Liberty Shrugged: Why the Libertarian Movement Needs to Make a Comeback in the New Age of Trump

Nov 19

Written By SanMan

By: HLMenckenFan

The 2024 presidential election will be most remembered for the dramatic comeback reelection of Donald Trump to the White House. Consequently, the Libertarian Party as America’s third largest political party was dealt a significant defeat electorally in the very polarizing 2024 election. The Libertarian moment did not arrive this election, but things need to change for the better. The significant realignment of American politics will also extend to the libertarian movement itself in the new Trump era as there is still hope for the future of the movement and allow a culture of freedom to thrive more generally.

The Libertarian Party managed to win .4 percent (less than 1 percent) of the national vote in its lowest turnout since 2008. During the crowded election cycle, Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver came in fifth place, receiving less than independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who dropped out in favor of Trump and Jill Stein of the Green Party. The party also had ballot access in forty-seven states and three write-ins as opposed to all fifty compared to recent election cycles. Chase was not on the ballot in Illinois, New York, Tennessee, and Washington DC. There was no clear reason behind Oliver’s poor performance.

The Libertarian candidate failed to resonate with popular issues among libertarians. Chase was expected to be a spoiler candidate in the election but was not blamed for costing votes by either major party candidate in this race. He was derided for being too much of a socially progressive activist on social media, touting his visits to pride parades and deeming himself “armed and gay”. His support for Black Lives Matter, transgender surgery for children, and open borders earned him strong opposition from anti-woke conservatives. A former Democrat, he has voiced concerns about the right-wing branch of the Libertarian Party which he believes has taken the party in the wrong direction.

The Libertarian Party had also run fewer candidates nationwide than it did in fewer election cycles, making it difficult especially with limited ballot access in a tight race. Some states like Arizona and California did not even run a candidate in the 2024 election. The party has also suffered from significant gaps in funding due to declining paid membership dues over the last two years in reaction to the 2022 Mises Caucus takeover. The national leadership of the party chose not to endorse Chase and give support to his presidential campaign.

The results of the 2024 election revealed stark divisions among the party itself, especially on social media among the Classical Liberal Caucus and Mises Caucus. Significant figures within the controversial Mises Caucus including founder Michael Heise, LNC Chair Angela McArdle, and former presidential candidate Michael Rectenwald have all endorsed Donald Trump on X. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has aggressively opposed Oliver and has endorsed Trump. Austin Petersen and Dave Smith, both popular libertarian social media influencers who have run for the party, have done the same. Former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson who had run in 2016 had voted for Chase Oliver in 2024 and had mixed feelings about Trump a week before his victory, noting that “Half of what Trump does is good…The other half is crazy”.

McArdle herself has admitted to utilizing Chase as a spoiler candidate to siphon Democratic votes in blue states: “I think he's done a fantastic job of helping Donald Trump get elected, it couldn’t have been better.” McArdle noted in a livestream in late October that libertarians were encouraged to vote for Oliver to take votes from the left and get Trump into office, and she admitted she had spoken with the Trump campaign after the 2024 LNC. In a post on social media a day after the election, McArdle thanked Oliver for running the national campaign and noted that “I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Trump campaign for building a broad coalition that includes Libertarians.” Oliver has disagreed with this assessment, claiming that he intended to not be a spoiler to either Trump or Harris.

Editor of Reason magazine Brian Doherty has noted that Trump’s victory could change things for the movement: “If Trump wins, I think there is going to be more of a demand for the Libertarian Party because I do still believe there are a lot of people in the Republican Party who do believe in liberty and a non-authoritarian executive and free markets, none of which Trump stands for”. Chase Oliver made it clear that the Libertarian Party should avoid what it did this election cycle. “I hope that in the future, no Libertarian candidate for president ever has to go through that, where they have a hostile co-opted leadership trying to be in the tank for one party or the other.”

Trump’s recent election has brought some optimism to advocates of limited government. He has pledged to bring Tesla CEO and owner of X Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy into the Department of Government Efficiency to eliminate excessive government waste. Former Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul agreed to serve with Elon Musk in the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump has also pledged to end the Department of Education during his second term in office. The former president has also called to end taxes on tips and abolish the federal income tax.

The foreign policy position is another issue of note for nonintervention advocates who argue that Trump did not start any new wars as president. Trump signaled that Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo who were notably hawkish on foreign affairs have been passed over to serve his administration. His son Donald Trump Jr. has pledged to Dave Smith on social media that we keep “maximum pressure” to not allow neocons and war hawks in his administration. Despite this, Trump’s new foreign policy team will include hawks Marco Rubio and Michael Walz as Secretary of Defense and national security adviser.

Trump’s push to free Ross Ulbricht and appoint a libertarian to his cabinet has been praised by libertarians like McArdle who see both events as likely to happen under his administration. Trump is no libertarian however on many leading issues.

There is no clear indication as to which libertarian Trump will select to put in his cabinet in 2025. The future of the Trumpian movement and how broad the libertarian movement will be in a coalition is still up in the air. There is a growing concern by opponents of the Mises Caucus that libertarians are losing relevance and siding with President Trump as an alternative to the lesser of two evils in direct opposition to their principles and not taking him seriously will doom the movement in the future. The division between left and right in America also extends to the libertarian movement itself and has great implications.

Shortly after the election, Chase Oliver called his presidential run the “honor of his lifetime” and made it clear that there would be a lot of work to do for the movement to remain relevant as a strong alternative to the two-party system. Chase noted his skepticism about Trump pardoning Ross Ulbricht and hoped he would deliver on his promises to libertarians even though Trump has advocated for un-libertarian policies. He demanded that libertarians “must be loud critics” in response and “provide better alternatives”. His message at the end of the race was clear: “This is just the beginning”.

Founder and president of the Future for Freedom Foundation Jacob Hornberger noted that given the results from the recent election, libertarians need to redouble their efforts. There will be significant challenges ahead for the libertarian movement to sustain itself and it needs to stay a proper course. The party needs to change its social media messaging if it wants to resonate with voters on the issues that matter. Having a candidate who stands on principles will make a difference in America’s future and the future of freedom.

-HLMenckenFan

SOURCES

https://reason.com/2024/11/05/libertarian-party-underperforms-in-presidential-election/

https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/armed-gay-and-looking-for-redemption/

https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/2024presgecands.pdf

https://reason.com/2024/11/04/the-peculiar-phenomenon-of-libertarians-supporting-donald-trump/

https://thehill.com/video/trump-appointing-libertarians-to-administration-interview-with-lp-chair-angela-mcardle/10211143/

https://x.com/DissidentMedia/status/1850674333431308697

https://x.com/angela4LNCChair/status/1853253599700062567

https://x.com/RecTheRegime/status/1853840113073303573

https://x.com/LPNH/status/1835479532343574948

https://x.com/LPNH/status/1853616374267965550