On May 1, the Libertarian Party announced former president – and presumptive Republican nominee – Donald Trump was invited and agreed to speak at the upcoming Libertarian National Convention.
The Libertarian Party of Indiana strongly opposes this invitation.
The Libertarian Party convention’s purpose is to select, spotlight, and rally around our own presidential candidate. It is highly inappropriate for a competing presidential candidate to be given the stage during OUR nominating convention. It is also unethical for the national party to gift a competing candidate this kind of campaign contribution.
This is especially infuriating given Libertarian presidential candidates were required, for the first time ever, to ask their supporters to essentially purchase their spot on OUR debate stage at a convention that will choose one of them to carry the party’s banner for president. A fundraising scheme which cannibalizes our candidates’ campaign seed money to cover convention revenue shortfalls.
Trump will overshadow our own candidates and his appearance will be twisted to claim Libertarians support him. Trump has already been quoted as saying, “If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election won’t even be close.”
Libertarians will not be working to help Trump. He will not be “earning” our votes. We are not some loose group of radical independents. We are proud, dedicated, and principled Libertarians.
The Libertarian nominating convention should not be a campaign rally for Trump, Biden, RFK Jr., or any other non-Libertarian campaign.
The Libertarian Party of Indiana calls on the Convention Oversight Committee and the Libertarian National Committee to immediately pull and rescind this invitation, as well as any invitations for any other non-Libertarian candidates and their surrogates. The Libertarian Party of Indiana also calls on the Convention Oversight Committee and Libertarian National Committee to issue a public apology to members of the Libertarian Party, the state affiliates, and Libertarian candidates for the political damage this stunt has caused.