Trump Found the Libertarian Party Right-Wing “Sweet Spots”
Presidential candidates have long been renowned for bribing voters with sweet offers, ones that many voters simply can’t resist. For example, in the run-up to presidential elections, Democratic presidential candidates have long offered things like increases in food stamps or educational grants as a way to garner votes from those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. Just last month, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “A Medicare Election Bribe for Seniors,” which described how the Biden administration is using the promise of Medicare benefits as a way to purchase votes from seniors.
Libertarians have long prided themselves on being immune from those types of offers, preferring to stick with their principles and their integrity …. well, at least until now. That’s because Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, perhaps with the counsel of members of the Libertarian Party right-wing hierarchy, was able to discover Libertarian right-wing “sweet spots” — ones that have caused Libertarian Party right-wingers to part with any semblance of principle and integrity in return for the promise of such sweet spots.
No, I’m not suggesting that Trump offered Libertarian right-wingers increases in food stamps, education grants, or Medicare benefits. He’s smart enough to know that while those sweet spots appeal to Democrats, they hold little attraction for L.P. right-wingers. What Trump did instead, in an act of extreme political astuteness, was offer L.P. right-wingers two things that caused them to rush to support and vote for him.
Trump’s first Libertarian Party right-wing sweet spot
First, Trump offered to appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet. That was a sweet spot that hit home with L.P. right-wingers. Wow! Just imagine: The first Libertarian ever to serve in a presidential cabinet! Imagine the publicity. (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!) Imagine the prestige! Imagine the influence! Libertarian reforms of the welfare state and regulated economy! Influencing state-sponsored assassinations in a libertarian direction! Periodic “debates” (i.e., conversational love-fests) with right-wing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy! Standing ovations at state L.P. conventions for the lucky right-wing Libertarian selected to Trump’s cabinet!
Today, there isn’t a Libertarian right-winger alive who isn’t fantasizing about being named The One — the first Libertarian in history to be selected to a presidential cabinet — and, even better, to a cabinet in a Donald Trump right-wing administration, especially one that is promising to crack down on those illegal immigrants who are “invading” America.
Moreover, Trump might well appoint Libertarian right-wingers to other posts in his administration. Just the possibility of being appointed to serve in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control, and Health and Human Services is enough to get the heart of any Libertarian right-winger fluttering.
That’s why you rarely see L.P. right-wingers attack Trump at a fundamental level, if at all. Oh, sure, you’ll find a L.P. right-winger sometimes expressing “disagreement” with this position or that position of Donald Trump in an attempt to show Trump that the L.P right-winger is “independently minded.” But one thing is for sure: you’ll rarely see L.P. right-wingers going after Trump the way they go after Kamala Harris.
Oh, to be sure, they’ll never acknowledge that they are supporting Trump because of his promise of a Cabinet position. That would appear unseemly. Instead, you’ll see them rationalizing their support of Trump by saying things like, “I’m supporting Donald Trump simply because he’s better than Kamala Harris.”
Who would have thunk it? Who would have ever dreamed that power, prestige, and influence as a cabinet member in the welfare-warfare state/regulated society would be a Libertarian Party right-wing “sweet spot”? Donald Trump, that’s who! His political acumen, perhaps aided by L.P right-wing counselors, figured out the sweet spots that would garner him the support and vote of L.P. right-wingers.
The phenomenon brings to mind the “Chicago Boys,” the “free-enterprise” advocates who were eager to join the administration of right-wing Army General Augusto Pinochet, who took over the reins of power in a Pentagon/CIA-driven coup in Chile in 1973. Never mind that the right-wing regime they were so eager to work for was rounding up, torturing, raping, murdering, executing, disappearing, or forcibly reeducating some 60,000 innocent people. What mattered was that they were serving a new presidential dictator who the right-wing, both in Chile and the United States, deeply admired — and still admires.
I’m also reminded of a movie entitled Downfall, which revolves around a woman who went to work in the German government in the 1930s as Adolf Hitler’s secretary. She too considered it a tremendous honor to be selected to serve her president by accepting a post in his administration. It was only after World War II, when she discovered the existence of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, that she began reevaluating what she had done.
Trump’s second Libertarian Party right-wing sweet spot
Second, Trump also promised to pardon libertarian Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence without parole for a non-violent drug-war violation.
It is clear, however, that Trump’s promise is nothing more than a shameless effort to find another Libertarian right-wing “sweet spot” designed to garner votes and support. How can we be certain of this? Because Trump continues to be one of the most steadfast and vicious drug-war proponents in the country. There is no doubt at all that if he is elected president, he will double down in his efforts to “win” the war on drugs, which means killing, injuring, and jailing thousands of people, including those who will be killed and injured when he orders bombs to be dropped on the Mexican people in an effort to defeat the drug cartels.
Thus, look at what Trump has accomplished with his discovery of this L.P. right-wing sweet spot. He has gotten the L.P. right-wing to support trading the lives, limbs, and freedom of thousands of innocent people who will die, be maimed, or be incarcerated or fined in Trump’s renewed drug war in exchange for the freedom of one libertarian victim of the drug war.
Trump has also purchased the silence of the Libertarian Party right-wing with respect to his failure to pardon Ulbricht during the entire four years he was president. They wouldn’t dare criticize him for that because he might rescind his offer to pardon Ulbricht this time around.
In this regard, Trump claims that he was pardoning Ulbricht just before leaving office in 2020 but that the Justice Department supposedly blocked the pardon. Really? Given that Trump is well-known for being truth-deficient, is it too much to ask to see the written record of that supposed pardon?
More important, why doesn’t Trump explain why he failed to pardon Ulbricht as soon as he took office or sometime during the next 4 years? Why did he choose to leave Ulbricht languishing in jail during his entire 4-year term in office? Why did he wait until the last minute to supposedly issue the pardon? Don’t expect those types of questions to come from the L.P. right-wing. They have succumbed to the pardon-Ulbricht sweet spot that Trump has offered them.
Moreover, notice that Libertarian Party right-wingers have gone silent when it comes to Trump’s support of the drug war itself, not only during his four years as president but also in another four years if he wins the election. L.P. right-wingers know that if they criticize Trump for his support of the drug war, they will be jeopardizing Ulbricht’s chances at a pardon (as well as the chance of being appointed to serve in Trump’s cabinet or administration). That’s where Trump has proven to be so politically astute, perhaps with the counsel of members of the L.P. right-wing. He knew that by finding the pardon-Ulbricht “sweet spot,” he could purchase the silence and support of the Libertarian Party right-wing with respect to Trump’s support of the drug war itself.
By falling for Trump’s sweet spots and becoming his supporters, Libertarian Party right-wingers have communicated to the American people with massive nationwide publicity (Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!) that the Libertarian Party is nothing more than a pro-Trump, pro-Republican political party. At the risk of alienating Libertarian Party right-wingers, it would be difficult to find anything worse that could befall a political party, especially one that prides itself on favoring the concept of individual liberty.
What should have been the Libertarian Party’s response to Trump’s two promises and sweets spots? The response should have been:
Take your promises and sweet spots and shove them. We are interested in freedom, not serving you. Pardon Ulbricht and every other person who has been convicted of a non-violent drug offense, not because you’re trying to buy our votes but because it’s the right thing to do. At the same time, end your nasty, vicious, failed, decades-old war on drugs, which has ruined not only Ross Ulbricht's life but also the lives of countless other people.
At least in that way, the Libertarian Party would have retained some semblance of its integrity as well as some meaning to the label —“the Party of Principle” — that it applies to itself.