Was There a L.P. Commitment to Support Trump?

Oct 07, 2024

In four of my articles (here, here, here, and here), I posited the possibility that the agreement that Libertarian Party chairperson Angela McArdle negotiated with Donald Trump prior to the L.P. presidential nominating convention last May included a commitment to support Trump’s candidacy beyond the L.P. national convention and all the way through Election Day in November.

As part of that negotiated agreement, Trump made two commitments during his speech to the L.P. convention, a convention that was nominating its own presidential candidate to ostensibly run against Trump (and Biden). Trump promised (1) to appoint a libertarian to his cabinet and (2) to pardon libertarian Ross Ulbricht.

The question, however, is: What did the right-wing hierarchy, which controls and dominates the Libertarian Party, commit to in return for those two promises?

One possibility

One possibility is that the L.P. right-wing hierarchy simply committed to letting Trump speak at the convention and try to draw support away from the L.P. presidential candidate who would be elected the day after Trump’s talk. Of course, at the risk of belaboring the obvious, even that simple commitment alone would be bizarre. When have you ever heard of a political party inviting an opposing candidate to come to the party’s convention with the aim of drawing support away from the party’s own candidate?

Another possibility

But as I have previously written, that commitment would have made no sense from Trump’s standpoint. Why would he agree to appoint a libertarian to his cabinet and pardon Ulbricht, only to have a Libertarian Party presidential candidate actively running against him and, presumably, attacking his positions and trying to draw votes away from him? It seems to me that from Trump’s standpoint, he would have insisted, in exchange for his two promises, on a commitment that the L.P. right-wing hierarchy and, more important, the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential candidates, support his candidacy, primarily in the battleground states on the eve of the general election in November.

In fact, when one reflects on the matter, the same reasoning holds true for the Libertarian Party right-wing L.P. hierarchy. The two promises made by Trump were obviously very important to them. McArdle herself has expressed pride in having negotiated that agreement. She steadfastly maintains that securing a cabinet post in a Trump administration constitutes “advancing liberty at the federal level.”

But McArdle and the rest of the L.P. right-wing hierarchy would have known that those two promises would be meaningless unless Trump got elected. Therefore, it stands to reason that if the L.P. right-wing wanted to see those two promises fulfilled, which they obviously did, there stands the distinct possibility that the commitment to continue supporting Trump was made, at least by some members of the right-wing L.P. hierarchy. In fact, at the risk of belaboring the obvious, there are some libertarian right-wingers, both in the Libertarian Party and the libertarian movement, who are openly and proudly endorsing Trump.

Rectenwald and Russell

How would such a commitment have been accomplished? Simply by having the L.P. presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate throw their support to Trump in September in the battleground states — that is, the states were Trump and Biden (or later, Harris) would be running neck and neck. In other words, they would do exactly what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has done with his endorsement of Trump and his suspending of his campaign in the battleground states.

However, such a commitment would necessarily have entailed a commitment to do this on the part of the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential nominees. The candidates that the right-wing element of the party was endorsing — and who were expected to win the L.P. nominations — were Michael Rectenwald and Clint Russell.

Questions

So, questions naturally arise.

Did the agreement that McArdle negotiate with Trump include a commitment to support Trump’s candidacy through Election Day?

If so, were Rectenwald and Russell made aware of that commitment?

Or was the possible plan simply to wait and seek Rectenwald’s and Russell’s support of the plan down the road in September? That possibility, of course, would have entailed the risk of a negative answer, which Trump obviously would not have been very happy about.

Or if Rectenwald and Russell were made aware of this possible commitment, did they agree to it?

Indeed, were Rectenwald and Russell part of the negotiations leading up to the agreement?

Did either or both of them join McArdle at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort when McArdle and Trump negotiated or finalized the agreement?

If such a commitment was made and if Rectenwald and Russell agreed to it, why wasn’t that information shared with the attendees at state nominating conventions and the delegates at the national nominating convention in May? Wouldn’t that be important information for the delegates at state conventions and the national nominating convention to have had in determining who to vote for in the race for the L.P. presidential nomination? Indeed, wouldn’t that be important information for L.P. members today?

Electing Rectenwald and Russell

If such a commitment to support Trump was made and if Rectenwald and Russell were part of that agreement — or were to be later asked to accede to the agreement — it obviously would have been critically important to get them elected as the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential nominees. In this regard, it’s might be worth pointing out that, according to official FEC reports filed by Rectenwald, shortly before the L.P. national convention L.P. Party chairperson McArdle made a maximum allowable donation of $3,300 to Rectenwald to help him defeat his Libertarian Party opponents for the nomination, which, of course, would not be reported on the FEC reports until sometime after the convention.

But as we all know, Rectenwald and Russell got defeated by Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat, much to the anger, and even rage, of the Libertarian Party right-wing. If there was a commitment to support Trump, the Oliver-ter Maat victory clearly threw a monkey wrench into that commitment, given that Oliver and ter Maat were unwilling to throw their support to Trump and, in fact, intended to actively oppose Trump and oppose what Oliver calls “the duopoly,” which consists of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

Supporting NOTA

A interesting part of the L.P. presidential race was that at the end of the nominating process, after Rectenwald had been knocked out, the final election was between Oliver and None of the Above (NOTA). Just before that election, the right-wing element within the party went into overdrive, exhorting delegates to vote for NOTA. If they had prevailed, that would have meant that the L.P. would not have had a presidential candidate. Why would they do that, especially knowing that such a scheme would have severely impeded the ability of state L.P.s to win ballot access? One possibility is that it would have been easier for the right-wing element within the L.P. hierarchy to support Trump down the stretch if Oliver and ter Maat weren’t gumming up the works with their anti-Trump, anti-duopoly candidacies.

The two-day D.C. rally

The question naturally arises: If a commitment to support Trump was actually made as part of that negotiated agreement between McArdle and Trump, have elements within the L.P. right-wing hierarchy, including McArdle, continued to support Trump indirectly, even while ostensibly supporting Oliver and ter Maat? That’s the question I asked in my recent article “Is the Libertarian Party Hierarchy Supporting Donald Trump Sub Silentio?”

In that article, I discussed the two-day political rally that McArdle and the L.P. were sponsoring In Washington, D.C., on Saturday and Sunday, September 28-29.

The Saturday rally was entitled “Rage Against the War Machine.” The sponsors of that event were McArdle, the Libertarian Party, and an organization called the “People’s Party.” Among the speakers at this rally was a woman named Diane Sare, who is the Lyndon LaRouche Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in New York, a point I plan to discuss in a later article.

The Sunday rally was entitled “Rescue the Republic: Join the Resistance.” On the rally’s website, McArdle was listed as a “founder.”

The website of the Sunday rally had a link referring people to the Saturday rally. More important, on September 23, 2024, the Libertarian Party sent out an email promoting the Sunday rally. Posted below is a copy of that email.

Why is that important? As I suggested in my article Is the Libertarian Party Hierarchy Supporting Donald Trump Sub Silentio? there was a good possibility that the Sunday rally was going to be a pro-Trump rally. And that is precisely what it turned out to be.

The meme

As I pointed out in that article, the Sunday rally initially had a meme depicting Trump as a new George Washington crossing the Delaware with a boat filled with supporters. Those supporters included depictions of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, two socialist welfare-state-loving former Democrats who have become ardent Trumpsters, no doubt hoping, just like right-wing members of the L.P. hierarchy, for a cabinet post or other position in a Trump administration.

Although the meme had been removed from the Saturday rally website by the time I wrote my article, I included a screen shot of it at the bottom of my article. After my article was published, they put the meme back up, albeit in a slightly revised form. They now had Trump in some sort of uniform, and at the head of the boat appeared to be a depiction of Russell Brand, the comedian who himself has become a supporter of Donald Trump. It’s worth mentioning that neither the original meme nor the revised meme included depictions of L.P. presidential candidates Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat in that boat crossing the Delaware.

A pro-Trump rally

Just as I predicted in my article, the Sunday event turned out to be an ardent pro-Trump rally. This was confirmed by an article entitled “Coalition of the ‘Weird’ Mobilizes for Trump” in the September 29 issue of the conservative Wall Street Journal. The article stated in part:.

“The British movie star and the Canadian intellectual stood before the soggy crowd on the Mall, urging them to vote for Donald Trump to keep America weird … a murderer’s row of antiestablishment misfits gathered under the Make America Healthy Again banner that spanned the stage.”

Why is this pro-Trump rally important? Because we have the odd spectacle of a national Libertarian Party chairperson founding — and the Libertarian Party itself promoting in an email — a pro-Trump political rally, even while not including the Libertarian Party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates among the speakers at either the Saturday event or the Sunday event.

Payment to Rectenwald

That, however, is not the only odd thing that has occurred since the L.P. national convention in May. A pro-Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., PAC named American Values 2024 reported that in August 2024 it paid Michael Rectenwald the sum of $6,000 for “national organizing.” A copy of that report is posted below.

What’s up with that? As most everyone knows, Kennedy is an ardent supporter of the Israeli state, which Rectenwald has vehemently opposed. Moreover, Kennedy is a died-in-the wool socialist, even to the point of having praised communist Cuba for its healthcare program and communist China for its infrastructure foreign-aid program, not to mention JFK’s socialist program the Alliance for Progress. Rectenwald, on the other hand, has long professed a vehement opposition to socialism.

So, what gives here? Why is Rectenwald being paid a nice sum of money by a pro-Kennedy PAC? Granted, it’s not the $152,500 that that same PAC has paid noted Libertarian Party member Larry Sharpe (including $77,500 that it has paid to Sharpe after Oliver and ter Maat were elected the L.P. presidential and vice-presidential nominees), but the real question doesn’t relate to the amount of money that this pro-Kennedy PAC has paid to Rectenwald and Sharpe. The real question is: Why is Libertarian Party member and anti-Zionist/anti-socialist Michael Rectenwald — and, for that matter, longtime loyal L.P. member Larry Sharpe — taking money from a pro-Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., PAC?

In fact, it might be just a coincidence but it’s at least worth noting that the Kennedy PAC’s payment to Rectenwald was made in August 2024. Why is that odd? Because that is the month that Kennedy suspended his campaign in the battleground states and threw his support to Trump.

Openness and transparency needed

I should emphasize that there is no direct evidence or acknowledgement establishing that there was, in fact, a commitment to support Trump or that Rectenwald or Russell were even aware of any such commitment, much less part of it. But that’s why the Libertarian Party deserves full transparency from everyone. So far, McArdle, Rectenwald, and Russell are steadfastly remaining mum about all this. How about it Angela, Michael, and Clint? How about some openness and transparency here? When was the Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump? Or was there more than one meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort? Who attended that meeting or those meetings? Who paid the expenses, including travel, food, and housing? What were all the terms of the negotiated agreement with Trump? Who was aware of those terms? Who were parties to such terms? Let’s get everything out in the open and clarify things. What would be wrong with that?

*****

Calling all Libertarians!

On Sunday, September 29th, libertarians, independents, and swing voters will descend on Washington DC to rally for unity at Rescue The Republic.

This is our chance to register voters and make our voices heard.

We’re issuing the following call to action:

Attend the event wearing a Libertarian Party t-shirt
Come prepared to engage with swing voters
Bring business cards or small flyers for down-ticket candidates

This is going to be an incredible event featuring an amazing lineup that includes libertarian speakers like Rob Schneider, Corey DeAngelis, and Zuby.

Find out more about the event at jointheresistance.org.

Rescue The Republic!
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