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Audible boos clashed with impassioned cheers at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington DC on Saturday as former President Donald Trump took the stage before what was certainly the most skeptical if not outright hostile crowd of his bid for the White House this year.
Donald Trump was jeered multiple times within the first few minutes of his speech to a rowdy crowd of roughly a thousand people Saturday evening at the Washington Hilton, where just a few weeks ago his 2024 election opponent Joe Biden spoke at the White House Correspondent’s Association’s (WHCA) annual dinner.
The angry yells from the audience were so constant at parts that it was difficult to tell whether the crowd were booing the incumbent president or the speaker in front of them. At other points, it was plainly obvious: a chant of “we want Trump!” was roundly drowned out by an angry response.
Another round of boos came as Mr Trump declared that he had put everything “on the line” to defend freedom. Boos, both times when Mr Trump suggested that he was a Libertarian through virtue of his criminal trials, prosecuted by the Department of Justice. More boos when the former president suggested, twice, that the Libertarian Party proper should nominate him.
But nothing, nothing compared to the furious jeers that erupted as Donald Trump turned to outright taunting his audience.
“The Libertarian Party should nominate Trump for president,” he declared in third-person. More boos.
“Maybe you don’t want to win. Only do that if you want to win,” Mr Trump quipped over the jeers. “If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting three per cent every four years.”
Party officials had both directly and subtly tried to avert this spectacle. Angela McArdle, newly re-elected chair of the Libertarian Party, told reporters in a gaggle earlier in the day that delegates had been instructed to remain civil. A day earlier, a member of her party had made a sexist remark about her support for the former president’s attendance at the convention during the open forum session.
Dave Smith, a comedian and featured speaker, also urged attendees to give the former president a fair shot. Attempting to goad his allies to take that route, he insinuated that only “woke” leftists would shout down a speaker with whom they disagreed.
Evidently, that was not the case. Donald Trump’s speech ended in a final massive wave of boos as he urged the party’s members to nominate him on their convention’s final day, or simply vote for him in November if that were not the case.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…
