Trump to speak at the Libertarian Party National Convention

What has the world come to? And is it a good thing? Yes it is.

Donald Trump and the Libertarian National Committee just issued press releases confirming that Trump will be speaking at the Libertarian Party National convention later this month.

This news was met with the typical histrionics and gnashing of teeth that has come to be so common with the people who used to run the LP and who, thankfully, no longer do so. People who seem to relish the fact that the LP has been almost completely irrelevant for a long long time.

This news is unequivocally good for the party, and the broader liberty movement, and it’s not close.

Look at what’s happened this election season. Vivek Ramaswamy and RFK Jr. have both been actively sniffing around the LP. They both attended and spoke at the heavily libertarian event PorcFest in 2023 (sponsored by the great Free State Project in New Hampshire.

Both have made the rounds on big podcasts hosted by our most influential libertarian thinkers and promoters. RFK Jr. attended the Libertarian Party of California’s state convention earlier this year, spoke, and engaged with two of our presidential candidates in a very interesting panel discussion.

And now Trump. The LP reached out to both Trump and Biden with an invitation to speak at our convention. Trump accepted. Biden probably won’t, but the door is still open for that. And RFK Jr. still might show his face there, either in a Quixotic attempt to gain our nomination, or just to pitch his Independent campaign to our delegates.

For the first time that I can remember, the LP is getting national attention — the good kind. More on that later.

We are relevant now. We matter. We are in the conversation. We are impacting the political discourse. In grappling with our principles and our philosophy, these candidates attract national media exposure to us which lets the whole world learn about libertarianism.

It’s glorious. And yet some people are actively complaining. The “Reeeeee!”s are deafening, as the kids say. The same people who championed having neocons like Bob Barr or Bill Weld on the LP presidential ticket are accusing us of “sullying our good name” by dialoguing with Vivek, RFK Jr, and now, “The Donald”.

It’s just ridiculous. We aren’t abandoning our principles. We are finally getting a chance to showcase our principles. The world is finally having to reckon with us.

Some people were happier when the LP was completely pathetic and irrelevant. When, if somebody in the country had heard of the LP, it was more than likely they did so because they heard about that one naked presidential candidate we had.

Or the time our candidates debated the merits of driver’s licenses (way to focus on the important issues, folks). Or the one with a boot on his head. Or the one who famously didn’t know what Aleppo was.

Pathetic.

Well, I don’t want to be pathetic anymore. If mankind is going to have a future that is peaceful and prosperous, we are going to have to embrace the libertarian political philosophy. All other political/economic systems or “third way” compromises are doomed to fail — and take us with them.

I’m thrilled to get all this attention for our party and our ideas. The only way we grow is if we attract more people to us. The first step to persuasion is gathering attention. We are finally starting to get some.

I really hope we make the most of it.

Naturally,

Adam