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The Libertarian Party does not run on flattery. The partys remnant establishment gathered for its national convention at the Washington Hilton on Memorial Day weekend and introduced the mostly foreign-born hotel staff in the underground, sci-fi-themed banquet hall to their resigned sarcasm and attitude of indifference toward success as Americas largest gadfly political party.

According to both the hours of floor time spent contesting delegates whose credentials had been refused and my conversations with delegates, the party seems more interested in ironing out internal disputes than clarifying its external image and message.

Reactions to the presence of President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among the delegates varied: Some were disappointed because of their respective campaigns ideological impurity; Amity Pickeral, a Virginia delegate who nominated Joshua Smith for the presidency, said repeatedly, of both big names, Hes not a libertarian! Others were frustrated because of a perception that the invitation to Trump sacrificed the partys priorities on the altar of fundraising and media attention. Others had a free-speech maximalist detachment.

Jacob Luria, who ran for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives as a Libertarian in 2022, said that he has considered voting for Kennedy but lamented the effect that Kennedys candidacy could have on the Libertarian Partys voter turnout in November. I didnt hate the idea that at one point he was seeking our nomination Part of that is because I imagine what the party would look like if we had Ross Perot run on our ticket [in 1992].

Instead the party ran Andre Marrou, an Alaskan, during that cycle. He picked up 0.28 percent of the national vote while Perot earned almost 19 percent. Perot saw his best performance in Marrous home state, where Perot almost overcame Bill Clinton with 28 percent of voters in the Last Frontier.

Though there is room for speculation about missed opportunities for the 1992 LP, it remains true that the partys presidential nominee has performed better in every cycle since then. Through the decades, the LP has enjoyed marginal growth, even with Perots second go in 1996, Ralph Naders Green run the same year, Pat Buchanans Reform candidacy and Naders heftier returns in 2000, and Naders proof of persistence in 2004 and 2008.

Between 1984 and 2012, the results for the LP cemented its reputation as a less-than-one-percent contingent of the national bloc. The average percentage of Americans who voted for the Libertarian presidential candidate in the 11 races between the partys founding and 2012 is 0.44 percent.

When the 2016 and 2020 races are included, the average jumps to 0.72 percent of the national electorate. In 2016, two former governors, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, brought home over three percent of the vote, an anomaly from the partys typical performance, with Alaska, Oklahoma, and Johnsons home state of New Mexico getting out the highest vote for the Libertarians.

After that surprise performance, the Trump campaign did not set out to gather the strayed sheep back to the herd at the partys 2020 convention. But, back then, Kennedys candidacy was not a factor. Its unlikely that Trump would have appeared to speak to the Libertarian delegates if Kennedy were not in the race.

Party delegates hadnt gotten to naming their partys candidate by the time Trump arrived on Saturday night. In the end, after seven rounds of voting, by a simple majority vote, they selected Chase Oliver, whose purported homosexuality, desire for an Ellis Island style of processing immigrants, and call for an end to federal mandatory minimum sentencing places him firmly in the partys left wing.

Trumps performance was not for the sake of striking a contrast between himself and the eventual party nominee, but rather between himself and Kennedy. It worked. The crowd size during Trumps speech at the convention was approximately double that of Kennedys. The spirited air in the room came not only from party delegates but also from energized D.C. Young Republicans who arrived to drown out the boos of the partys less inhibited members, who were served drinks before Trumps speech and only after Kennedys.

In his more analytical fashion, Kennedy opened his speech with a claim that Libertarian voters should elect leaders who are inspired by [the Constitution] and who will wield it to inspire others and that neither President Trump nor President Biden pass this critical examination. Kennedy transitioned from his broadside against both major party candidates with more sustained attacks against Trump, mentioning the frontrunners name 12 times throughout his speech versus five references to Biden.

Trump, for his part, did not mention Kennedy but continued to wage an offensive against President Biden along with occasional gibes at the LPs poor performance: Libertarians could win with him or could keep getting your three percent every four years. The latter option of gathering three percent of the nations vote, as the partys historical results prove, is more an indication of Trumps generosity than anything for which the party could reasonably hope in the upcoming election.

But politeness seems to be foreign currency for a party whose delegates boo the frontrunners call for support after he pledged to put a libertarian in his cabinet and to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to time served on the first day of his administration.

Trumps pledge to free the tech wiz with a cult following is no ancillary concern for the partys delegates. The LPs communications director confirmed to TAC that Free Ross Ulbricht was the policy action that received the highest number of votes from party members for Trump to address, over Free Julian Assange and Defend the Second Amendment. Far and away the most popular sign in the convention hall during Trumps address was one that read, Free Ross.

Voters who align with the partys principled disdain for political prosecutions will be tested on Election Day when the object of the current regimes most flagrant political conviction stands to return as head of state.

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Showdown at the Libertarian Convention - The American Conservative