As people who have long been involved with the Liberty Movement, particularly Mayor Glenn Jacobs, Trump's appearance at the LPNC was especially remarkable. The former President is the first candidate from the major political parties to accept the LP's invitation to speak at their convention. For that alone, he deserves mad respect. More importantly, during his speech, Trump made a compelling case about why libertarians should vote for him.
As with other organizations and movements, libertarianism is not monolithic. For instance, we consider ourselves "conservatarians" and approach Liberty from the perspective of economic freedom. Our most significant issues are taxes and promoting our free enterprise economy, which has lifted more people out of poverty than any government program could dream of doing. We're also traditionalists. Human society requires structure and rules. If we want to downsize government, we must strengthen institutions like the family, the church, and civic organizations. Otherwise, instead of the anarcho-capitalism envisioned by Murray Rothbard, Javier Milei, and others, we'll end up with lawless chaos. Finally, we believe that individual responsibility is the flip side of individual liberty, meaning we reject the libertine undertones often displayed by left-wing libertarians.
For someone like us, Trump is a superior candidate. Look at his track record. Not only is he the first President in memory not to start a new war, but he was in the process of ending operations in Afghanistan and bringing our troops home safely before his term ended (and the Biden Administration tragically bungled those efforts). The Trump tax cuts were the biggest in history. He pushed through the most essential common-sense criminal justice reform ever with the bipartisan First Step Act. Trump expanded healthcare freedom through the lifesaving Right To Try Act, enacted historic deregulation by cutting eight-and-a-half regulations for every new rule created, and helped keep the internet accessible by opposing net neutrality.
All in all, the first Trump Administration was a boon for libertarians, especially when contrasted with other recent presidencies. However, what happened in the first Trump Administration will pale compared to Trump's second term. When Donald J. Trump entered the White House in January 2017, he was still a political neophyte, lacking the experience to push through many necessary but radical reforms. That is no longer the case.
The Donald J. Trump who will reenter the White House in January 2025 will be battle-tested and motivated. Since leaving office, Trump has found himself squarely in the crosshairs of the Deep State. Not since Eugene V. Debs has a presidential candidate been so relentlessly persecuted. Instead of wilting under this barrage of lawfare, however, Trump has defiantly refused to back down, fighting back as best he can. If private citizen Trump is willing to do that, imagine what actions President Trump will take. For the first time, we will have a President whose personal mission is to dismantle the Deep State root and branch.
As Trump said when referring to the bogus indictments against him at the LPNC, "If I wasn't a libertarian before, I sure as hell am a libertarian now." That should be music to any libertarian's ears.
Trump is not the perfect libertarian candidate. But the fact is that such a candidate does not exist, and we no longer have the luxury of waiting for them. Our country is amid a cultural Marxist counterrevolution. Our beloved Republic hangs by a frayed thread. Four more years of Biden ensures that thread will be cut, and the America we know, the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world, will plunge into the dustbin of history.
On the other hand, a second Trump Administration will lay the foundation for America's best days, those that lie ahead of us. Libertarians can—and should—help make that happen.
