Former President Donald Trump’s hopes of securing the Libertarian presidential nomination have been dashed as he failed to submit the necessary paperwork to qualify, CNN reported. This news comes on the heels of a tumultuous appearance at the party’s national convention, where Trump was met with boos and heckling.
Registered delegates at the Libertarian National Convention are set to choose a nominee from a list of eligible candidates, but Trump’s name will not be on that list after party chair Angela McArdle deemed him ineligible. Instead, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accepted the nomination and called for an alliance among third-party voters to prevent Trump or Biden from winning the presidency.
During his speech at the convention, Trump urged Libertarians to support his candidacy, labeling President Joe Biden as the “worst president in the history of the United States.” However, his promises of nominating a Libertarian to a cabinet position and defending gun rights were met with disdain from the crowd, who heckled him as a “liar” and a “wannabe dictator.”
Other Libertarian candidates spoke out against Trump, with Chase Oliver calling him “a war criminal” and Michael Rectenwald dismissing him as a purveyor of “bulls–t.” With the Libertarian vote potentially playing a crucial role in battleground states, the party’s decision to exclude Trump from the nomination race could have significant implications for the upcoming election.