WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump is used to give a warm welcome to loyal supporters at events talking about campaign trail.
This weekend could be different.
Trump is set to address the 2024 Libertarian National Convention on Saturday, and if Friday night’s program is any indication, he may face a hostile crowd.
Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who quickly endorsed Trump after dropping out, cheated when he mentioned Trump during a convention speech Friday night.
“I’m speaking to you as a libertarian. I’ve gotten to know Donald Trump over the last few years and the last few months,” Ramaswamy said, as many in the crowd shouted back.
Ramaswamy continued by urging the audience of about 100 people to ask if they wanted to influence the next administration.
Separately, as members of the Libertarian party reviewed procedures and motions, a person on the microphone said, “we go tell Donald Trump to go — himself.”
The audience cheered and roared.
“It was my move too!” another man shouted. “We are a Libertarian convention that wants to nominate Libertarians. We don’t need to give non-Libertarians that time.”
Behind the two men, a third chanted “F— Donald Trump.”
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the crowd’s reaction to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Several voters who watched speeches at the convention by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy expressed disappointment with both major political parties.
Avi Rachlin, a 22-year-old Michigan voter, said he voted for Trump in 2020 but plans to vote for the Libertarian candidate in November.
“People say a third-party vote is a wasted vote. You’re voting for the other team,” Rachlin said Friday. “And I don’t see it that way. I think it sends a strong message of displeasure to the current candidates for both offices.”
Virginia voter John Burke Stringfellow, who said he supported Trump in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020, said he thinks the rematch between the two candidates is “terrible.”
“I say ditch the rematch and go for three,” he said.