The Rectenwald-Russell 2024 Libertarian Party Presidential Campaign
For the last few months, I have been positing the possibility that the agreement that Libertarian Party chairperson Angela McArdle negotiated with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump prior to the Libertarian Party 2024 national convention included a commitment to have the Libertarian Party and the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidates throw their support to Trump in the waning days of the presidential campaign, at least in the battleground states, just as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has now done. (See the list of my articles at the end of this article.)
Nothing that has happened in the last few weeks has dissuaded me from believing that there is still the possibility that such an agreement was made.
Michael Rectenwald
On August 29, 2024, the Kennedy Beacon, which is now a pro-Trump entity, published an article entitled “The Democratic Party Quit Them. Now Kennedy and Gabbard Have Joined Trump in What Could Become a New Coalition Government. Can It Change America?” by Michael Rectenwald, who was the chosen candidate for the 2024 L.P. presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party right-wing element that now controls and dominates the party. In that article, Rectenwald favorably compared Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard to the “Justice League,” an apparent reference to the Justice League of D.C. Comics fame that included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and other superheroes.
Ironically, Trump would be considered Superman in this modern-day Justice League comparison. Why is that ironic? Because Superman, who came to America from Krypton without the official permission of U.S. immigration authorities, was an illegal immigrant, which, of course, is anathema to Trump, Kennedy, and Rectenwald. Therefore, it’s easy to imagine all of three of them flinging Kryptonite at Superman in an effort to secure his forced deportation as part of their nationwide scheme to deport all illegal immigrants from America.
While Rectenwald does not formally endorse Donald Trump in his Kennedy Beacon article, his article comes pretty darned close to an endorsement, owing to the accolades that Rectenwald heaps upon Trump, including with his “Justice League” reference. He glowingly writes in part:
“A new political coalition that just four years ago would have been regarded as almost unthinkable has formed in support of the campaign of former President Donald Trump. The informal “justice league,” which includes Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, represents the first time in recent political history that something like a coalition government, however unofficial, has been proposed for the United States.” [Link in original.]
“The triumvirate of political dissidents has coalesced around three of the most pressing existential issues of our time: war, freedom, and health. The alliance has only become possible and necessary due to the tyrannical character of the contemporary Democratic Party. Its success will depend on breaking the spell cast over the American public by the regime’s propaganda and, if victorious, following through on its promises.”
It’s also worth noting that in his Kennedy Beacon article, Rectenwald also heaped praise onto Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has been a staunch supporter of U.S. foreign aid to Israel, who has praised socialist measures in both communist Cuba and communist China, who is an ardent welfare-state statist, and who has now become an ardent Trumpster. Moreover, as I noted in my article “Was There a L.P. Commitment to Support Trump?” a pro-Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., PAC named American Values 2024 recently paid Rectenwald the sum of $6,000 for “national organizing.”
Angela McArdle
On October 11, 2024, Libertarian Party chairperson Angela McArdle formed a PAC named Libertarian Unity, in which she is also named as Treasurer. A promotional video paid for by the PAC, which McArdle featured on X, begins with Trump declaring, “If we unite, we are unstoppable,” followed by Republican Trumpster and L.P. right-wing idol Vivek Ramaswamy exclaiming, “We are in the middle of a war in this country. It is between those of us who love this country and a fringe minority who hates the United States of America…” followed by a statement by new Trumpster Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The end of the video calls on people to “Vote Unity” and “Vote Libertarian,” even though there is no statement at all by the L.P. presidential candidate or even a mention of the L.P. presidential candidate. In fact, in my opinion, anyone who watches that video could be easily forgiven for concluding that the video is exhorting Libertarians to unite with Trump, Ramaswamy, and Kennedy. Since this is a new PAC, there are no receipts and disbursements reported as of yet.
Keep in mind, also, that McArdle played a central role in the recent two-day antiwar event in Washington, D.C., whose Sunday event heavily promoted Trump and that did not include the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidates as speakers.
Clint Russell
Clint Russell, who was Rectenwald’s right-wing vice-presidential running mate, recently came out out on X stating that he intended to vote for Trump, notwithstanding the fact that Trump initiated many of the Covid “liberty lockdowns” that Russell laments and, for that matter, notwithstanding the fact that last time around Trump as president sent out those inflationary “stimulus” checks, surrounded himself with generals and warmonger John Bolton, kept U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Syria for four years killing and dying for nothing, surrendered to the CIA’s demands to keep its JFK-assassination-related records secret, supported Social Security, Medicare, and other welfare-state measures, enforced America’s socialist immigration-control system, its immigration police state, and Trump’s Berlin Wall, supported the vicious and failed war on drugs, refused to pardon Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Ross Ulbricht, kept the regulatory state intact, failed to dismantle even one federal department, fell in love with North Korea’s communist dictator, initiated a vicious trade war against China that bankrupted American farmers, and demonstrated severe authoritarian proclivities during his entire term in office.
Dave Smith
Smith is the prominent podcaster/Libertarian who hosted the conversational love-fest at the national Libertarian Party convention between Russell and L.P. right-wing idol Vivek Ramaswamy, which McArdle steadfastly still maintains was a “debate.”
Smith has recently stated that he too is going with Trump on Election Day. Of course, this is not the first time that Smith has gone with a Republican in a national race. He also was a big supporter of Republican 2022 U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters from Arizona, who himself became a Trumpster but one who Trump, interestingly, disavowed in a race to be the 2024 Republican candidate for U.S. House, which Masters ended up losing. Rectenwald and Russell would have undoubtedly cited Smith’s support for Republican Masters if they decided to throw their support to Trump.
If Rectenwald and Russell had won the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential nominations and then thrown their support to Trump down the stretch, they could also have cited as precedent Libertarian Party 2022 U.S. Senate candidate Marc Victor’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse his Republican opponent, who was none other than Blake Masters (who Smith was supporting). See my November 7, 2022, article “Marc Victor’s Surrender to the Republicans.”
Moreover, they could also have pointed to the deal that the Colorado Libertarian Party has cut with the Republican Party, in which that state party has agreed to not run candidates against Republicans in selected races. See my June 22, 2023 article “The Colorado L.P. and Republican-Lite."
Unanswered questions
A big question naturally arises from all this pro-Trump activity on the part of the L.P. right-wing in the waning days of the presidential race. It is the question I have been asking for the last few months — a question that unfortunately still remains unanswered.
Here is the question: Did the agreement that Angela McArdle negotiated with Donald Trump prior to the L.P. 2024 national convention include a commitment on the part of the L.P. hierarchy — and on the part of a possible L.P. presidential campaign of Rectenwald and Russell — to endorse Trump in the waning period of the campaign, at least in the battleground states, as RFK, Jr., has now done?
In this regard, there are several subsidiary questions that, for some unknown reason, mysteriously remain unanswered, specifically:
How many times did McArdle travel to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to negotiate this agreement? She has acknowledged at least one such visit but hasn’t stated whether or not there was more than one visit.
What were the dates of McArdle’s visit (or visits) to Mar-a-Lago?
What were the exact terms of the final negotiated agreement between McArdle and Trump?
When was the agreement with Trump finalized?
Was the agreement with Trump reduced to writing?
Were Rectenwald and Russell aware of the terms of the agreement and, if so, did they agree to them?
Who else accompanied McArdle on her visit(s) to Mar-a-Lago?
Did attendees bring boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, spouses, or social partners to Mar-a-Lago?
How many days did the attendees stay in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort?
Who paid for travel, hotel, and meals at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort?
If a commitment to throw the Libertarian Party’s support to Trump down the stretch was, in fact, made before the L.P. national convention, should this commitment have been disclosed to the delegates before the elections for chair and the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential nominations?
As I have previously stated in my articles, it stands to reason that in return for promising to appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet and for promising to pardon Ross Ulbricht, it is almost a certainty that Trump would have insisted on a commitment by the L.P. hierarchy and the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidates to support his candidacy down the stretch. It just wouldn’t have made much sense for Trump to have simply settled for the opportunity to make a speech at the L.P. convention, only to have the L.P. and its presidential and vice-presidential candidates attacking him after the convention and for the rest of the race until Election Day, especially since Trump’s two promises would necessarily have depended on his election for fulfillment.
Moreover, if it was McArdle and other members of the L.P. right-wing who were insisting on those two provisions — a Libertarian appointed to Trump’s cabinet and the pardon of Ross Ulbricht — it obviously would have been in their interests to help Trump ultimately get elected in order to get those two provisions fulfilled.
The Rectenwald-Russell presidential campaign
If the agreement with Trump actually did commit the Libertarian Party and the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidate to throw their support to Trump down the stretch, it is not difficult to imagine how that would have played out, especially given recent developments in favor of Trump on the part of L.P. right-wingers.
In my opinion, this is how a Rectenwald-Russell campaign would have played out:
1. Rectenwald and Russell, as the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidates, would today be heaping accolades on Trump, comparing him to Superman, and calling on Libertarians and others to join them in support of Trump.
2. They also would have been endorsing, supporting, and singing accolades to Trump’s immigration policy, including his plan to unleash a massive nationwide campaign to ferret out and deport every illegal immigrant, to finish his Berlin Wall along the border, and ever-harsher measures that Trump intends to adopt to enforce the decades-old, ongoing, never-ending, ever-growing, perpetual deadly and destructive immigration police state along the border.
3. They would also be supporting Trump’s vow to save Social Security and Medicare, the crown jewels of American welfare-state socialism.
4. Smith, Russell, and Ramaswamy would be going on a tour of battleground states featuring conversational love-fests, which McArdle would be calling“debates,” in which they would be expressing adulation for Trump and in which they would be calling on Libertarians and others to vote for Trump in the battleground states, rather than for Rectenwald and Russell, just as Kennedy is now doing with his supporters.
5. Trump would undoubtedly be putting a clamp on Russell, prohibiting him from criticizing Trump for his Covid “liberty lockdowns” and from advocating a reign of healthcare terror against Covid-vaccine providers and from suggesting that the tens of millions of voters who took the vaccine or who wore masks were dumb dolts of the state.
6. Every single L.P. right-winger, including McArdle, Rectenwald, Russell, and Smith, would undoubtedly be fantasizing and dreaming of being named The One — the first Libertarian to serve as a cabinet member in the welfare-warfare state under a Republican authoritarian president and helping him improve the welfare-warfare state with “libertarian” perspectives. In the process, they all would undoubtedly be outcompeting each other in adulation and idolization expressed for Trump, just as they do with Ramaswamy and, for that matter, with Kennedy, especially after he became a Trumpster. In the words of McArdle, they would be describing their “service” for Trump as “advancing freedom at the federal level.”
What could possibly be worse?
Ever since McArdle’s decision to bring massive nationwide publicity to the Libertarian Party by inviting Donald Trump to address the L.P. national convention (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!”), no one can deny that the image of the L.P. that has been imprinted in the minds of the American people is one of a right-wing, mini-Republican, pro-Trump minor third party that continues to garner only one percent of the national vote — one whose central message has long been — and continues to be — welfare-warfare state reform and Republican-lite that has been labeled as “libertarian.”
I suppose worse things could befall the Libertarian Party, but for the life of me, I can’t think of very many. Interestingly, the right-wing element that has come to dominate and control the Libertarian Party continues to label the party as “the Party of Principle.” That’s pretty funny.
See:
“Wrecking the Libertarian Party” by Jacob Hornberger (June 11, 2024)
“Why Aren't Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat Speaking at the L.P. Antiwar Rally?” by Jacob Hornberger (September 4, 2024)
“Is the Libertarian Party Hierarchy Supporting Donald Trump Sub Silentio?” by Jacob G. Hornberger (September 15, 2024)
“The Mystery of Libertarian Party Chairperson Angela McArdle’s Trip to Mar-a-Lago” by Jacob G. Hornberger (September 24, 2024)
“Was There a L.P. Commitment to Support Trump?” By Jacob G. Hornberger (October 7, 2024)
“Trump Found the Libertarian Party Right-Wing ‘Sweet Spots’” by
Jacob G. Hornberger (October 12, 2024)