Former President Donald Trump stated he would have “absolutely” received the Libertarian Party convention nomination for president if he hadn’t already been named the presumptive Republican nominee.
In a statement issued on Sunday following his speech at the party’s convention on Saturday, Trump noted the “enthusiasm” of the audience, which included loud booing.
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“The reason I didn’t file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination, which I would have absolutely gotten if I wanted it (as everyone could tell by the enthusiasm of the crowd last night! ), was the fact that, as the Republican Nominee, I am not allowed to have the nomination of another party,” Trump wrote on his social media accounts on Sunday.
“Regardless, I believe I will get a majority of the Libertarian votes,” Trump said.
Trump also criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Libertarian Party nominee who ultimately lost out, in his Sunday speech.
Trump said on TruthSocial, “Junior Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat who has destroyed everything he’s touched, especially in New York and New England, and in particular, as it relates to the cost and practicality of energy.” “He is not a libertarian. Only a fool would vote for him!”
Kennedy, who earned an 11th-hour nomination to be a presidential candidate but did not receive enough votes to advance, reacted on social media on Sunday, calling the party’s decision “an unexpected honor.”
“It was an unexpected privilege to wake up this morning to a groundswell in the Libertarian Party pushing to nominate me. “I would have accepted the nomination if offered because independents and third parties need to unite right now to reclaim our country from the corrupt two-party system,” Kennedy wrote on X, describing his speech at the convention as a “high point” of his campaign.
“Our shared values of peace, free speech, and civil liberties make us natural allies, even if we don’t always agree on every issue.” “Let us take our country back,” he concluded.
In a post on X, he stated that he “would have accepted the nomination if offered because independents and third parties need to unite right now.”
Kennedy has yet to respond to Trump’s new attack on social media.
Both candidates decided to speak at the convention after receiving an invitation from the party’s chairman. On Friday, Kennedy spoke, eliciting a chilly reception from members, the majority of whom told ABC News in interviews over the weekend that they did not consider Kennedy a “real libertarian.”
Trump’s rally on Saturday was far more tumultuous, with persistent booing and occasional physical altercations with police officers interspersed among his brief remarks aimed at courting the voting bloc.
Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate, was scheduled to address the convention on Sunday afternoon but did not speak after Kennedy was removed.
On Saturday, she told reporters about some party members’ objections to Kennedy attending the convention, stating, “I think there’s a great deal of possibility of success in us working together.”
Shanahan said Trump’s address on Saturday night revealed a “division in this country,” and Kennedy is here to “heal that divide.”
Shanahan and her partner, Jacob Strumwasser, were in the room for Trump’s Saturday night rally.
“It was an interesting moment to be in that room,” Shanahan remarked. “Clearly, there is a lot of division in this country, and that is what Bobby Kennedy is here for right now: to bridge that gap. “And I think he’s the right guy for it, so I’m all in.”
The Libertarian Party’s more left-leaning wing has adopted Chase Oliver, a millennial political activist, who won the party’s presidential nomination after seven rounds of voting at its convention on Sunday.
In round six, he received 49.53% (423 votes), followed by candidate Michael Rectenwald with 44.73% (382 votes).
