libertarians had their best-ever
showing in a presidential race, racking up nearly four-and-a-half million
votes. In eleven states, the Libertarian Party vote total exceeded the margin
of victory � meaning, you can make a case that Libertarians affected the
outcome of the 2016 presidential election by siphoning votes from Hillary
Clinton. You don�t hear that discussed very often � it�s a lot easier for
Democrats to blame Russia. But it�s true.

Eight years later, once again, there are signs that libertarians might have a
relatively strong showing in the upcoming election. Polls show that most
Americans are ambivalent about this presidential race � in part because both
candidates have already served as president, so there�s not as much
enthusiasm as there normally is. That gives an opening to third-party
candidates to attract new support.

Both the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign understand this dynamic very
well. They�re looking at the same poll numbers. But only Trump has decided to
appeal to these Libertarian voters directly. On Saturday night, Trump spoke
at the Libertarian Party�s national nominating convention in the nation�s
capital � becoming the first former president to ever do so.

The speech marked another moment of stark contrast between Trump and Joe
Biden, who would never walk into a venue where he knew that a large portion
of the audience would oppose him. We�re at the point where Joe Biden isn�t
even allowed to give press conferences anymore, much less deliver speeches
before a hostile crowd. But Trump had no problem facing his detractors at the
convention, who (as predicted) heckled him at various points during his
address.

That was the side of the story the media ran with. There were dozens of
headlines about how Trump was booed and jeered at the convention. But there
were quite a few Trump supporters in attendance as well, and there were
several moments where the Libertarians in attendance were clearly on Trump�s
side.

That makes sense, because Trump didn�t deliver his typical stump speech.
Instead, he tailored his remarks for a libertarian audience � hitting topics
like lower taxes, cryptocurrency, reducing the size of the federal
government, keeping America out of foreign wars, and so on. Trump even
promised to commute the sentence of libertarian hero Ross Ulbricht, the
founder of the defunct dark web marketplace �Silk Road.� Ulbricht is serving
a life sentence for facilitating the sale of narcotics, but Trump said he�d
let him out of prison on day one of his second term. Trump made a host of
other promises, as well, including a vow to appoint libertarians to his
Cabinet. Watch:

https://youtu.be/BMu6yzYE0EU

As you could hear during some of those clips, the crowd reaction was mixed at
some points and very positive at other points. It was a lot more interesting
than the traditional stump speech, and the response was unpredictable at
points.

But for their part, the media pretended it was an unmitigated disaster. NBC
News ran this headline: �Trial taking its toll: Trump booed and heckled at
Libertarian National Convention. �The Washington Post reported, �Trump loudly
heckled at Libertarian National Convention.� Politico reported that Trump had
been �jeered,� and CNN said he was �loudly booed.� And on and on.

As you just saw from the clips I played, this is obviously a total
misrepresentation of what happened. The media desperately does not want the
Trump campaign bringing in new voters from the Libertarian side, so they�re
lying. The so-called �defenders of democracy� want to shame a presidential
candidate for reaching out to people who disagree with him.

But the truth is that, even when there was booing during Trump�s speech, it
didn�t always relate to what Trump was saying. There was, as others have
pointed out, the equivalent of a �Jerry Springer� episode occurring in the
crowd at one point as Trump spoke. Apparently a Libertarian delegate by the
name of �Starchild� was holding up a sign calling Trump a dictator. And then
security dragged him away for some reason, and Starchild�s associates weren�t
pleased by this development. Watch:

https://youtu.be/yfbgEiCbUKU

�These fascists don�t get to kick out Starchild! Free Starchild!� Presumably
that�s Starchild�s father, Star, but it�s hard to say. Meanwhile Starchild�s
wig falls off as he�s dragged away, while a very confused Secret Service
agent looks on.

Is this what Ludwig Von Mises had in mind back in the day? Probably not. But
it�s the state of the Libertarian Party in America right now. And if nothing
else, it�s entertaining.

During his speech, Trump apparently recognized that, and he had some fun at
the party�s expense. Watch:

https://youtu.be/TzIkngnmhzk

Again, this is something Joe Biden wouldn�t have the balls (or the
brainpower) to do. It certainly wasn�t written in the teleprompter to taunt
libertarians to their faces, at their own convention, about the fact that
pretty much no one votes for them. That�s not the kind of outreach that any
campaign advisor would have come up with. But it was both honest and
hilarious, which is why it works.

Libertarians (except for Starchild, maybe) are under no illusions that
they�re going to win the White House. What Trump is doing is something the
Left normally excels at, which is transactional politics. He�s basically
saying, �Vote for me, even though you don�t like me, and I�ll give you more
than the other party will.� We can assume Trump isn�t passionate about Ross
Ulbricht, for example. But he knows the crowd is, so he says he�ll get him
out of prison.

In that context, it makes sense for Trump to embrace the adversarial
relationship he has with the crowd. Trump knew going into the convention that
he wasn�t going to win the Libertarian Party�s nomination. Instead, his plan
was simply to present a viable alternative to the Libertarian Party�s
eventual nominee.

And in that respect, Trump�s speech succeeded more than he probably even
thought possible. It now appears very likely that Trump will indeed win a
very large share of the Libertarian Party vote. That�s because on Sunday �
after Trump was determined to be ineligible for their party�s nomination �
Libertarians nominated an HR representative named Chase Oliver to be their
presidential nominee.

Already, right away, this is a win for Trump, because no one in their right
mind would ever want an HR representative in the White House. It�s probably
the least sympathetic and appealing profession for a politician that you can
imagine. But it gets even worse once you start looking at what Chase Oliver
believes. For example, earlier this year, Oliver shot a video at the southern
border. Watch:

https://youtu.be/oBKP-S0WBtM

According to Oliver, the United States has no right to enforce its borders
against anyone. We have to be open to illegal migrants as well as hostile
invading armies, presumably, because otherwise we�re basically erecting
another Berlin Wall. Never mind that the Berlin Wall was intended to lock
people inside and prevent them from escaping, while the southern border wall
is intended to keep foreigners from entering the country. That�s not
important to Chase Oliver. The point, in his mind, is that walls are always
bad. Except, presumably, the walls that form his own home, and keep intruders
out.

In that video, Oliver also lies and claims that illegals don�t use more
welfare benefits than American citizens, which is just completely made up. As
the Center for Immigration Studies has found, �In 2018, 49 percent of
households headed by all immigrants � naturalized citizens, legal residents,
and illegal immigrants � used at least one major welfare program, compared to
32 percent of households headed by the native-born.�

So this guy doesn�t understand the impact of open borders on the economy, but
he wants open borders anyway. This is one of the least-popular positions a
politician can have right now, but the Libertarian Party just picked a
candidate who firmly believes in unrestricted illegal migration.

As it happens, Chase is also a big supporter of pretty much every other
Left-wing agenda item. He doesn�t want the government to prevent adults from
getting naked in front of kids, for instance. Watch:

https://youtu.be/u1yewEXAtiw

Oliver goes on to say that he doesn�t prefer to see nudity at Pride parades,
where children are attending � but only because it�s not �helpful� to the
message of the parade, in his view. He doesn�t think it should be prohibited.

Then the interviewer asks a few follow-up questions about drag shows for
children. And once again, Oliver pretends that there�s nothing sexual about
these shows. We�ve all seen the footage of these shows, and what kids are
forced to watch. But apparently Chase Oliver hasn�t. Watch:

https://youtu.be/2GKmHQMceEU

As the joke goes, the Libertarians wanted Ron Paul but they got RuPaul
instead.

But it�s actually disturbing to listen to his reasoning. He compares the
Wiggles � the kids� music group � to grown men with a fetish for wearing
women�s clothing. And he says he has no problem leaving children alone with
these grown men. Parents, he says, always know best � and if parents want to
leave their children with these people, then who are we to disagree? His only
defense is that these drag performers are engaging in �performance art.�
Therefore, we have to accept it.

Once again, it just so happens that Chase�s position comports perfectly with
mainstream Democratic Party orthodoxy. And there�s plenty more where that
came from. Chase Oliver has also voiced his support for banning Donald Trump
from social media, as well as for vaccine mandates (as long as they�re
implemented by private companies and not the government). He also supports
legislation that would overrule the Supreme Court on abortion.

So to recap: The Libertarians nominated a Leftist, essentially. They�ve
picked a Pride-flag waving progressive who supports open borders, has no
problem with nudity at Pride parades, loves seeing kids alone at drag queen
story hours, supports vaccine mandates for millions of Americans, and also
supports abortion on the grounds of �bodily autonomy.� This is pretty much
the DNC�s platform, word for word.

It�s yet more evidence that libertarians are just pot-scented Democrats. They
fundamentally agree with Democrats on most things because libertarians and
leftists both subscribe to a consent-based morality where anything is okay as
long as the people involved choose to do it. And they both make exceptions
even to that flimsy moral framework when it comes to children � who are often
exposed to drag queens and public nudity without their consent, especially in
cities controlled by Democrats. Chase Oliver wouldn�t be remotely out of
place as a Democrat on San Francisco�s city council.

Then again, Republicans are also just Democrats driving the speed limit, to
use Michael Malice�s phrase. Both parties agree on major issues like funding
foreign wars, and they both tolerate open borders. What this means is that
there really is no true political alternative to Leftism, at least not right
now. Even the �third party� doesn�t really provide it, as Chase Oliver
demonstrates.

During his appearance on Saturday night at the Libertarian�s convention, to
the dismay of Starchild, Donald Trump didn�t promise his audience everything
they wanted. But Trump did demonstrate that he�s willing to break with the
Republican Party establishment to win over voters who have been ignored for
decades. He made it clear that he�s willing to make promises that Mitch
McConnell won�t be happy about, in order to secure more votes and political
power. Is that a tactic we normally see from the Right? Absolutely not. But
ultimately, especially in this election year, it�s what building a viable
alternative to Leftism will require.

--
Let's go Brandon!