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FreedomWorks was a central organ in the tea party. The group held rallies that flexed and motivated its grassroots supporters. Upstart conservatives courted the group and relied on its money. The establishment of the GOP feared and resented FreedomWorks.

Now FreedomWorks is no more. FreedomWorks dissolved on May 8.

Politicos story on the late groups tumultuous final years frames it as a clash of ideologies, a dissonance between the libertarian principles of FreedomWorks leadership and the MAGA-style populism of its members.

Former FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon also used this terminology, saying he did my best to balance the two competing ideologies, which Politico describes as libertarianism vs. populism.

This is a standard framing in Washington, where insiders tend to see things in terms of policy preferences, principles, and beliefs. But if were being more precise, the tension here wasnt a clash between ideologies.

Some questions:

While the folks at the head of FreedomWorks tended to be libertarian, was libertarianism really what the group embodied and advanced?

Likewise, does it make sense to characterize, as Politico does, populism as the anti-libertarian force within FreedomWorks and the broader Right?

It doesnt, I believe.

Heres a more telling quote from that same article: A lot of our base aged, and so the new activists that have come in [with] Trump, they tend to be much more populist, Brandon said. So you look at the base and that just kind of shifted.

Again, I think Brandon is mostly but not entirely correct here. The key point is that the new activists came in with Donald Trump. Thats important because of what the former president represents.

And what does Trump represent? Its not exactly populism. It would be more precise to say Trump represents Trump.

Our staff became divided into MAGA and Never Trump factions, Brandon wrote in one internal memo.

Thats more accurate, and its more telling. This isnt really about ideas and policies as much as its about personalities. And this is the key to understanding the transition from the tea party era to the Trump Era.

The tea party era was characterized by candidates who were free market ideologues, but the wave they rode into power was mostly an anti-establishment wave. In the days after the Wall Street bailout, Obamacare, and the porky stimulus, anti-establishment meant anti-big government, and so it played nicely with libertarianism.

In other words, you could call 2010-era FreedomWorks a populist force.

FreedomWorks and the somewhat similar Club for Growth were mostly arrayed against big business and K Street lobbyists back in 2010. In contested primaries, the establishment candidates had lobbyist and big business funding, while the tea party candidates had FreedomWorks and Club for Growth funding.

Mike Lee, one of the marquee tea party insurgents in 2010, defeated Bob Bennett, who was branded Bailout Bob.

Back then, a few of us touted a libertarian populism as the central ideology of the tea party. FreedomWorks was with us in this populist stance.

Well, come 2016, GOP populism looked different, and we gained a more refined understanding of the energy behind the tea party. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) put it best:

All this time, Massie explained, I thought they were voting for libertarian Republicans. But after some soul searching, I realized when they voted for Rand and Ron [Paul] and me in these primaries, they werent voting for libertarian ideas they were voting for the craziest son of a bitch in the race. And Donald Trump won best in class.

Real leaders dont merely ride waves; they direct the forces. Trump rode in a populist wave, and he steered American conservatism and populism toward a very specific cause: himself.

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This left the erstwhile libertarian populists saddled with a base that didnt care about lower taxes or taking on cronyism but instead cared about supporting Trump and punching the media in the face.

There are plenty of organizations that could do that better than FreedomWorks. The groups time had come and gone.

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What was the tea party? What is Trumpism?: On populism and FreedomWorks - Washington Examiner

Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire

On Wednesday, the Libertarian Party revealed a special guest speaker at its convention in late May. Surprise! Its former President Donald Trump.

This momentous occasion will mark the first time a former President directly addresses our members, candidates, and executive committee, the party announced. Dont miss this opportunity to hear insights from a prominent figure in American politics and watch him engage with Libertarian ideals.

That wasnt all. A version of the page that has since been taken down invited members to shop from what it called The Don Collectionan assemblage of t-shirts featuring Trumps hairdo over a range of favored LP issues, like freeing Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from federal prison. For a $10 donation, you can even cast your vote on the topics President Trump will address during his time at the podium.

How did Donald Trump, an authoritarian Republican whose lawyers recently argued that the president can assassinate anyone he wants without being prosecuted, end up with a save-the-date for a libertarian conference? The simple answer is that the party invited both Trump and Biden to the event and Trump was the only one who said yes. (Third-party candidates Robert Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein, and Cornel West all previously appeared at the California Libertarian Party convention in February.) But the relationship between Trump and the current incarnation of the LP goes a bit deeper than that. As I reported in a recent story for the magazine, the party is in the midst of one of its semi-regular civil wars:

Under the auspices of expanding the tent, some within the LPand a fair number outside of itbegan clamoring for a different kind of party: more aggressive, more offensive, and more right-wing. They werent interested in third-place showings; it wasnt entirely clear if they were interested in competing at all. Whats followed has been more than seven years of spectacularly messy infighting. New Hampshire was only one front of many. Across the country the Libertarian Party has been plagued by breakaway factions, leaked chatrooms and conspiracy theories, and bitter struggles over bank accounts and social media handles.

This power struggle played out across a series of larger events. After the 2016 election, in which LP nominees Gary Johnson and Bill Weld received the partys biggest-ever vote haul, some members argued the party had sold out by hitching its brand to two Republican ex-governors (a little ironic, given the current circumstances). After Charlottesville, libertarians split over whether to condemn bigots in their midst. And during Covid, party leaders faced a vocal backlash for not protesting loudly enough against vaccine mandates and lockdowns. This culminated, in 2022, in the takeover of the party by a faction called the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (named for the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises), which wanted to turn the organization into a sort of the permanent campaign for the Ron Paul Revolution.

It would be a bit too simplistic to say that the Libertarian Party went full-on MAGA. But the new cohort was distinctly right-leaning in some key respects. They took concrete steps to disassociate the party from its support of socially liberal policiesrewriting the platform to eliminate the LPs longtime neutrality on abortion, deleting a pledge condemning bigotry as irrational and repugnant, and expressing support for the idea of secession. There was a sometimes virulent strain of angry anti-wokeness, and an affinity, at least in some circles, for a more nationalistic identity that rejects the free migration of people. One of the leading candidates for the partys presidential nomination said last year that open bordersplays into the globalist objective to erode the entire culture base of the United States.

In previous years, Trump and the LP would want nothing to do with each other. But this isnt the LP of previous years, and presumably thats why Trump accepted the invitation: There will be people in that room who might actually come over to his sideif they arent there already. Still, there is a silver lining for everyone else. Perhaps well get the answer to the question weve all wondered: Does Donald Trump think we should need a license to make toast in our own damn toaster?

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Donald Trump Will Speak at the Libertarian Convention. It's Not as Weird as It Sounds. Mother Jones - Mother Jones

In 2016, when it nominated former GOP governors Gary Johnson and William Weld for President, the Libertarian Party positioned itself as a sensible alternative to the statist Democratic Party and the far-right MAGA GOP. It maintained that position during Trumps presidency.

Whatever libertarian impulses Trump the candidate seemed to have, the party wrote in a 2018 statement, his actual performance as president stands in stark contrast. Donald Trump is the opposite of a Libertarian.

What changed? In 2022, the right-wing Mises Caucus won control of the party, powered by frustration at the Johnson/Weld nomination (which compromised on numerous Libertarian positions) and the partys failure to capitalize on anger at COVID-19 restrictions. In her speech to the California convention this year, LP national chair Angela McArdle said that she needed to focus on creative growth and finding new allies. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.s candidacy was appealing to the sort of anti-establishment voters who often voted Libertarian and some members were pushing for him to lead the ticket.

Were going to be in a tough election year, she said. If Kennedy is on the ballot in 40 or more states as an independent, its going to really hurt Libertarian vote turnout.

Kennedy, who did not rule out seeking the LP nomination, hasnt made serious moves toward winning it since getting a single vote in that conventions straw poll. The candidates now running for the nomination arent well-known outside of the movement. Trumps decision to attend will bring star power, media attention, and very unusual for the LP intense security to the event, while dividing Libertarians, some of whom are wondering why a Republican candidate who supports tariffs, mass deportations, and state abortion limits should share their stage.

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Donald Trump courts an increasingly friendly Libertarian Party - Semafor

Former President Trump is planning to speak at the Libertarian Party’s convention in Washington, D.C., later this month, his campaign confirmed Wednesday. 

Trump will “address concerns voiced by its members” during the event May 25, the party said in a statement. The convention, which will take place May 23-26 at a D.C. hotel, is where the party will nominate its presidential ticket. 

“Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, DC, later this month,” Trump said in a statement. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump Administration will achieve that goal.” 

The Libertarian Party said it invited both the presumptive GOP nominee and President Biden to address the convention. Biden is not slated to speak.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who previously flirted with the possibility of being the party’s nominee, said he would not run as a Libertarian in mid-April. Kennedy attended the California Libertarian Party state convention in February.

Apart from the former president, other speakers attending the convention include cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, comedian Dave Smith, Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton, entrepreneur Robert Breedlove, and economist Mark Skousen.

Trump’s appearance will give him an opportunity to court more third-party voters as he looks to secure a win in November. 

“If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election won’t even be close. We cannot have another four years of death, destruction, and incompetence. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER AND WIN!,” the former president said. 

The convention’s four-day schedule will include events, award presentations and ultimately nominating the party’s White House ticket. In 2020, the party nominated Jo Jorgensen.

“For 50 years, we’ve been trying to get our candidates on the main stage with major party POTUS candidates and we’ve finally succeeded in bringing one to our stage,” the party Chair  Angela McArdle said in a statement.

“We will do everything in our power to use this incredible opportunity to advance the message of liberty.”

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Trump to address Libertarian Party convention - The Hill

On Wednesday, the Libertarian Party made an eyebrow-raising announcement about its upcoming convention: the headline speaker will be Donald Trump. For the little-noticed third party, which has mostly been overshadowed this year by more prominent independent candidates, it was certainly an attention-grabber.

It is unusual, to say the least, for the presumptive Republican nominee to speak at an event which is also slated to nominate a candidate to run against him. Its also bizarre given that Trump is, by any measure, the exact opposite of an ideological libertarian. But beneath the incongruity, there is a certain logic on both sides of this odd exchange.

Trump, for his part, obviously seeks to undercut a perceived spoiler threat. In 2020, the Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen exceeded Bidens margin of victory over Trump in several swing states. Trump has also previously complained that his loss of the national popular vote in 2016 can be pinned on Gov. Gary Johnsons Libertarian bid, which set a record for the party by taking 3.2 percent of the popular vote.

Republicans have long seen the Libertarian Party as costing them winnable elections, pulling away more GOP-leaning voters with its small government message.

For its part, the Libertarian Party aint what it used to be.

Through most of its history, the L.P.s free-market fundamentalism was paired with similarly radical social liberalism, advocating an open borders immigration policy, drug legalization, and LGBT rights.

But in recent years, the party was subject to a hostile takeover. Out went the traditional live-and-let-live tolerance, to be replaced with culture warriors drawn from the fever swamps of the alt-right and its allies. So its not entirely surprising that the new management has turned the partys convention into a literal Trump rally.

Their first order of business was to delete a nearly 50-year-old platform plank condemning bigotry as irrational and repugnant.

The L.P.s internal turmoil, in and of itself, can be rather tedious and of little interest to outsiders. But the Trump campaign might end up wishing theyd taken a closer look before accepting this particular invitation. In rushing to accept the implicit endorsement, theyve put their candidate on what might be the most overtly bigoted stage of his career.

In 2017, when then-President Trump was offering his infamous take on the very fine people at the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, others were playing out a similar reaction in miniature. The Libertarian Partys leadership including its national chair at the time, attorney Nicholas Sarwarkhad emphatically denounced the chants of blood and soil and Jews will not replace us.

Within days, an organization called the Mises Caucus was founded with the purpose of expelling such woke sentiments from the party. In a sick bit of irony, they took their name from free-market economist Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian-born Jew who fled the Nazis.

The caucus began taking over state parties, packing members into sparsely attended conventions. As they did so, they quickly started attracting negative attention for saying (mostly via party Twitter accounts) things that sounded less like liberty and more like the tiki torch brigade. Examples included equating COVID vaccines to the Holocaust with yellow Star of David patches, denouncing Pride Month as degeneracy, and telling a Black politician to pick cotton and go back to Africa.

Things came to a head in 2021, when a vote to expel the New Hampshire party over such antics failed on the partys national committee. In response, most Mises Caucus opponents walked out. Joe Bishop-Henchman, a nationally respected tax policy expert whod been elected chair of the national committee in 2022, resigned in protest, writing that he would not chair a party that has knowingly and now affirmatively chosen to stay affiliated with the toxic garbage being spewed by Mises Caucus-controlled states.

A year later, the caucus took control of the national party at its 2022 convention. Their first order of business was to delete a nearly 50-year-old platform plank condemning bigotry as irrational and repugnant.

The new chair, Angela McArdle, defined the new mission as fighting wokeism. In practice, this meant saying outlandishly racist things and then playing the victim when anybody objected.

Angela McArdle at the Rage Against the War Machine rally in 2023.

The remade Libertarian Party embraced a wide range of bigotries, with a particular zeal for overt antisemitism. It also suffered a collapse in membership, revenue, and vote totals as longtime Libertarians fled.

McArdle, in an interview on Tim Pools podcast, eagerly promoted the German New Medicine conspiracy theory, which holds that Jewish doctors deliberately give white people cancer. She defended the Mises Caucus headlining a virulent Holocaust denier at its events by pivoting to praise him as a truth-seeker willing to ask why Jews control Hollywood.

The national party tweeted a version of the notorious Happy Merchant anti-semitic caricature to allege a link between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and disgraced con artist Sam Bankman-Fried, who have nothing in common other than both being Jewish. The party has long opposed foreign aid in general, but talk of Israel in particular soon leaned into the dual loyalty trope with statements such as Israel First is America Last.

This is the organization whose stage the 45th and would-be 47th President of the United States has eagerly agreed to share.

In his statement accepting the invitation, Trump praised the party as some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers and urged them to help him defeat President Biden.

It would be fair to say, for all his controversies and own problematic statements over the years, Trump has never spoken to such an openly bigoted organization before. This is less like the very fine people comment and more like if hed showed up himself to speak at the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. It is particularly notable at a time when Trump and his fellow Republicans have been eager to denounce alleged antisemitism on the left in context of the war in Gaza.

It might be unsurprising that a party transformed into (for all intents and purposes) a hate group would accept Trumps seal of approval. But its less clear if Trump, or his campaign staffers, knew what he was signing up for. The embrace of such an organization by a normal presidential candidate would be a major scandal.

It remains to be seen if, for Trump, it even gets noticed.

Original post:
Is the Libertarian Party Too Bigoted Even for Trump? - The Daily Beast