ryan. he is no nancy pelosi, that is for sure. that's who i would vote for. host: thanks for your call. to everyone who called in with their thoughts this morning, coming up, c-span is going to be live as we have been all weekend long with the libertarian national convention in washington, d.c. today the convention will conclude as attendees selected 2024 presidential nominees. you can watch live coverage starting in just a bit here on c-span, c-span now, or thanks to everyone who called in today. we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern with another show. thanks so much.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. please find your seats. good morning, good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning.

>> we have a pair of glasses, i believe they've made their way here. if you lost a pair of glasses, do we have a logan smith in the room? if your last name is logan smith, please come see me.

>> we are live at the washington hilton in northwest washington, d.c. just waiting for this 2024 libertarian national con veption to get back underway. you can see they're doing some housekeeping. the party will be selecting their 2024 presidential nominee and we have live coverage here on c-span. >> our sergeant at articles graciously offered advil to you. this beautiful young man is offering advil. i passed out about 50 tylenol pacts a couple days ago. those might be put to good use this morning.

>> good morning. i am gaveling in, in about 30 seconds. please find your seats and lower your voices. it looks like people are lined up at microphones and it's going to be really hard to hear what anyone says when everyone is talking. whisper, whisper and be guy et. be quiet of the beautiful. we are back in order at 9:07 a.m.

and i believe our first item of business is presidential nominations. yes. thank you so much. i would like an updated credentials report. please come to the front and share your beautiful, glorious report with us. >> thank you, madam chair. i will give the updated report at this time. this morning we have 937 delegates checked in. that makes quorum 375, a majority, 469, very nice. 2/3 would be 625 and 7/8 would be 820.

>> technical difficulties. we need to have a different screen on the screen. we are getting there. >> i believe we are ready with the kreght screen. oh, beautiful. ok.

microphone three. >> is it in order at this time to make a motion to add folks from my delegation? >> it is not clear. one second. it is not in order, but you could do it by moving to suspend the rules with 2/3. >> i would like to make that motion to suspend the rules and add the following two persons as missouri delegates, mark cappen and brian lewis. >> i want everyone to be quiet because this gentleman is trying to add a few people to his delegation. please restate your motion. you are going to move to suspend the rules to -- >> moving to suspend the rules to add to the missouri delegation mark cappengut from

new jersey and brian lewis from north carolina. >> it's been moved and seconded to add these two individuals to the missouri delegation. it is not debatable. it requires 2/3. i would like everyone to sit or crouch down. if you could please restate it for my secretary. >> a motion to suspend the rules to add to the missouri delegation mark cappengut from new jersey and brian lewis from north carolina. >> can you please state your name? >> dustin kawfl from missouri. >> thank you so much. this requires 2/3. it's nondebatable. if you would like to pass this motion, would you please stand.

please be seated, everyone. i need specifically people who are opposed to adding these two individuals to the missouri delegation to rise. the motion failed. i apologize. for that ugliness, but it is what it is. we are going to move on.

you've got to have 20 people rise for division. i've been really good about respecting you. i apologize but there are not 20 people standing. we are going to move on. we are on presidential nominations. if you are ready to nominate -- >> madam chair. >> microphone three. >> delegate for ohio. i move to suspend the ruse and reduce time for this presidential nominating speeches to five minutes for each person. >> it's been moved and seconded to reduce the time for presidential nominations to five minutes for each person. >> i understand there is a common problem with people who have no realistic chance of

winning the nomination using these speeches as an opportunity to advertise their products or their ideas and given that we have already had a debate between the press dngs nom -- presidential nominees, i don't think another 10 minutes of information to make up our minds. thank you. >> thank you. microphone two. >> point of order withdrawn. >> thank you. mike rephone one, please, are you arguing against sm. >> i was going to call the question. >> thank you. beautiful. >> madam chair -- >> from california. >> if someone wants to argue against, i don't want to shut down debate. >> point of order. >> is there an objection to calling the question? >> there is. >> thank you. >> point of order, madam chair. mic two. >> ok. we are going to let mr. starr,

did you have an objection? >> i do. i think this would be better solved by requiring that -- >> point of order, madam chair. >> jerrol ain to -- germane to the actual subject matter. >> point of order, madam chair. this motion is not debatable, madam chair. >> ok. fair enough. all right. it's not debatable. we called the question on a nondebatable motion which is probably helpful. who would like to reduce presidential nominations speeches including the videos, including all of it that the candidates put together, to five minutes? please stand. you got five seconds to stand. i want to be really clear. you are standing right now to reduce the time the presidential nominees can speak, show videos,

do anything up here, talk about themselves, their campaigns. are we perfectly clear? all right. please be seated. that motion fails. >> my name is brennan barrington for the minutes. >> ok. we are on presidential nominations. do we have any nominations? >> madam chair, i would like to suspend the rules to move that no speech be allowed that isn't germane to running for office. if i wanted to hear somebody talking about something other than what -- it's an abuse of the delegates to use that time up there for their own particular personal services. >> thank you. it's been moved to suspend the rules to not allow any speeches that are not germane to running for president. do we have a second? >> second. >> it takes 2/3. if you are in favor to not allow

any speeches that are not germane to running for president, please stand. i want to move us through quickly. if you do not want to hear an amway commercial, if you don't want to hear about someone's podcast and god bless you, i love all your podcasts -- >> objection. the chair is engaging in debate. >> the chair is explaining the purpose of the motion, which i have been asked multiple times to do today. thank you. please be seated. >> sick burn. >> if you are opposed, opposed to suspending the rules to not allow any speeches that are not germane to running for president, that means if you want to hear information campaigns from people who are in other people's eyes not serious about running for president, just want to got a commercial up here, if you want them to be able to do that, please stand.

>> all right. the motion fails. my apologies. amway it is. we are on presidential nominations. does anyone want to nominate a presidential candidate? >> madam chair, microphone three. >> speak up. >> microphone three. >> can you please state your name. >> nathan madden, arizona delegate. >> thank you. >> madam chair, i would like to nominate the only man who represents the meeses ideals, he promotes free trade, immigration, and peace.

all while being an economist extraordinaire, mike ter maat. >> thank you. thank you. >> microphone one. >> where is mike ter maat? >> here. >> mike ter maat, do you accept your nomination? >> yes, ma'am. >> have you turned your nominations papers in? beautiful. thank you. i am still accepting nominations and i would love to hear more nominations. microphone three. then we will jump to another microphone. >> i would like to nominate the candidate with the widest reach in the libertarian movement, the one with the most support from that movement, the one who is able to most grow our party who is most schooled in the knowledge of libertarian philosophy and theory,

dr. michael rectenwald. >> thank you. >> dr. rectenwald, are you in the room? do you accept your nomination? >> yes. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes. >> beautiful. >> i seek recognition at microphone two. >> microphone two. >> good morning. i am from new york and i hereby nominate the only candidate to visit all 50 states on the campaign trail, the only candidate to truly have the widest reach, the only candidate who wasn't a democrat or republican to speak at the iowa state fair, chase oliver. >> thank you.

mr. oliver. hello. do you accept your nomination? thank you. have you turned in your nomination papers? beautiful. all right. >> madam chair, microphone three. >> microphone three. wait. i am so sorry. we need to go back to microphone one because it's been skipped. >> hi. this is sky from california and i am proud to nominate my father, lars mapstead, for presidential candidate. >> thank you very much. mr. mapstead do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your papers? >> i have. >> fantastic. thank you so much. all right. microphone three. >> thank you, madam chair. howard from arizona. i would like to nominate jacob g. hornberger for president. >> mr. hornberger, are you in

the room? do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes. >> fantastic. thank you very much. microphone four. >> i am brian, new mexico. i would like to nominate the greatest president of our time, donald j. trump. [boos] >> point of parliamentary inquiry. can anyone tell me on credentials if donald j. trump is able to accept the nomination? ok, guys -- >> i object to consideration. >> i need you to be quiet so i can hear -- no madam chair yet, no points of order. we are in the middle of a nomination. i need to hear from my credentials chair if he has checked to see if donald j. trump is a valid member of the libertarian party and if he is

registered libertarian. please hold on to your seats. >> madam chair, i just would like to confirm for the record and for our entire body delegation that i did take the opportunity last night after that to credential mr. trump and in all of the profiles i found not one time is he a sustaining member so he does not qualify. >> ok. thank you. all right. thank you very much. i also learned that mr. trump did not turn in any nominating

papers. but he was nominated and it's nice to be nominated. all right. we are jumping to microphone two. >> madam chair, louisiana. i would like to nominate dr. charles ballay, fine physician, father to four, libertarian to his core and prepared to do the job for this party. >> thank you. mr. ballay, do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your nominating papers? >> yes. >> beautiful. thank you so much. mic three. >> dr. ballay. >> ok. we have microphone three. >> good morning, madam chair. amity from the commonwealth of virginia. i am proud to nominate the only blue-collar worker candidate. he wants to end the fed, end the

wars, and is the only one who truly understands the nonaggression principle. i am proud to nominate joshua smith. >> thank you. mr. smith, do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you also turned in your nomination papers? >> i have. >> fantastic. thank you both very much. microphone one. >> good morning, madam chair. my name is nathan and i am from pennsylvania. >> i am hector from florida. >> we would like to nominate robert f. kennedy jr. the single most important anti-two party candidate we have seen in our lifetime. >> one moment. settle down. settle down. settle down.

i am sorry, sir. hector, could you repeat -- >> nathan. >> madam secretary, did you have that? one more time. >> nathan romig. >> thank you. pennsylvania, correct? >> correct. >> and hector is from florida. they have nominated robert f. kennedy jr. and he is a member of the libertarian party? >> madam chair, as the credentials committee chair i can confirm that is he is a basic sustaining member. >> he is a basic sustaining member and it's my understanding that he did turn in nomination papers that had the required amount of signatures on them. does he accept the nomination?

>> we have confirmation that he does. >> do you want me to call him and ask him if he accepts the nomination? >> yes. >> can we please move on to other -- >> you can call me. >> i am going to do it myself right now if you want. >> madam chair, mic two. point of order. >> let's get there first to see if he picks up. good morning. i need to ask you if you accept the nomination.

can the chair pass the gavel and we can move object to -- on to other nominations? >> yes. >> he is going to get back to us. >> madam chair -- >> point of order. microphone three. >> settle down. let me say something. hector, are you in the room? yes, there you are.

i want you to maybe come back and give me an update in a little bit. thank you. we are going to jump to -- >> point of order. >> we are going to jump to microphone three. >> thank you. west virginia. i do believe that it's in the policy manual if you are a speaker at the convention, you have to sign to say that you will not seek the nomination for president for the libertarian party, therefore his nomination is out of order. >> one moment. we are conferring. so that i can rule on that point of order. >> page 37.

>> all right. i am going to gf you -- give you my ruling. i am going to give you my ruling and another little piece of information. mr. kennedy did not sign any such agreement and it was not during business hours or on this stage or during convention business or on the stage that he spoke. so your point of order is not well taken. i will also state that he did not turn in any statement on his intention to run to our secretary, so his nomination is not in order at this time. >> madam chair, mic two. >> now, something magically happens in the next 10 minutes, we will revisit it. right now it's not in order. microphone two. >> joe, i move to close nominations. >> i have a nomination. >> you have at least two nominations.

>> ok. we have two more nominations. is there any second to closing the nominations? ok. i don't believe it's in order to close nominations while we still have two nominations. we don't even know who they are. we are going to go back to nominations. >> thank you, madam chair. >> where are you at? >> four. >> microphone four. >> ee whriz bet -- elizabeth from california. i am proud to put into nomination our 2000 libertarian vice-presidential running mate to the late, great harry brown. art olivier. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> do you accept your nomination? >> yes, i do. >> have you also turned in your nomination papers? >> yes, i have. >> thank you so much. all right. we have another nomination.

>> robert, state of wisconsin. my candidate has already filled out all paperwork necessary, is endorsed by every person in the room for a free world. i remind everyone on the ballot today. thank you. >> can you please state your name? is it unknown delegate? >> robert burke. >> robert burke. ok. i see someone at microphone three. >> jeremy kaufman from the free state of new hampshire. there is only one man in this room with the raw animal nature to stand up to donald trump, r.f.k. and joe biden. there's only one man who will use helicopters to solve problems.

we need the ticket all the way through and that's why i am nominating toad for president of the united states. >> thank you. jeremy kaufman has nominated toad. do you accept the nomination? >> madam chair, i accept the nomination. let's tower this. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes, i have. >> beautiful. thank you very much, mr. toad. >> madam chair, microphone two. >> microphone three has a nomination? >> no, just a question of privilege, madam chair. r.f.k. is on the ballot for the natural law party as well. so we cannot consider him for that reason additionally. >> that is not a question of privilege. >> please don't railroad me again, thank you. >> beautiful. microphone one over here, i believe. >> point of order. mike from virginia.

as has been explained multiple times, an inability to accept the nomination or unwillingness to submit the paperwork in a timely fashion is tantamount to declining the nomination. the reason that i got out of bed this morning was to make sure you had the paperwork and i would have expected the same respect from mr. kennedy if he were serious. the libertarian party -- >> thank you. >> the libertarian party is quite literally convened by definition, those who are not in the room today, i will believe leave it to you to define. mr. mapstead's name and my name seem to be missing from the screen. thank you, madam chair. >> i believe that your name and mr. map std's name are on the previous page of the secretary's minutes. there they are. >> microphone two. >> point of prnl privilege. can you get them on the same page, please?

>> madam chair, microphone two. >> madam chair, please pass the gavel if you need to have a phone call. >> we are still in the middle of nominations and i am speak withing a candidate. >> mr. chairman. mr. chairman, microphone two.

>> microphone three. >> two. >> mr. chairman, arthur from texas. i move to close nominations. >> all right. is there anyone else wishing to make a nomination? it does not appear to be. >> there is a point of order. >> is there a second? moved and seconded. would you like to speak? >> no, sir. all right. >> all right. if there is no objection, nominations are closed.

>> mr. chairman, may we proceed to nomination speeches? >> one second. >> point of personal privilege, i guess. if your name is on that list and you expect to have a video played, please make sure you get it to the a.v. team. we have four videos at this point and there are more than four names up there. thank you very much. >> ok. thank you. >> microphone three, request for information. >> microphone three. >> nathan madden, delegate from arizona. is it not the case in our by-laws that if a nominee has accepted a nomination from a rival national party that they are ineligible to be nominated at our convention? >> one second, please.

one second, please. so by-law section 5.4 deals with an affiliate party, not the natural party. >> mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i believe this question can be resolved during nomination speeches. i request that we proceed to nomination speeches. >> all right. one second. and i have been informed that mr. kennedy did accept the nomination. just letting you know.

so we will move to presidential nomination speeches. >> point of order, mr. chair. >> where is your point of order? >> mic one, mary, california. i just wanted to point out that in the minutes, the notes, it looks like this discussion is referring to toad and it's not. it's referring to r.f.k. jr. i wanted to make that very clear before that got into the minutes. >> ok. >> object to consideration. >> all right. paperwork was already turned in on mr. kennedy. what i would like to know is if the statement of intention to run was also turned in. that is the question. whoever turned in his nomination papers, i need to know if you turned in a statement of intention to run. please help us resolve this right now.

>> madam chair? >> yes. >> mark, california. i object to consideration. >> ok. >> do you know what that means? >> to what? >> to nominating r.f.k. jr. for the libertarian party. >> there are 30-plus signatures. >> i object to consideration. >> it's not a good objection. >> i object as well, madam chair. mr. hingle is in order. >> point of order. >> it's not an original motion. your objection is not well taken. but i think that reading the room, it will be just fine. >> madam chairman, microphone two. arthur from texas. can we please proceed to nomination speeches?

>> are we ready to proceed to nomination speeches? are you comfortable receiving an update from me regarding the statement of intention to run in between the nomination speech? >> yes. >> thank you. all right. we are going to stand at ease for two minutes while we figure out the order for nomination speeches. nominations have been closed. >> candidates, i need you to come up and confer with our secretary regarding the order of your nomination speeches. >> madam chairman, point of privilege at mic two. would the chair please remind

the delegates that if they're going to leave today please check out with credentials? >> i will not remind them of that until we have sorted out whether or not that's in order, but i hear you. >> thank you. >> madam chair. point of personal privilege at mic one. >> madam chair. >> microphone one. >> danil haze, for anybody that's been wonderful -- >> hold on. guys, you are too loud. i need to be able to hear people. go ahead. >> my associate was born on the fourth of july, 2020, he a liberty dog.

he goes by ritt and for those who need to know if he is able to be petted, ask, but his left ear has an infection so be careful and avoid it. >> ok.

>> hector, please come to the front.

>> repaging the representative, please come back to the front. we had a question for you. i believe you are a gentleman from new york. i could be wrong. here you come. thank you so much.

>> what keeps me excited is --

>> madam chair. point of privilege. >> microphone two. >> point of personal privilege.

my name is chip, i am the delegation chair from minnesota. >> i need everybody to be a little bit quieter so i can hear. >> my name is chip and i am the degaition -- delegation chair from minnesota. a member of my delegation was hit last night by a drunk driver while his car was parked. we have many professions in the audience. if there is a chiropractor here, if that person could come here to assess our delegation member, i would be grateful. >> that would be amazing. do we have a chiropractor in the room? if so please find chip and the minnesota delegation. thank you. ok. guess what, everyone. i need to be quiet. pursuant to convention rule 7, nota needs 30 sicts to speak. if you want not ago to speak you better flap your signature on a

nomination paper and get it up here right now. there have to be 30 of you. sorry. >> ok. we are just about ready for our nam nation -- nomination speeches to begin. all right. nota people go to credentials, that general direction. we are going to see if you figure it out by the last whatever.

the third to last. you have that much time. >> ok, guys. we are going to start our nomination speeches. so everyone please find your seats so that you can be respectful of our candidates who have worked very hard to get to this place. let's get ready. everyone, please find your seats. if you are not going to find your seat, please lower your voice. no, don't raise your voice, lower your voice. are we ready?

we are very short on time today. we have a lot of things to do. mr. art oliver, if you could please come to the stage. we have a timer in the back of the room for our candidates. you have 16, not 15, 16 minutes. we will begin that timer. once mr. art oliver makes his way to the stage.we really needn things today. can someone from art's team

please come to the stage? let us know. oh, thank you. ok. i am going to announce the order so that all american its and all of their supporters are aware again. art olivier, followed by lars, followed by mike, followed by told followed by robert f. kennedy, jr., followed by joshua smith, followed by charles ballet, followed by trees

oliver, followed by nota, followed by michael rectenwald, followed by hornberger. we are waiting on art olivier to come to the stage. >> manager, microphone -- madam chair, microphone two. >> yes. >> can we just proceed to the next speaker please and return to mr. olivier when he arrives? >> i think that is up to the speakers. this has literally never happened. if mr. mapstead would like to proceed, he can do that. but it is his choice.

>> delegate from california, microphone one. i would like to request that the candidates limit their nomination speeches as much as possible. if everyone takes full time, it will be almost three hours. >> thank you. [applause] >> microphone two. >> microphone two. >> from maryland.

if the first speaker is not ready, can we -- >> know, the first speaker was not ready. >> yes. therefore, can we please move on? >> yes, we can if the next candidate is ready. >> if that candidate is not ready, can we move onto the next candidate? next available. >> start the clock. >> all right. i'm going to try to move this forward a little more quickly. the vice chair will hang out at the gavel while i try to crack some skulls. oh, look. we do actually have a candidate who has graciously decided to step forward and help us advance our business. please give him a round of applause. this is an awesome move.

[applause] >> thank you so much. mr. mapstead, will you please give me a signal when you are ready? and then you will be -- got it. >> i grew up really poor. i grew up in fact with an outhouse in no electricity in california. i really did not have a lot of rules growing up.my parents pretty much left me alone. they were doing their own thing. it was a free experience with little to no rules, and when i entered elementary school and they started to try to put rules on me and told me how to behave, i rebelled against that. after that, i moved in with my grandparents in the santa cruz mountains and would visit my mom and dad occasionally. one of these trips was to visit my mom on the night before thanksgiving. and we were driving over to a bus station to drop me off and go see my mom when a drunk

driver killed my grandfather next to me and i spent the next six months or so in and out of the hospital with multiple surgeries. this led me down a dark path. i dropped out of high school and started doing a lot of drugs to kind of ease the pain i was going through and kind of wipe away the memories of the situation i had just gone through. fortunately, a few years later, i was able to meet some folks who had kind of looked in on my drinking and drug use and said you might have a problem. i said i am 17 years old so i could not possibly have a problem. i indeed have an addiction to alcohol. getting sober was really challenging. i thought it would be easy. i thought and be able to stop whatever i wanted to but after multiple stops and starts, i realized nothing in my power was going to be able to solve my problems with drugs and alcohol. so i had to seek help for that -- outside help for that.

those different kinds of treatment programs help you have a principal lifestyle that guide your life. i was able to seek treatment for that and have been sober ever since, 37 years now. i worked a lot of different jobs. eventually, i ended up selling motherboards in silicon valley. i was working at private electronics, and this was literally the time of the internet being born. 23 years old, 24 years old so i learned html, how to program webpages. i was working for a fellow and we were working late one night. he said, i am going to go on a date. ok, cool. i got a date off the internet. mind you this is 1994. i was like, you nerd. it was one of the biggest chat rooms on the internet at the time. we merged our companies together and we were an unstoppable team. when we first merged together,

we were doing $100 billion in sales and within a couple years we had grown that to $350 billion, and then $640 billion. in 2007, we sold that company for $500 billion and i thought i was going to retire. i was 40 years old and thought i finally made it from the outhouse. i remember in 2007 being on facebook, they were passing around one of these small political quizzes. i thought this would be a hoot. am i a democrat or a republican? i took the quiz and it said i was a libertarian. what is a libertarian? i had to google it. these are my people. i finally found my people. [applause] ♪ >> my name is barry schwartz.

i am the chair of the utah libertarian party. the spirit of america is the spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship. for that reason, i am proud to give my support to lars mapstead to be our candidate for president of the united states. [applause] >> my name is harrison. i am the chair for the libertarian party in maine. i nominate lars mapstead to be our presidential candidate because he has a plan. a plan that has already resulted in a seemingly impossible victory in maine. last year, we wrote and successfully lobbied the legislation that cut our party threshold requirement in half. after that, with the help of lars mapstead, we launched a successful voter registration drive and now have major party

status and have over 5500 mainers that call themselves libertarian party voters. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please join me in electing lars mapstead as our next presidential candidate. join me in winning an electoral vote. [applause] >> hello, everyone. i am jeff hewitt from california, a former mayor and county supervisor. i am out here to tell you i would love to see lars mapstead inside closed sessions, up in front of people, and changing this country the way only he can. i wholeheartedly endorse lars mapstead for president of the united states. thank you. [applause] >> my name is skyler.

i ran for nebraska state legislature. nebraska is one of the states we are targeting to stop 270. i am so proud to stand with lars as our presidential nominee so that we can put gold on that map and prove that libertarians can win. thank you. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. my name is heidi at the hundred smith and i am the chair of the libertarian party in louisiana. we have a huge opportunity this year to bring in so many people who are so disrespected by the nominees for the republican and democrat parties, presumed anyway. the first step will be we nominate lars mapstead for president. thank you so much. [applause]

>> hello, everyone. my name is tj ferrera. i am from california and nevada. three years ago, i got a call from my friend, lars mapstead. he said, tj, i want to run for president. i said, don't do it. he goes, no, i've got this idea. i think we can put some gold on the map on election night. just think about everyone on election night going, what the heck is that? i am used to seeing red and blue up there, but what is this gold thing? and then they will go to google and say, what is a libertarian? he goes, think about all of america googling "what is a libertarian?" at the same time. and i said i am in. i was volunteered number one on this campaign. as you can see behind me, they are still filing in. that is how long it takes. this campaign has grown like

crazy over the last three years. two months ago, i got a call from the commission oversight committee, and they said, hey, we need some help. can you help us put this convention together? i sent them ahead, i am running -- i said, hey, i am running a presidential campaign, i don't have time for that. they sent please. i sent them a lars, i love this party, and i want to make sure we have a good convention. can i step down for this campaign -- from this campaign? he said you have seen all of these great men going around the country, these guys running for president. it would be a shame if they did not have a nominating convention after they spent all of this time and money and effort. go make that thing happen. i thank him for that because what we have today is the fact that lars let me step down from his campaign for two months in order to be here.

and i would not have felt comfortable if this team had not been there to back me up because, wow, this team is freaking amazing and they are from all walks of life, from all different parties, from all parts of the country because this man is a uniter. he has vision. he brings people together. and one of the people in this room who is probably -- has probably called most of you this election delegates, this man is one of the hardest working volunteers on our entire staff. i want to bring forward now larry sharpe to talk to you. thank you. [applause] >> yeah. >> hey, everybody. how are you? i know that a lot of you are worried. i know. i am too. i am worried that if we don't have a good year this year that it may affect us for the next

four. i am worried too. we have rfk junior running as we see, trump coming to upper convention. we have all kinds of stuff happening. we have some of our donors leaving. we have fighting in our party. we have jill stein being funded by the green party. can you believe that? my worry is we don't do something this year, we may have a problem. we may come in for this year. imagine that. we may get less than a percent. we may get half of a percent. and lose that to how many states that and lose out and how many states? strong messaging, i am happy about that. i like that. i am worried. in 2016, many of you saw me come here and try to make sure we would have a good message for johnson. i failed. i tried in 2018 in new york

state, but that when i won -- one i won. many of you don't know, i was able to for the first time ever. [applause] and i did that with a very specific type of plan, and that plan was to first go to small areas, not the big cities. i live in new york city. i did not go to new york city. i was drowned in new york city. nobody hurt me in new york city. i went to places where they have two choices. when they covered larry sharpe that made it a bigger piece in some parts of upstate new york. i got 56% of the. is that insane? yes, because it works. from that, it became a statewide campaign. that got me to get ballot access.

from that, i crossed the state again, supported candidates, and got 107 victories across the upstate. there were 107 elected libertarians because of what i did in 2018. then the state destroying the party. besides that, it was a good plan. i wanted that in 2020. i could not get it. lars talks to me and said we will focus on getting electoral votes. we focus on electoral vote. what will happen is the press will notice, and they already have. now they notice. this now becomes a national campaign. now we get 2, 3, 4, 5. now we retain ballot access for the next four years. now we are able to push to a point to where people want to come back to a party, unite the party. the solution is not addition by

subtraction. it is not division, it is multiplication. the person that understands that more than most is lars mapstead. he gets that. which is why he is the man we have to support. if we want to have an actual national campaign that will lead to better money, money we need, we need some type of goal. the goal is to stop 270. that is the goal. people here that. they like it. they want to put money behind it. the goal is getting electoral votes. that is the goal. you know this. we are like the mongol empire. if we don't have a goal, we find each other. but when we have a goal, let's get them. this is a goal that people will get behind. this is the issue. if we want to unite this party, there is one man who can do it. that is lars mapstead. if we want to be able to make impact and raise money, lars mapstead. if we want to retain ballot

access, lars mapstead. the only man who can do all of these things right now and the man you need to vote for in the first round here, the man himself, lars mapstead. [applause] >> thank you, libertarians. they talk about what they want from government, we talk about what we don't want from government and there is quite a bit i don't want from government. i don't want a government that could tell me whether i can build a shed or print my mailbox or plant a tree on my own property. i have been there, and i bet you have too. i want a government that forces kids into schools that fail them. my daughter was falling behind and the government had no solutions for her. my youngest daughter was excelling in the government put her in a box. we were more concerned about getting their money than her education. i want a government that criminalizes people what they

put in their bodies or what personal choices they make. i don't want a government -- sorry. [laughter] [cheering and applause] i don't want a government that locks us in our homes for safety , mandates us to leave our grandparents to die in nursing homes. i don't want a government that steals from our children and our children's children through reckless spending and inflation. i don't want a government that sends our youth to die in wars that last generations. i don't want a government that sensors speech and the right to protest i don't want a government that takes away your religious liberties. i don't want a government that strips us of our right to bear arms. i don't want a government that tells us what to think about what to believe, and how to live our lives. i don't want a government. that exists, but if we must have a government, all i want it to

do is to protect our rights. i know the only way to get there is to break the back of the two-party system, the two parties that can tell us what we can have on our yards and properties, the two parties that have the same schools to mother to parties that leave thousands on the street struggling with drugs and alcohol, the two parties that send our sons and daughters to be killed, maimed, and mentally broken in foreign wars, the two parties that promoted devastating lockdowns and used our house as a political football without the care of the damage they were doing to society, the two parties our founders warned us about. i ask you to join me today and breaking the back of the two parties. i asked for your vote. i ask for your support. together, we can deal a death blow to the two parties and start down the path of setting the world free in our lifetimes.

[applause] >> thank you, lars mapstead. if we can have our av team to reset the timer to 15 minutes in the back of the room, that would be amazing. and if mr. art olivier is present, we would love for him to approach the stage.

av team, how are we on our timer? and everyone, please find your seats. all right, everyone, if i can please have your attention, lower your voices, because we are going to welcome our next presidential nominee to the stage. mr. art olivier. [applause]

>> hey. hey there, whoever said hey, elizabeth. thank you. hello, hello libertarian party candidates. i am elizabeth of california, and i have been watching and helping and learning from elected libertarians for 30 years. in the 35 years since art olivier joint party that joined the party, simply, won election to represent 70,000 people, become the mayor, the city's highest executive office, cut taxes, stop eminent domain abuses, privatizing services,

and gone on to help grow the libertarian party to record levels as our vice president joe nominee -- our vice presidential nominee in 2000 alongside the late great larry brown. art olivier also advocated for individual freedom at the state level by running for governor of california and participated wholeheartedly in international peace conferences, landing him on the terrorist watch list. yep. now, my friend art olivier was not the earliest to jump into this race, a primary race in which we are graced with an excellent array of candidates. a true embarrassment of riches. while members of the dominant to parties suffer, so stuck with the same old

government retreads with no meaningful choice at all. today, my fellow delegates, you have an extraordinary opportunity given the recent and ongoing laser focus on winning local elections. if you nominate art olivier for president, and will be our first presidential candidate in history who has already as a libertarian accomplished all the things i mentioned, the small government things you and i year in and fight for so hard. my friends, no matter which of our exceptional candidates you choose today to carry our message -- sorry. to carry our message of individual freedom nationwide, libertarian benefits and solutions to ordinary voters outside of this room, and a matter whom you entrust with the risk who might win the highest executive office in the land, art olivier is a man who should

be honored for what he has done at that local level, communicated at the vp level nationwide, for the example he has set for individual freedom and smaller government on behalf of the syrians in this room and those watching us across the country for setting a tremendous example of walking the talk and making real change at the local levels. i invite and encourage you to join me insincerely thinking this libertarian gentleman now running for president, art olivier. [applause] now, please enjoy this campaign ad before my other hero shares his remarks. thank you.

>> good morning, libertarians. how are you guys doing today? alright, i know it is early. let's try that one more time while we are waiting through our technical difference dust difficulties. good morning, libertarians. how are you guys doing today? i am glad to be here. i know you are too. we have a lot of great candidates this morning and i am filibustering for an ad that is supposed to be on the tv any moment now. so thanks for being here. i met art olivier when i was probably 16 or 17 years old. he was the very first elected libertarian that i had met, and i said, wow, libertarians can

actually get elected. it was an inspiration for me for a long time. it pushed me hard to run people like jeff hewitt and wendy hewitt and others in riverside county, and he has been an inspiration to me for a long time. his work in the city of bellflower was immense. the city has been touched by his work. obviously, his conservative positions for the financial positions were very big along with a bunch of other great things he did there. i am very sorry. we were supposed to have an ad here so i apologize. we are playing the ad for you later, i just found out. again, art olivier is running for the president of the united states. because of my longtime position in the party, i got reached out to buy a lot of people running for office. we sat down and had dinner and he talked about what had inspired him to run for office. we talked a little bit about

what he wanted to do and what he wanted to accomplish. he wants to represent the libertarian party in a way that gives a lot of respect. he wants to use his opportunities as an elected official with his connections he has there along with a vast volunteer network to move forward this party and move forward on this campaign. with no further ado, ladies and gentlemen, art olivier. [applause] art: thank you, elizabeth and boomer. back when i was the mayor, i was driving my four kids, and my five-year-old out of the blue, she asked, daddy, what if the president wasn't the boss and the people were the boss? [applause] you know, so i explained to her, that is the way this country is supposed to be.

the people are supposed to be the boss. but it seems like the government is the boss. they are acting like the boss, especially at the federal level with all of these alphabet agencies. all of these alphabet agencies. they tell us what to do. we give them our money, and they tell us what to do. we have a department of education that educates no one, a department of transportation that transports nothing, a department of agriculture that grows no food. we have a department of offense. [applause] the dea and the atf, they violate our constitution on a daily basis. the fbi, they go out and get in

the way of real investigations of real crime while they go out and do sting operations against citizens that have committed no crime, like me. they tried to get me to smuggle electronics into iran, believe it or not. so then we have the cia, which could stand for conducting international assassinations. so to pay for all of this, they take our money through the internal revenue service, which serves only the special-interest.

the late, great harry brown, my running mate back in 2000 -- [applause] let's hear it, one of the greatest libertarians of all time. he had a saying. he said there's one thing that the government is good at, and that is to break your legs, and you a crutch and say see, it wasn't for government you wouldn't be able to walk. that's what government does to us. now more than ever i think people across this nation are identifying themselves as libertarians. so we need to let them know that there is a political party out there that is working hard to reduce the size of government and implement libertarian policies.

the other candidates for government, these are all very well-spoken libertarians. and if they ever decided to run for local office, and put as much time, effort and money into that local race, i think every single one of them would get elected. don't you? you've seen these guys, they are tremendous, hard-working man. and if they did that, they could implement the libertarian policies that would make their communities a better place to live. now, if they or any of you ever decide to run for local office, let me know. i can give you some winning strategies that don't cost a lot of money, because you know i am a type -- tightwad and i didn't

spend much money to get elected. but i have winning strategies that can help you or somebody you are working for get elected. so you have my card or my flyer. then you have my email and my personal phone number, so just give me a call. quite often when the libertarian party gets media coverage, it's not very favorable. but it doesn't have to be like that. if we give them something positive to talk about they will do it. back when i was your candidate for vice president, i did nonstop interviews from the moment i got nominated all the way up through the election. and they were all positive. because i gave them something positive to talk about except for one.

so the reporters were intrigued on how i was able to cut taxes, even eliminate taxes, and still have enough revenue to run the city. so i explained to them that i did that by privatizing things like crossing guards, tree trimming. i even fired the los angeles county building department and privatized that. [applause] so that, along with a competitive bidding process, we have more than enough revenue. in fact, we tripled the number of trees we trimmed and tripled the number of streets we paved. -- quadrupled the number of streets we paved. they were also interested in how i was able to fight the

corruption that is so prevalent throughout california politics. and successfully do so in many instances. it wasn't easy. they were interested in how i was even able to stop every single instance that the city was trying to use eminent domain against property owners, even when i was still in a minority position on the city council. now, one thing that they wondered was how the heck did this mayor in a city with over 60 churches, how did he get away with advocating the legalization of meth labs? i wrote a letter. you can go to my website and

scroll down and go to the link to the los angeles times. and read that letter about how having legal meth labs next the community much more safe then having them in your garage next door which can blow up your house, which we had happened more than once. but the interesting thing about that is after i wrote that letter, i got no political backlash from it. i got nothing at all. because i think that america is coming around to believing that our position to end the war on drugs is the right choice. so when i was running that campaign, the state party did a tremendous job. any old-timers out here, you

remember those tours that we took. they were the ones that set up all of these interviews. i'm not sure if i would have got those if i hadn't had been elected. the choice is yours. you can either nominate somebody that is going to tell the american people what we would like to do, or you can nominate a candidate that will tell the american people what we actually do, and that is to implement libertarian policies throughout this entire nation. thank you. [applause] ♪ >> we all want to live our lives

in peace but the democrat and republican politicians keep pushing propaganda that has kept us in a perpetual war. that makes us less safe. it doesn't have to be like this. when you vote for a libertarian, who are voting to keep the money that you've earned and to end the wars that have destroyed millions of lives. >> alrighty. thank you. if we can have the timer reset, please. thank you.

next up we have mike term. and i believe we have a video first. >> this election is not going to be about small things. it's not going to be about some court decision, a particular law or what to do about some government agency. this election is not going to be about a political candidate, it's not going to be about donald trump or joe biden. nor is this election going to be about me. this election is going to be about you. this election is going to be about your own vision for your own future, and whether that future is going to be driven by your own values or someone else's values. there are people today and control of our government who impose a set of values that are different from yours, different from mine, different from those

of most americans. the values of this political class reflected interest in power and control. these politicians maintain control by manipulating fear. political parties have picked american against american, undermining our most cherished relationships, quite literally destroying families. the ever-increasing overreach of government has stripped us of our personhood, our individuality, and far too often, our very purpose. our culture, our nation has been forced into an abusive relationship with the government that has gone absolutely mad with power. >> i'm running for president to end the abuse and build a new relationship between us and our government to replace the old, abusive relationship with what i call a golden new deal. in any abusive relationship it can be difficult to see the signs.

signs like gas lighting, violence, wasted money, infidelity. hope is not lost if we forge a relationship with our government that is, once again, based on our own values. to live and let live, to allow our fellow americans to pursue happiness according to their own standards. it's time to stop fighting with each other and start fighting a political class that takes our money and disrespects our values. it is time for a golden new deal, and as president i will end u.s. involvement in foreign wars and stop sending our money and our young people overseas to fight in wars that profit the elites. a goal new deal means that i will regain our financial freedom by axing government regulation and spending, by dismantling it federal reserve system that undermines our standard of living. a goal new deal means that i

will reverse the weaponization of our justice system, stop abusive law enforcement practices by demanding accountability, and end a hopelessly counterproductive war on drugs. a goal new deal means that i will put an end to the orwellian surveillance state that offends our rights, break out the fbi that insults our values, and to end the cia that has caused a worldwide embarrassment to us as americans. all i'm asking is for you to stop putting up with the abuse. learn more. visit goldnewdeal.org. [applause] >> please welcome mike tremont and his team. >> hello. my name is brittany and i am the cofounder of the medical freedom caucus and i am up here in support of the only candidate

with the professional experience in public service, the only candidate to effectively nullify local covid mandates as a police officer. the only candidate to have run for office on a platform against vaccine mandates while serving as a police officer. the only candidate to have rallied at the broward school board and the palm beach school board against mask mandates. the only candidate to publish a white paper against the economic shutdown and did so in april of 2020. the candidate who introduced us to the phrase separation of science and state, and the only candidate with the credibility to disrupt the duopoly intrusion on a medical freedom. i am here in support of mike tremont. >> hello, libertarians. ok.

last night something very funny happened. people that live in the d.c. area saw us on tv and on the internet and they came down here to party with us because they think we are rock stars. we said loudly, repeatedly and in his face donald trump is not a libertarian and we are libertarians. we are political science nerds and we got picked last in gym class. today we are rock stars. two of our candidates stayed on stage and answered every question. they told us just what it means to be a libertarian, and we are not going to take the bu llshit. i stand in support of mike tremont.

>> i'm the chair of the libertarian party of virginia and i stand here to support mike tremont, the only candidate with any professional campaign experience and the only candidate whose strategy is to make hard edges against democratic and republican politicians. the only candidate who has consistently promoted the long-term goals to perpetuate principal libertarian philosophy and economics. the candidate rated highest by the radical caucus for his uncompromising inherence to libertarian principles, and he is the only candidate who can truly reunite the libertarian party. thank you.

>> don't worry, that's all i'm going to take off. ladies and gentlemen, my name is jeff miller, a delegate from the great state of texas. i am also a member of the lp texas staff and a libertarian state committee and the county chair of brazos county, texas. i ran for state representative in 2022 and received 32% of the vote against a six term republican incumbent, and i'm running again in 2024. a lot of people have said that they don't join any caucus to try to help themselves up here. i did the opposite, i joined every caucus that would have me as a member so yes, i am member of the radical caucus, the sober caucus, the wild caucus, the

board near secaucus caucus. i made that one up, but it is true i was born near new jersey. and i am here to support the only candidate with any experience in professional public policy, the only candidate running not just on slogans, but on a golden new deal and actual plans to combat government purity. and the candidate that has visited more nations than the other candidates have visited states. the only candidate with the credibility to compete nationwide not just a handful of states, and the only candidate able to disrupt the status quo of american politics. and the only candidate, if you are honest, and you close your eyes, you can actually imagine as president. i am here to support mike tremont the next president of the united states.

i am the only candidate in this room who was married to nancy tremont. [applause] my job is to get thehell off the stage because you got important business to do. i want to remind you of a couple things you already know. you already know everything and going to say today, you probably even know how i'm going to say. in that sense i want you to stop listening to me. you in the back still talking, i want you to stop listening to me. i want you to stop listening to me and they want you to listen to yourselves. i want you to listen to your heart. i want you to listen to your heart because your heart is in this room and the reason your heart is in this room is because this is the libertarian party and this is our convention.

you are going to have some weird opportunities to cast some weird votes today. i'm going to ask you to vote for a libertarian. if you don't vote for me, that's ok, but i will be goddamned if you vote for somebody who is not a libertarian. [applause] of all the things i'm going to say today, let this be the most obvious. this is not about me. it's not even about nancy. and if i may just for one more point of privilege, in large measure it is not even about you, is not even about us. it is about people outside of holding, outside of this city.

it is about people who can't spell libertarianism. it is about people who have never heard of our party. it is about people for whom we need to stand up. it is about people who have the money, the resources and an all too many cases, their lives taken from them by a government that doesn't give a rat's ass about their values or about yours or mine. it is about people who find it difficult to make ends meet because we constantly create an environment of inflation that undermines our way of life. it is about people who cannot make ends meet because we have a government that takes and spends our resources. it is about people whose lives are sent abroad to fight in wars that you don't agree with, that i don't agree with and their sons and daughters are dying for for no damn good reason. [applause]

it's about people who cannot be here. it's about people who deserve to be here and deserve a way of life that fits with their values and their goals. not because you said so or because i said so, but because there god said so. this is about americans and it is about our country and if we don't take it back, nobody else will. free ross. free ross! vote like you mean it. [applause]

>> we like mike. we like mike. we like mike. >> being on this stage is like being on a boat. very shaky. thank you. next up, we have mr. toad. could we please have mr. toad? >> mr. vice chair, a light has

fallen over on the stage. has everyone here ever read egalitarianism as a revolt against nature? it is one of the best libertarian pieces ever written. ralph bart says that if people went around saying that we could fly by flapping her arms, we should not say that that is a noble and beautiful goal because it is false. it is a lie. you cannot fly by flapping your arms, and so when we go around telling lies, that is not beautiful, it is damaging. and he says that is why we

should not be at terrien. i'm here to tell you that a lot of you guys are doing the same exact thing. and i'm not here to concede that what you are doing is noble and beautiful. it is wasteful and it is stupid. it is sucking up to people who hate you for the 30th year in a row, probably at the best way to maximize your vote percentage. if you want to do that, you can. in coalition with magas to get a seat at the table, back at work. it could. but implicit in both of these strategies is that you are a loser and you will continue to lose. but there are some of us who aren't insane, who don't believe that we should do the same thing and expect results. because there is a way that

libertarians can win. there are millions of us across the country, and we deserve to live in accordance with our values and our beliefs. and the candidates here tonight are giving you false strategies for how to achieve that. and it is implicit in their arguments and tactics. they are telling it to you, they know it in their hearts. but for those of us who still want the whole apple, for those of us who want a libertarian society, a libertarian order, a voluntary-only private property order, there is one candidate and one strategy for doing that. and we need a candidate who will attract intelligent, capable libertarians who are serious about ushering in this order. we do not need more libertarian to or interested in getting votes attracting gay race

communists into the libertarian party. so i let a poll about who could actually stand up to trump's energy. the guy behind me got 40%. because he has raw animal energy and charisma. other candidates running for president may be willing to do what must be done. they may be willing to appoint a socialist, but there is only one candidate who would do it while playing the ukulele. do you really want to do that without a tower gang president? we need a tower gang ticket from top to bottom. also it might get him a girlfriend. thank you. ♪ [applause] >> thank you, jeremy.

some sign lady on mike's team asked me to come up here naked. i'm sure a lot of you would enjoy that but i am not that libertarian. i'm actually so beloved that i have an entire state of new hampshire that keeps nagging me to move there because any state that i inhabit just becomes instantly more based. i would sum up my campaign strategy quite simply as meme them until they cry, shout out to the emo caucus. we can use social media, we can weaponize it so that we can shitpost and demoralize the politicians, the corporate press journalists, the authoritarians and woke progressives. i'm going to be straight with you, i'm going to be honest with you about this.

many of the people in this room right now have a tendency to cry and bitch about memes and jokes and mean words and that is currently how we are perceived by a lot of people, and is that really how we want to be perceived? as a bunch of crybaby losers? i would say no we do not. so i suggest that what we should do is take to the internet, use internet video, podcasts that are humorous, unfiltered, not even explicitly political, necessarily, and show people that we can be sane, normal people who you can hang out with and laugh with and we can actually make you laugh. and in doing so, we may be able to shift the cultural window in a direction that is not politically correct and is unwoke. we can de-woke-ify the culture. that is what i'm trying to do here.

in this jeremy pointed out we do have clint russell running for vp with my podcast took -- podcast cohost. we could have an all power gang ticket. that would be the dream ticket. toad and clint 2020 four and maybe we could save or at least start turning around the image of this party and of libertarians. thank you. >> toad! toad! toad! >> thank you, toad. next up, we have rfk jr. robert, excuse me.

yes. either one. >> good morning, libertarians. [crowd booing] >> i'm from florida, i'm here to give a quick introduction. waiting for the timer. thank you. again, good morning, libertarians. i am a volunteer, a passionate activist. someone who is encouraged that for the first time in my generation i get to vote for somebody who could possibly end the duopoly once and for all. that is bobby kennedy.

i want to tell you that the libertarian party is at a crossroads. there are a lot of state chairs were very nervous about whether their party will continue to be recognized as a party after this election. whether their candidates will be able to run as libertarian or if they will be stuck. we have 15-18 states that rely on the presidential election for their pallet access. new york has already lost their ballot access in the last cycle. georgia is on the chopping block. and in any scenario right now, we know that the greatest vote-debtor this year is bobby kennedy. at the end of the day, we are going to champion our ideas of ending the fed, restoring medical freedom, ending the bureaucracy that has crippled

our economy. and i'm going to leave it now to the next person. >> my name is nathan, i'm from pennsylvania and i believe that we have a pragmatic people in this room. and i know that there is no magical transporter that gets us to libertopia. we have a hard road ahead of us. and it is going to be a hard road to get there. on that road, we have to make choices, wise choices about our path. tearing down the two-party system is the first step on that path. rfk jr. is the way down that path. [crowd booing] >>'s campaign will tear down the two-party system and in that

process will also take us 90% of the way where we want to go. i ask you all to think about where we are going and how we get there, because if we continue to do the same thing we have to think about what coalitions we can build so that we can gather our support and bring in new libertarians to our party. thank you. >> oh, yeah. my name is steve french, i from south carolina.

all right, my beautiful misfits, let's go ahead and have it. so this is the deal, guys. it's time. you guys right now have a moment unlike any other. every single one of you in this room right now has a chance to change the course of history. not just for this country, but for the freaking world. let's look at some traits. robert kennedy is not a libertarian, ok. can we admit that? let's go ahead and get the elephant out of the room. exactly. so let's get something else straight. we are all misfits. we are all outcast. there may be a few of us that were born libertarian but for the rest of us, we found our way here. we found enough pain either in the republican party, or whatever it was to finally decide that this is going to be our home. we are a team. this is our family.

the problem we are having right now is that we are the party of principle. it is all about principles. those principles right now are costing us. this chip on our shoulder that we wear those principles by, it is killing us. this body is not going to be the same after this convention. you guys understand what is going to happen. we are in the crosshairs now. they all know what is going on. it is only going to be more difficult for everyone in this room moving forward. the powers that be do not want us to win. so what i want to say is this. we need someone in this country to take on the duopoly. and i love our candidates. i love what we've done and i love this party, guys, 1% is not going to do it.

we need to be talking about how to win. i'm sorry, i love you so much but this process is what we need. candidates out there who are actually trying to sell this to the voters, we need your help. we need your help. you are the ones right here in this body that are making things difficult for ourselves. so what i'm saying to everyone here is think about what the options are anchored out the positives. i understand that kennedy isn't the best choice that we can have as a libertarian forever principles but he understands a certain number of things. censorship, that is it a problem. is anybody else kick off facebook right now? i know i am. has anybody else been kicked off? has anybody else gotten death threats from their citizens for running for office? exactly.

this is life or death. this isn't playing around. i want everybody to consider what is really going on and what is at stake. if we do this, we are denying the country an option. we will end up one way or the other. if robert kennedy isn't our guy, and we are going to go against him, and i'm fine with that. but the same thing is going on. i've talked in arkansas, tennessee, georgia. we are spending so much time, so much effort with this ballot access. we are not even talking to the candidates about how we could get policy through. we are spinning our wheels. i've been doing this for a decade with you guys. i love this place, but i'm telling you it is not the same. new orleans is changing. we have to become savvy. so i'm cutting michael behind robert kennedy because i think he is the best way to save this party right now.

and you might disagree with me on this, but censorship, that is a huge thing with us. individualism, medical freedom. i know where he stood back in covid when everybody else was toeing the party line. this is something that i hope you guys consider. i hope you guys look at the positives. i thank you for your time. [crowd booing] >> hello. my name is justin pelletier, i'm from new york. thank you. in october, mr. kennedy declared his independence and i took my daughter out of school for the day and they drove down to get a measure of the man. what i heard was an honest person. one who is willing to listen and to challenge his own ideas. my goal hearing that speech was to move them toward us because i

think we share that at least. and so i bought him a gift membership, the gift of liberty with the hopes that it would move him toward us and up until this morning, i don't think he was willing to accept our nomination even if we had elected him. and i think i know why. we are a liability, frankly. he wants to win. but i think he wants to win with a message. to heal the divide. and to bring people together. you can't convince somebody about the merits of libertarianism if they are unwilling to engage in dialogue. so i invite you to consider how we might engage others in the dialogue and convince them of the merits of our principles. we can't do that if we ostracize people who don't think like us. and so with that in mind, i will end with a quote and turn it over to a video.

frankly i don't know if you believe and accept the nomination. we are going to hear from him in a minute. one quote. truth is -- in the furnace of debate. we are about to hear from the author of that quote right now. >> i'm sending this video from california this morning to let you know that i accept this unexpected honor. i have a deep alignment with the core values, the integrity toward war, the commitment to end our addiction to forever wars and the love of personal freedoms and liberties, the

understanding that we are going to fulfill by exercising freedom of choice, in the united states constitution for outlining those freedoms, and that those freedoms are sacrosanct, that the constitution was written for our hearts and that there are no exceptions. i'm going to protect your rights, i'm going to protect the united states constitution. i'm going to end the foreign wars. libertarian party, this is a great honor and i look forward to an alliance of all of these parties were now challenging republican, democrat corrupt duopoly.

>> thank you, everybody come and let your freedom of choice be heard. >> thank you, mr. kennedy. i would also like a brief request if we could keep crowd conversations down to a minimum while we are listening to speakers. and can we please reset the clock? and i need we have joshua smith of next. so we will wait for the clock to be reset. it looks to be reset. mr. smith, come aboard.

>> hello, delegates. good afternoon, good morning. i've been a member of the libertarian party since 2013. i became a lifetime member in 2022 when the abortion plank was removed from our party platform. i'm a former secretary of the chesterfield county lp, a former secretary of the lp of central virginia and former vice chair of the commonwealth of virginia. i am here to nominate joshua smith for president of the united states. despite our hurdles as working and middle-class people for blue-collar candidates in raising enough funds for the pay to play straw full, we believe in josh, his message and his

charisma in getting that message out to the masses so much that we rallied in the 11th hour, grassroots, work boots on the ground effort to ensure you, the delegates heard from him in the debate. it was a great debate, wasn't it? [applause] so what is our primary value? electability or messaging? there is an ongoing debate within the party that our mission. if the message of liberty primary or as a political party can we expect to get libertarians elected into office? this is a false dichotomy. you must do both, of course. but perhaps the better question is why do we want to spread the message of liberty or get libertarians elected to office? what is the ultimate goal? these are both means, what is the end? to create a freer country which of these two poles, elections

and messaging if the stronger tool for creating liberty. both of them are important but messaging comes first. without solid messaging, what are we even calling people to vote for? if we failed to win an election, we can and do work to create liberty in other ways. if we fail in our obligation to preach the gospel of individual rights, nonaggression and the state as an enemy to these things, it will be libertarians. -- there will be no elected libertarians. for many of us here, people like ron paul spoke to our hearts and imaginations. we need a ron paul for the next potential generation of libertarians. this presidential campaign is a vital tool for capturing the imaginations of a country that is experiencing record levels of institutional distrust, and this

is happening at a time in our country especially with the next generation that has rejected the legacy regime media and is listening to radical messaging. we have a huge opportunity to shape the message of liberty and therefore the future of the country. and one way to do that is through, yes, a campaign. the campaign for the highest office in america get size and ears. who can use this campaign to fire up and galvanize those people in our country? who are fed up with are fed up with our broken two-party system , who are tired of seeing brown kids overseas and their tiktok feeds killed by american weapons and dollars. who want our bloated, oversized federal governments to get out of their business, who are struggling to put food on the

table and who are finally, thanks to our current and previous administrations, ready to admit that the federal government isn't part of the problem, but the whole problem. who can take that message to our country in the world? natural charisma, polished speech and the ability to command a room, joshua smith is that person. let's not squander this opportunity. i began reaching out to declare candidates last year with questions about issues i'm passionate about. that some may consider hot button issues but they are nonnegotiable for me. i quickly came to the conclusion that josh was a god-fearing, family first, uncompromising candidate i would support.

i stand with many others to have endorsed josh with this nomination including the christian caucus and the pro-life caucus. speaking of family first, ident josh has a really, really big dining room table. despite all that room at his table, josh will ensure the message gets out without a doubt that the state has no seat at his or any of our family tables. not to infringe on our educational decisions of our kids and grandkids, and not to infringe on our medical decisions. as a man of faith, josh will be sure the fbi knows they are not welcome to infringe on our religious liberties by harassing us anymore in our churches and cathedrals. josh is a candidate who will

hold the covid tyrants accountable for deeming us non-essential with their lockdown and inflationary spending policies and mandates which virtually extinguished the middle class, but most importantly, josh believed that if the government must exist, it should at least protect life, especially the most vulnerable among us. i'm nominating the only candidate to unashamedly proclaim that the nonaggression principle extends from the room -- the womb to the tomb. it is the greatest honor of my libertarian tenure thus far to stand on this stage with the next libertarian candidate for president of the united states, joshua smith. ♪

>> hey, guys. josh asked me to kind of talk for a second and out why i'm supporting him so strongly. a step closer? sorry. that sounds better. josh asked me to talk about why i am supporting them so strongly. i was a college libertarian back in 2004. i voted in the first ever election is able to vote in, and then i was a passionate ron paul supporter. i believed in the moment that it felt like this was our moment to break through and liberty was going to take hold of america and ron paul is going to win. i was so disillusioned with the power structure and watching how they just abused ron paul and didn't let him on the stage, they kept out of the polls. they rigged the whole system against him and i decided i was kind of congress politics for a while i'm going to work on

making myself as free as possible. so i gave up for a long time. and then 2020 had and realized maybe we need some structure to defend freedom, and it was actually dave smith who convinced me that, ok, during the libertarian party again is the right decision and we can fight freedom and we have this opportunity. so it is a little strange because i am such a big dave smith fanned that we are not supporting the same person because dave smith is normally right on everything. and i've talked to dr. >> and walt and i think he really understands the message anti-gets it, but then i was on a twitter space about bitcoin, i made a piquant supporter because i think it really is the future of money and we need to get off the dollar and really fight for this currency that they are trying to censor.

and josh came on the twitter space for three hours and he wasn't there to teach, he was there to support us but also learn about bitcoin. i saw him the open-minded and take in. he is not there to teach, he is there to learn and some are not an right for us, the freedom that we need. so i want to give a logical reason why i'm supporting josh. i'm a freelance copywriter, i've been doing this for 16 years in between her 16 years i've been cutting persuasion i've been studying sales. and most of what i sell his ideas. courses and books and things like that. information. when you are selling ideas, the first thing you need is the truth. like the libertarians, we have the truth. we understand and we are the only party that actually tell the truth, it's amazing. everyone else lies. but you need to tell a current truth.

it is not good enough to just talk about 1913, the federal reserve, although we need to talk about that. it's not good enough to say the bushes and clintons all need to be in jail, although that is important, too. and it is very important i think to say that fauci needs to be in jail, that donald trump needs to be in jail, that joe biden definitely needs to be in jail. and josh is the only one out your boldly calling for the arrest of all these criminals against humanity. but the other thing you need, when you are selling a message, part of it is the messenger. and josh is the only working-class person on the stage that has been running for president. he's the only guy that has ever come home from a day from work with dirt under his nails and sore feet and then is something people can relate to in america. we need somebody that the middle america, the young man in america can relate to and josh is the best person to share that message with them.

when you are sharing unpopular ideas, and our ideas are unpopular, the first thing people try to do is tear down the messenger. they don't deal with the ideas, they deal with the messenger first, and we can't give an ammunition to tear down that messenger. and josh is just relatable. he is a war veteran that is antiwar. he is pro-life which for a large portion of this country is a huge issue. it is relatable. there's just a lot about him that is relatable to young men and young women and i think that is what we need. we need the messenger to actually match the message so they are not dismissed immediately. i think the best candidate we have is josh smith and that is why i am wholeheartedly supporting him for president. [applause] >> good morning, l and c. my name is ryan and i am the chair of cook county, iowa.

i will keep this short and sweet because we have a long day ahead of us. what do we want any presidential candidate? i would answer that with two words. principle and charisma. out of the candidates before us, there is only one who fits that bill and that man is josh smith. josh loudly and unapologetically calls out and stands against the lies of the government. the lies that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people overseas. because military contractors want to line their pockets with blood money. lies that have damaged the lives of millions of people by shutting down their small businesses, their churches and cutting them off from their families. lies that have cast a whole generation locked in their rooms during the most important years of their social development, leaving them anxious and lonely

and wanting justice. josh is the only candidate pushing for the orchestrator's of these lies to be put on trial and the brought to justice for their crimes against the american people. [applause] josh is the only candidate with a land to cripple the three letter agencies that can actually be done from the office of the president. in its place, he will build a dog park to honor all of our furry friends taken too soon by the atf. josh is the only candidate with a plan to address title 40 of the social securities act, which pays states to separate families and rob children of the single greatest advantage they have in

their young lives, having two parents in the household. you can feel the passion and energy when josh speaks on liberty, a passion that many regular americans share, but keep it bottled up because they feel they have no one who represents them. we will represent them and we will break the cycle. i am proud and honored to present to you the next presidential candidate for the libertarian party, the man who says enough already instead of never mind. joshua smith. >> hello. thank you guys so much for being here. you guys know me.

i sat on the -- for at least two terms. i've been involved in the party for 10 years. i'm not an interloper, i will be involved in this party 10 years down the road whether i get the nomination or not. this is home for me. this is home for you. this is where we belong. we need a candidate that is going to go out there and tell them we are going to end the fed. we need a candidate who is going to say we are going to end the needless bloodshed around the world at the hands of american foreign policy. we need to restore some sanity to our once-great nation. that is it, nothing less. all of our rights all of the time. enough already. thank you so much, i look forward to working with you all.

>> thank you, mr. smith. before we hear from a next candidate, two very quick things. candidates and their teams, when they come on stage, please be mindful of where you are standing because the backlights, some have fallen over and the stage is tilting backwards a little bit. now, if we could have jerry tubb . please report to the teller pit. and freddie craig. next, we have dr. belay. [applause] >> alert millions of american families.

>> america. the land of the free and the home of the brave is also the country of a $34 trillion debt and rising. in a nation where citizens choose between two parties that seem to do more to erode their rights than protect them, making america feel increasingly unsafe, it is time for a change. a time for fiscal responsibility and individual liberty to take the forefront. >> hello, i am running for president in 2024 as a libertarian. i would like to speak to you about breaking the cycle of the two-party system. it is time to end the duopoly. it is time we end the two-party system that is breaking this country. please join me in this endeavor. >> vote charles ballay, libertarian candidate for president, who stands for fiscal responsibility and a

smaller efficient government. vote for charles ballay and let's bring pragmatic solutions and true freedom back to america. >> being a libertarian means being free. i believe in smaller government. i believe and our founding fathers. i believe in the bill of rights. i believe in personal autonomy. these are the aspects that has drawn me towards being a libertarian. >> want to learn more? visit ballay2024.com. [applause] >> dr. charles ballay.

>> hello, fellow americans. my name is dr. charlie b allay. today, i would like to speak to you about one of my priorities, economic freedom. picture this -- keeping your hard earned money in your pocket. i'm tired of -- join me and together we can make this happen. ♪

>> america, $34 trillion debt and climbing. inflation on the rise. our government is doing nothing about it. why? it does not affect them, it only affects the everyday, hard-working american. one man is putting a stop to this. charles ballay. standing strong and proud is the wife of the libertarian candidate. >> americans are faced with the daunting challenge. it's not just a statistic or a number on the chart, it is a pressing reality. >> america is ready for a leader that is for the people. a leader that is a libertarian. ♪ >> we are going to vote for dr.

ballay for president. >> america has spoken. it is time for real freedom. it is time for americans to be truly free. >> our nation is at a $34 trillion debt. we need action and we need it now. we are in a crisis. >> want to learn more? visit ballay2024.com. paid for by ballay for president. >> good morning. my name is lisa ballay, and i am the proud wife of dr. charlie

ballay. i probably support him as candidate for the united states of america on the libertarian ticket. i would like to give a shout out to or home state, louisiana. at this time, please help me welcome to the stage my husband, charlie ballay. >> thank you, lisa. i love you to death. my favorite person in the world. the ceo of my life. i once again would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you. you know, this has been an opportunity for me like none other. we have made great friends along this election trail. we have visited many states. we have met wonderful people throughout this and hold very summer values as to why i decided to get into this race. words that will describe he will

be that of empathy, compassion, hard work, and definitely that of professionalism. my roots for those who do not know me come from the louisiana. i am from a small town along the banks of the mighty mississippi river. my family early on instilled in me libertarian values. that of freedom, hard work, personal autonomy. these values have allowed me to achieve tremendous success in life and i appreciate everything they offered. but, i entered this race because i am truly concerned about the wrongs that are being thrust upon the american people. last year, it created much of a visceral response in me to see persons being wronged by our federal government and politicians that are not taking action. our country is not just fractured, it is breaking right now. we are not just $34 trillion in debt. we are drowning in it. inflation is not just crushing

the middle class. it is simply suffocating them. health care right now is a bureaucratic nightmare. our schools are failing in our politicians are not just beholden to big money, they are of the american people's trust. enough. america has simply had enough america has simply had enough. the next president should not be an elitist or a career politician, seeking office simply for personal gain. and our country should not be for sale, period. we must bring back american government that is beholden to the american people. now, if there is a hope for our future and if there is a hope for our youth, we must return back to the values that once made this great country a beacon of hope for the world. freedom, individual rights, personal autonomy, family values, and the most important of all, responsibility. we must not become the

oppressors that we sought to escape. there's no reason why the libertarian party in 2024 cannot achieve monumental success. we have a powerful message, one of freedom, fairness, personal autonomy, and that of nonaggression. these values resonate with the american people in this time of need. the american people are not just looking for a third choice. they are looking for a leader. please let me be that leader. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, dr. ballay. up next, we will have chase oliver. [applause] could we please have the timer reset? thank you.

♪ >> we have 20th century politicians who have been running the 21st century mechanisms of government for my entire adult life and it is time for that to stop. the people are getting tired of it. rise it because we will not be silent. instead of just talking about liberty, we go across the country reaching out to activists to show liberty in action actually looks like. that is the campaign we are running. one that shows the positive messages of liberty that voters can connect with. all people are free. we support liberty 100%, unfiltered, all the time. i have gotten teargas in the streets. my generation is the generation that got sent to fight the war on terror. my generation have the entire real estate market fall underneath us. it is my generation that is trying to raise families.

all over the country, massive runaway inflation. this is a right versus wrong issue. the chase oliver for president campaign will be pulling no punches. we'll be exposing the two-party system for who they are. are you just taking chuck schumer's word for it? i will fight like hell to make sure everyone of you is replaced. we want to enter this race to be a check against the two-party system and give you somewhat honest to vote for. why is that the radical idea, not the rational idea? we don't just blow with the political winds, we stand on principles. i say as a libertarian, we don't believe in the initiation of force. support the people. i'm chase oliver, a candidate for president, and i approve this message. [applause] >> howdy.

i'm stephanie berlin, a deli egate from iowa. i am the current secretary for black hawk county. served on the executive committee a couple times, too. in iowa, where our rights we will maintain, and that is why i am up here to talk about chase. the next generation for liberty is in this room. they are watching on tv. the story sounds familiar with all the young activists we have. it is my story. i joined this party at 15. i cannot even drive and i was doorknocking. the message of empathetic liberty for all is what brought me here. chase's continued message for empathetic liberty for everyone is what keeps me here. he's the one who will energize the millennial and gen z and

alpha vote when they can come and vote. that is my story. that is why i am here and that is why hope you join me in support for chase oliver. thank you. [applause] >> my name is amber. i'm a delegate from georgia. i first learned about the libertarian party in college. someone invited me to the county affiliate meeting and the following year, i attended the first date convention and that is where i met chase and all these fine georgia delegates behind me. a couple years later in 2022, chase asked me to run his senate campaign with him. so, i have witnessed firsthand the unwavering commitment to liberty that chase has. in georgia, chase's activism is nothing short of transformative. i have helped petition the rank-choice voting, ballot access, and testified in the

statehouse in favor of defendant the guard legislation in our state because that is how passionate chase is. chase oliver had issues like health care, climate change and economic justice resonated with voters from all walks of life, lending him in the debate. we got 84,000 votes in that election. that's 84,000 people who are sick and tired of the two-party system. chase oliver's leadership is not just about winning elections. it's about empowering people to stand up for what they believe in and creating a brighter future for generations to come. as president, chase oliver will continue to be a beacon of hope, leading with integrity, compassion and relentless commitment to individual freedom. join me in voting for chase oliver for president because

together, we can build a better tomorrow. it's [applause] [applause] >> i am steve, former national chair and delegate from south carolina. i discovered i was a libertarian at 18 as a college student. in 1971, the same year the party was founded. i joined the libertarian party at the age of 26. i found over the years that that is so common. that people discover they are libertarians and joined the libertarian party in their teens, 20's or early 30's. as we approach this presidential election, that is the group we have to focus on. those are the people that are looking for a political home. those other people that know the democrats and republicans and rfk jr. offer nothing to them.

those of the people to reach out to. people coming to the party overwhelmingly because they were attracted by a campaign and a candidate. a candidate who spoke about issues they cared about and was able to effectively communicate that message. and the candidate this election who can best win the next generation for liberty is chase oliver. [applause] >> good morning, libertarians. my name is casey and i am a libertarian. it all started for me when i left for the air force in 1999 during relative peace time. two years later, we were at war. a year later, i was convinced my

my own government that we needed to invade iraq. so off i went. meanwhile, an 18-year-old chase oliver was getting started protesting that very same more. -- same war. [applause] that's right. what i saw during my time there is what made me antiwar. my first hit of liberty came in 2012 via an antiwar guy named gary johnson. like chase oliver, i believe in defend the guard. like chase oliver, i believe in caring for our veterans. and like chase oliver, i believe the best way to care for disabled and fallen veterans is to stop making more of them! [applause] being antiwar is what brought me to liberty. being antiwar is what brought chase oliver to liberty.

an antiwar chase oliver will bring america to liberty. thank you. [applause] >> libertations, libertarians. i'm the vice chair from indiana and also chase oliver's vice presidential preference. [applause] i started following chase in march of 2023 when he came to our state convention. he's the only presidential candidate in my lifetime that i do not disagree with on any issues. you may know some of our successes in indiana. we ranked from 13th to sixth nationally in the last year. we were able to achieve this success by working across the lines of party caucus wars. we don't have division in indiana. we work with everybody.

we have your back and you deserve to be represented. chase oliver is the only presidential candidate who will represent every single faction within this party. i wouldn't be up here supporting him if he wasn't. it is my pleasure now to introduce to you the next president of the united states of america, chase oliver. [applause] >> thank you very much, not just for being out here today, but for being here all weekend. i appreciate the work you have put in. i join you among this body and i want to start off by thanking each and every one of you. working with libertarians on the

ground is not something i haven't done before. as i traveled across the country being the first libertarian candidate for president to ever campaign in all 50 states, i have worked on the ground with activists and those who are fighting for things like ballot access all over the country. it is my pleasure to be in the trenches with each and every one of you as an activist candidate for president of the united states. as others have said before, they became libertarians between the ages of 18 and 30. how many of you became a libertarian between the ages of 18 and 30? that is the generation we need to reach out to. that is the next generation for liberty. right now, there are millions of young people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired of seeing the grandparents grandparents on the stage. so, our ticket, the ticket we want to run will be a broad and

glaring contrast to the broken two-party system. my running mate and i, if you combine our ages together, we are still younger than donald trump or joe biden. and how are we going to reach out to the next generation of liberty? we will do it by opposing the warfare state at home and abroad. if you were in the hall last night, you saw have zero love for the war criminal donald trump or any of his wars that he continued. but, i want to make one thing clear. i'm keeping plenty of my powder dry to throw ammo right at joseph r. biden. his war criminal ways, his proxy wars all over the world. so, i want to speak loud and clear to the millions of students right now who are protesting the warfare state at their college campuses. if i am the nominee, there will be a young person on the stage

and the only person on the stage that says end the genocide, cease fire now, and end the war machine. ladies and gentlemen, we have a golden opportunity in 2024 to grow the foundation of our party up. when we do that, what can we do? tear the state down brick by brick for every abuse. i ask for your support so i can unify this barda behind the principles of liberty and tell millions of american voters, just like john told me in 2010 when i wandered into the libertarian party. if you oppose the warfare state, welcome home to liberty. that is the choice we will provide to millions and millions of voters around the country. i asked for your support in this election. i ask for your support the day

after this nomination takes place. we will travel all over the country spreading this message, building our party, and supporting a broad, powerful message of liberty together. [applause] i want to end on this note. we have a war criminal in the white house. and we've had a war criminal in the white house for most of every one of your lives. exporting our values with the barrel of a gun and a bullet. i say it's time for free trade, voluntary exchange, free markets, free movement, and free people. [applause] and when i am your candidate, when someone says what is that libertarian about, i will give you the elevator pitch. if you are living your life in peace, not committing fraud, force, violence, your life is your life, your body is your body, your business is your

business, your property is your property. it is not mine, and it sure as hell is not the government's. so, thank you to the libertarian party of delegates. let's keep this convention rolling. let's win this nomination and fight tomorrow for liberty. [applause] >> thank you very much, you guys.

>> hello, everyone. we are at a break. in our nominations right now. we're rocking and rolling up here on the stage. we have nomination speeches. at this time, it would be in order to recess for lunch. >> madam chair, i have information that mr. cohen wants us to continue business at this time and have a later single recess from 2:00 to 4:00.

that is to save the coming and going time. he's on his way here to confirm that. i'm very confident that is the case. mr. cohen is recommending we continue business now and have our recess later. >> thank you. >> madam chair, point of inquiry. erin adams, oklahoma delegate. >> parliamentary inquiry? >> some kind of inquiry. i'm just curious because i have worked conventions before and blend them before and i know how much time he goes into setting those meals and working with the kitchen. if we did delay, how much of an issue with that beat on the facility and the convention and the caterers? >> i assume lunch is pretty much ready to go. i don't know if it will incur costs, so on and so forth. we've made quite a bit of money at the convention so i don't even know if that is something that is a huge deal, but it will

be somewhat of a burden on hotel staff because i have not cordon it with them yet -- coordinated with them yet. we've microphone one and microphone four who have not been addressed yet. microphone four. >> i mover he recess for lunch until 1:30. >> who is that? >> ryan brown from north carolina. >> ryan brown has moved to recess for lunch until 1:30 and there was a second. >> i have an amendment to that motion at microphone two. i move -- i move to amend the time of reconvening to 1:00. >> it has been moved and seconded to change the time of reconvening to 1:00 p.m., not 1:30.

i don't think that amendment is debatable. are there objections to that amendment? >> objective. on. >> all right, would you like --i think it is debatable, although i would ask you not to. ok, do you want to come back at 1:00 p.m. instead of 1:30 p.m.? if you want to come back at 1:00 p.m., instead of 1:30, i need you to stand up. if you don't want that, if you want to come back at 1:30 or some other time, stay in your seat. i need to figure out when we are coming back. all right, everybody sit down. thank you. all of those opposed to the

amendment, you don't want to come back half an hour early, please stand up. thank you. all right, the amendment fails. everyone, please be seated. we will go to the main motion. there was a motion to adjourn for lunch and come back at 1:30. what would you like to do? would you like to support that motion, adjourn now and come back at 1:30? please stand up. i love this speed. please be seated. all of those opposed, please stand up. ok, the motion passes. we are adjourned until 1:30. thank you. >> recess, madam chair.

>> just a reminder, we have our pizza party tonight. the more money i get, the more pizza. [applause] >> and i believe our first item of business is presidential nominations. yes. >> [indiscernible] >> thank you so much. i would like an updated credentials report.

please come to the front and share your beautiful, glorious report with us. >> thank you, madam chair. give the updated report at this time. this morning, we have 937 delegates checked in. that makes quoram 475. two thirds would be 625. 7/8 would be 820. >> technical difficulties. we need to have a different screen on the screen. we are getting there.

>> is it and ordered this time to make a motion to add folks for my delegation? >> it is not clear.

one second. it is not an order but you can do it by moving to suspend the rules with two thirds. >> i would like to make that motion to end the rules. mark cappengut and brian lewis. >> i need everyone to be quiet because i have this gentleman adding to his delegation. >> suspending the rules to add mark cappengut and brian lewis from north carolina. >> it has been moved and seconded to add these individuals to the missouri delegation. it is not debatable. it requires two thirds. i would like everyone to sit or crouch down.

my apologies, if you could please restate it one more time for our secretary. >> a motion to suspend the rules to add to the missouri delegation mark cappengut from new jersey and brian lewis from north carolina. >> can you please state your name? >> dustin cauffle from missouri. >> thank you so much. this requires 2/3. it's nondebatable. if you would like to pass this motion, would you please stand. please be seated, everyone.

i need specifically people who are opposed to adding these two individuals to the missouri delegation to rise. the motion failed. i apologize. for that ugliness, but it is what it is. we are going to move on. you've got to have 20 people rise for division. i've been really good about respecting you. i apologize but there are not 20 people standing. we are going to move on.

we are on presidential nominations. if you are ready to nominate -- >> madam chair. >> microphone three. >> delegate for ohio. i move to suspend the rules and reduce time for this presidential nominating speeches to five minutes for each person. >> it's been moved and seconded to reduce the time for presidential nominations to five minutes for each person. >> i understand there is a common problem with people who have no realistic chance of winning the nomination using these speeches as an opportunity to advertise their products or their ideas and given that we have already had a debate between the presidential nominees, i don't think another 10 minutes of information to make up our minds. thank you.

>> thank you. microphone two. >> point of order withdrawn. >> thank you. microphone one, please, are you arguing against. >> i was going to call the question. >> thank you. beautiful. >> madam chair -- >> from california. >> if someone wants to argue against, i don't want to shut down debate. >> point of order. >> is there an objection to calling the question? >> there is. >> thank you. >> point of order, madam chair. mic two. >> ok. we are going to let mr. starr, did you have an objection? >> i do. i think this would be better solved by requiring that -- >> point of order, madam chair. >> germane to the actual subject matter. >> point of order, madam chair. this motion is not debatable, madam chair. >> ok. fair enough.

all right. it's not debatable. we called the question on a nondebatable motion which is probably helpful. who would like to reduce presidential nominations speeches including the videos, including all of it that the candidates put together, to five minutes? please stand. you got five seconds to stand. i want to be really clear. you are standing right now to reduce the time the presidential nominees can speak, show videos, do anything up here, talk about themselves, their campaigns. are we perfectly clear? all right. please be seated. that motion fails. >> my name is brennan barrington for the minutes. >> ok. we are on presidential nominations.

do we have any nominations? >> madam chair, i would like to suspend the rules to move that no speech be allowed that isn't germane to running for office. if i wanted to hear somebody talking about something other than what -- it's an abuse of the delegates to use that time up there for their own particular personal services. >> thank you. it's been moved to suspend the rules to not allow any speeches that are not germane to running for president. do we have a second? >> second. >> it takes 2/3. if you are in favor to not allow any speeches that are not germane to running for president, please stand. i want to move us through quickly. if you do not want to hear an amway commercial, if you don't want to hear about someone's

podcast and god bless you, i love all your podcasts -- >> objection. the chair is engaging in debate. >> the chair is explaining the purpose of the motion, which i have been asked multiple times to do today. thank you. please be seated. >> sick burn. >> if you are opposed, opposed to suspending the rules to not allow any speeches that are not germane to running for president, that means if you want to hear information campaigns from people who are in other people's eyes not serious about running for president, just want to got a commercial up here, if you want them to be able to do that, please stand. >> all right.

the motion fails. my apologies. amway it is. we are on presidential nominations. does anyone want to nominate a presidential candidate? >> madam chair, microphone three. >> speak up. >> microphone three. >> can you please state your name. >> nathan madden, arizona delegate. >> thank you. >> madam chair, i would like to nominate the only man who represents the meeses ideals, he promotes free trade, immigration, and peace. all while being an economista extraordinaire, mike termat. >> thank you. thank you. >> microphone one.

>> where is mike ter maat? >> here. >> mike ter maat, do you accept your nomination? >> yes, ma'am. >> have you turned your nominations papers in? beautiful. thank you. i am still accepting nominations and i would love to hear more nominations. microphone three. then, we will jump to another microphone. >> i would like to nominate the candidate with the widest reach in the libertarian movement, the one with the most support from that movement, the one who is able to most grow our party who is most schooled in the knowledge of libertarian philosophy and theory, dr. michael rectenwald. >> thank you. >> dr. rectenwald, are you in the room? do you accept your nomination?

>> yes. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes. >> beautiful. >> i seek recognition at microphone two. >> microphone two. >> good morning. i am from new york and i hereby nominate the only candidate to visit all 50 states on the campaign trail, the only candidate to truly have the widest reach, the only candidate who wasn't a democrat or republican to speak at the iowa state fair, chase oliver. >> thank you. mr. oliver. hello. do you accept your nomination? thank you. have you turned in your nomination papers? beautiful. all right. >> madam chair, microphone three. >> microphone three. wait. i am so sorry.

we need to go back to microphone one because it's been skipped. >> hi. this is sky from california and i am proud to nominate my father, lars mapstead, for presidential candidate. >> thank you very much. mr. mapstead, do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your papers? >> i have. >> fantastic. thank you so much. all right. microphone three. >> thank you, madam chair. howard from arizona. i would like to nominate jacob g. hornberger for president. >> mr. hornberger, are you in the room? do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes. >> fantastic. thank you very much. microphone four. >> i am brian, new mexico. i would like to nominate the greatest president of our time, donald j. trump. [boos]

>> point of parliamentary inquiry. can anyone tell me on credentials if donald j. trump is able to accept the nomination? ok, guys -- >> i object to consideration. >> i need you to be quiet so i can hear -- no madam chair yet, no points of order. we are in the middle of a nomination. i need to hear from my credentials chair if he has checked to see if donald j. trump is a valid member of the libertarian party and if he is registered libertarian. please hold on to your seats. >> madam chair, i just would like to confirm for the record and for our entire body delegation that i did take the

opportunity last night after that to credential mr. trump and in all of the profiles i found not one time is he a sustaining member so he does not qualify. >> ok. thank you. all right. thank you very much. i also learned that mr. trump did not turn in any nominating papers. but he was nominated and it's nice to be nominated. all right. we are jumping to microphone two. >> madam chair, louisiana. i would like to nominate dr. charles ballay, fine physician, father to four, libertarian to

his core, and prepared to do the job for this party. >> thank you. mr. ballay, do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you turned in your nominating papers? >> yes. >> beautiful. thank you so much. mic three. >> dr. ballay. >> ok. we have microphone three. >> good morning, madam chair. amity from the commonwealth of virginia. i am proud to nominate the only blue-collar worker candidate. he wants to end the fed, end the wars, and is the only one who truly understands the nonaggression principle. i am proud to nominate joshua smith. >> thank you. mr. smith, do you accept your nomination? >> i do. >> have you also turned in your

nomination papers? >> i have. >> fantastic. thank you both very much. microphone one. >> good morning, madam chair. my name is nathan and i am from pennsylvania. >> i am hector from florida. >> we would like to nominate robert f. kennedy jr. the single most important anti-two party candidate we have seen in our lifetime. >> one moment. settle down. settle down. settle down. i am sorry, sir. hector, could you repeat -- >> nathan. >> madam secretary, did you have that? one more time. >> nathan romig. >> thank you. pennsylvania, correct? >> correct.

>> and hector is from florida. they have nominated robert f. kennedy jr. and he is a member of the libertarian party? >> madam chair, as the credentials committee chair, i can confirm that he is a basic sustaining member. >> he is a basic sustaining member and it's my understanding that he did turn in nomination papers that had the required amount of signatures on them. does he accept the nomination? >> we have confirmation that he does. >> do you want me to call him and ask him if he accepts the nomination? >> yes. >> can we please move on to other -- >> you can call me. >> i am going to do it myself right now if you want. >> madam chair, mic two. point of order.

>> let's get there first to see if he picks up. ringing. good morning. i need to ask you if you accept the nomination. >> can the chair pass the gavel and we can move on to other

nominations while this call is happening? >> yes. >> he is going to get back to us. >> madam chair -- >> point of order. microphone three. >> settle down. let me say something. hector, are you in the room? yes, there you are. i want you to maybe come back and give me an update in a little bit. thank you. we are going to jump to -- >> point of order. >> we are going to jump to microphone three. >> thank you. west virginia. i do believe that it's in the policy manual if you are a speaker at the convention, you have to sign to say that you will not seek the nomination for

president for the libertarian party, therefore his nomination is out of order. [applause] >> one moment. we are conferring. so that i can rule on that point of order. >> page 37.

>> all right. i am going to give you my ruling. i am going to give you my ruling and another little piece of information. mr. kennedy did not sign any such agreement and it was not during business hours or on this stage or during convention

business or on the stage that he spoke. so your point of order is not well taken. i will also state that he did not turn in any statement on his intention to run to our secretary, so his nomination is not in order at this time. >> madam chair, mic two. >> now, something magically happens in the next 10 minutes, we will revisit it. right now, it's not in order. microphone two. >> joe, i move to close nominations. >> i have a nomination. you have at least two nominations. >> ok. we have two more nominations. is there any second to closing the nominations? ok. i don't believe it's in order to close nominations while we still have two nominations. we don't even know who they are. we are going to go back to nominations. >> thank you, madam chair.

>> where are you at? >> four. >> microphone four. >> elizabeth from california. i am proud to put into nomination our 2000 libertarian vice-presidential running mate to the late, great harry brown. art olivier. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> do you accept your nomination? >> yes, i do. >> have you also turned in your nomination papers? >> yes, i have. >> thank you so much. all right. we have another nomination. >> robert, state of wisconsin. my candidate has already filled out all paperwork necessary, is endorsed by every person in the room for a free world. i remind everyone on the ballot today. thank you.

>> can you please state your name? is it unknown delegate? >> robert burke. >> robert burke. ok. i see someone at microphone three. >> jeremy kaufman from the free state of new hampshire. there is only one man in this room with the raw animal nature to stand up to donald trump, r.f.k. and joe biden. there's only one man who will use helicopters to solve problems. we need the ticket all the way through and that's why i am nominating toad for president of the united states. >> thank you. jeremy kaufman has nominated toad. do you accept the nomination? >> madam chair, i accept the nomination.

let's tower this. >> have you turned in your nomination papers? >> yes, i have. >> beautiful. thank you very much, mr. toad. >> madam chair, microphone two. >> microphone three has a nomination? >> no, just a question of privilege, madam chair. r.f.k. is on the ballot for the natural law party as well. so we cannot consider him for that reason additionally. >> that is not a question of privilege. >> please don't railroad me again, thank you. >> beautiful. microphone one over here, i believe. >> point of order. mike from virginia. as has been explained multiple times, an inability to accept the nomination or unwillingness to submit the paperwork in a timely fashion is tantamount to declining the nomination. the reason that i got out of bed this morning was to make sure you had the paperwork and i would have expected the same respect from mr. kennedy if he were serious. the libertarian party --

>> thank you. >> the libertarian party is quite literally convened by definition, those who are not in the room today, i will believe leave it to you to define. mr. mapstead's name and my name seem to be missing from the screen. thank you, madam chair. >> i believe that your name and mr. mapstead's name are on the previous page of the secretary's minutes. there they are. >> microphone two. >> point of personal privilege. can you get them on the same page, please? >> madam chair, microphone two. >> madam chair, please pass the gavel if you need to have a

phone call. >> we are still in the middle of nominations and i am speaking with a candidate. >> mr. chairman. mr. chairman, microphone two. >> microphone three. >> two. >> mr. chairman, arthur from texas. i move to close nominations. >> all right. is there anyone else wishing to make a nomination? it does not appear to be. >> there is a point of order.

>> is there a second? moved and seconded. would you like to speak? >> no, sir. >> all right.>> all right. if there is no objection, nominations are closed. [applause] >> mr. chairman, may we proceed to nomination speeches? >> one second. >> one second. microphone one.

>> point of personal privilege, i guess. if your name is on that list and you expect to have a video played, please make sure you get it to the a.v. team. we have four videos at this point and there are more than four names up there. thank you very much. >> ok. thank you. >> microphone three, request for information. >> microphone three. >> nathan madden, delegate from arizona. is it not the case in our by-laws that if a nominee has accepted a nomination from a rival national party that they are ineligible to be nominated at our convention? >> one second, please. oh ok. one second, please.

so by-law section 5.4 deals with an affiliate party, not the national party. >> mr. chairman. microphone two. >> microphone two. >> mr. chairman, i believe this question can be resolved during nomination speeches. i request that we proceed to nomination speeches. >> all right. give me one second. and i have been informed that mr. kennedy did accept the nomination. just letting you know. so we will move to presidential nomination speeches. >> point of order, mr. chair. >> where is your point of order? >> mic one, mary, california. i just wanted to point out that

in the minutes, the minutes notes, it looks like this discussion is referring to toad and it's not. it's referring to r.f.k. jr. i wanted to make that very clear before that got into the minutes. >> ok. >> object to consideration. chair mcardle: all right. paperwork was already turned in on mr. kennedy. what i would like to know is if the statement of intention to run was also turned in. that is the question. so whoever turned in his nomination papers, i need to know if you turned in a statement of intention to run. please help us resolve this right now. >> madam chair? chair mcardle: yes. >> mark, california. i object to consideration. chair mcardle: ok. >> do you know what that means? chair mcardle: to what? >> to nominating r.f.k. jr. for the libertarian party. chair mcardle: ok.

there are 30-plus signatures. >> i object to consideration. chair mcardle: it's not a good objection. >> i object as well, madam chair. from connecticut. mr. hinkle is in order. >> point of order. chair mcardle: it's not an original main motion. mr. hinkle, i'm sorry. your objection is not well taken. but i think that reading the room, it will be just fine. >> madam chairman, microphone two. chair mcardle: microphone two. >> arthur from texas. can we please proceed to nomination speeches? chair mcardle: are we ready to proceed to nomination speeches? are you comfortable receiving an update from me regarding the statement of intention to run in between the nomination speech? >> yes. chair mcardle: thank you. all right. we are going to stand at ease for two minutes while we figure out the order for nomination speeches. nominations have been closed.

>> so a live picture from the washington hilton in washington, d.c. a lot of events in washington. on a summary day, although you cannot tell inside, this is the libertarian national convention for 2024. the delegates are on their lunch break. we expect them to get back in about one hour or so now at 1:30 p.m. eastern time, and we continue our live coverage here on c-span.

host: thank you for working with us on the time zones. can you tell us about your background, what campaigns you worked on in the u.s. and abroad? guest: sure. ever since i was a teenager, i

felt really passionate about election campaigns. i was active in a party in switzerland where i grew up and my plan was really to run for office myself. and then i went to washington, d.c. and that is where i actually found out that the role behind the scenes is much more fascinating and a lot of travel and politics in switzerland is really boring. so i wanted to have an international lifestyle and still follow my passion. so i left with this plan to become a political consultant, and off i went. and 17 years later, i've worked in countries around the world with a special emphasis on southeast asia. i've done work in several european countries. i've never worked in the u.s., however. host: ok, and are there specific campaigns abroad that you've worked on or specific candidates? guest: a particular emphasis in several countries in southeast asia. my biggest accomplishment was winning a presidential race, but there are plenty of other successes that i'm proud of.

i've helped challengers with stunning upsets. i've helped incumbents win reelection. i've never lost an incumbent race except in my very early days in training and i've helped politically almost dead people resurrect. i'm always following u.s. politics from the outside, which allows me to be neutral as a swiss banker. host: in your new book, "beat the incumbent," why are you focusing on incumbents specifically? guest: i'm focusing on challengers because it is very difficult to go against an incumbent. historically in the u.s., donald trump was the first incumbent president to lose since george herbert walker bush. i remember that campaign as a

little boy. it was a while ago. i am a grown man now. so it is difficult to go against an incumbent because there's a lot of advantages. last election cycle through the midterms, no u.s. senator incumbent lost reelection. historically, about 90% of congressmen in the u.s. when win reelection, incumbents. it's very difficult to go against an incumbent. that is truly why i wrote this book. host: it is commonly said that elections are referendums on the incumbent. do you agree with that? guest: absolutely. people are happy with how things are going if the incumbent has more or less delivered or is at least seen as trying to deliver, . it is really difficult to go against an incumbent.

one question we often ask is how are things going in your city, in your country, in your state? and if people say a positive word at the beginning, i know how they will vote two hours later into the discussion. if people are happy with how things are going, it's very difficult for a challenger to go against. on the ballot, it is always a choice. it is by nature a referendum on the incumbent. host: can you talk a bit given your experience about the differences between u.s. and systems abroad when it comes to what it is like to try to defeat an incumbent? guest: there are very big differences.

if you look at the u.k., for example, the incumbent gets to decide when to hold the election. can you imagine if you can decide when you want to vote, of course. i've actually worked for the opposition in a country and i can tell you from my own experience that it is truly a big disadvantage. you are always wondering when will the election be? there are rumors, you have to get ready. host: you are talking about rishi sunak. guest: yes. you go to the polls a few weeks later. so it is a huge advantage for the incumbent. then there are all the differences in the parliamentary systems. you actually go to vote for the prime minister or the chancellor in germany as he would for a

you would for a party, for a member of parliament. some countries are multiparty systems, so that makes your targeting strategy very different. the environment in which campaigns take place is very different. i found, though, as part of my research and as my own experience, that the strategy to win campaigns and beat incumbents is actually surprisingly similar around the globe. host: you write "not every challenger is equal. there are important differences, most notably with respect to awareness, funding, and experience. i would therefore like to introduce you to the concept of challengeruality. good challengers make up for at least some of the incumbent's advantages. celebrities running for office, for example, bring the advantage to the table that they already have high awareness even if it does not equate automatically to a presumption of political competence." can you talk a little bit more about different elements that

can advantage challengers to incumbents? guest: yes. so if you have an incumbent, usually almost everybody knows him, incumbents are basically almost automatically seen as able to do the job. in that sense, joe biden is an interesting exception because people doubt he can do the job because of his age. but that is really unusual. normally, incumbents have that check. and a challenger has to work very hard to build that up because often challengers are much less known than incumbents. they aren't seen automatically as able to do the job. so this is something that a challenger needs to work on very hard, and there is one example i write about in the book, speaking of celebrities. a model in switzerland who

announced that she would run for parliament, and that gave her such tremendous media attention. she landed guest things and interviews. if you compare with a state legislature who announces that she will run for congress, the media attention, that sort of classic, traditional politician can only dream of. so these are advantages. as i said, it doesn't automatically translate into competence, but it is a huge advantage for a challenger. host: another advantage you mentioned is money that some outside challengers can bring to the table. you give the example here, the next crucial consideration is funding. quality challengers occasionally self-fund their own campaigns. in the last u.s. presidentl election candidates the, two were extremely wealthy

individuals. michael bloomberg and tom stier could buy in lar write a check for themselves for any amount, yet neither one came near winning thnomination. self funding a campaign nonetheless gives you important freedoms. even if poll numbers are not great, a self-funded campaign is not at risk of running out of money and can continue. voters also generally associate self funding a campaign with the liberty of the candidate to speak their own minds. when does a challenger's money actually help them versus hurt them? guest: it usually helps. now, often people are looking for is sort of all or nothing answer with money. they think that money, we have this quote in switzerland that with a million swiss francs you can turn a bag of potatoes into a federal counselor, a member of

government, and some people say money doesn't matter, they love the story of the underdog who was outspent one to 10 and won. and the reality that i'm trying to say in the quote is somewhere in between. money is one of the important factors in a campaign. money allows you to communicate your message. money gives you visibility, allows you to be heard, allows you to be innovative and try things out. but money in itself does not communicate a message. it does not substitute a message. i think to answer the question too much money can be a problem. it's not admittedly a problem that i see very often but i have experienced it. sometimes if a candidate has too much money, it undermines decision-making discipline. you are not forced to make tough decisions. host: you mentioned that it doesn't overcome not having a message, but on the importance

of specific issues, i'm curious to get your take on how a particular issue can affect a candidate or party in election. i have a quote here. last week, a democrat from washington who is chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee spoke with reporters about the party strategy for the 2024 elections in november, and here she talks about the role of abortion specifically in this november election. [video clip] >> i wanted to ask you about the purple districts that you all are focusing on. some of them are in states where they are going to the questions directly on voter ballots in november. so what is the impact if any at all on those races? >> first of all, i think we have about 11 states where it is likely that reproductive rights

will be on the ballot, but we also know it has been on the ballot many, many times already . since november of 2022, we had special election after special election whether it is initiatives, a state supreme court case in wisconsin, local elections last november, over and over since november of 2022. we see over-performance on democratic races. kansas, ohio, virginia state assembly, wisconsin supreme court race. and even tom suozzi's race, that was a 15 point swing in just over a year. and so -- alabama, after the alabama supreme court decision on ivf, we saw a special election in a statehouse race, over 30 point swing where a

democrat won the house race after the dobbs decision, and because people more and more are seeing that their rights are at risk and that all the things that republicans said about it being a states rights issue, that is clearly not true. they want a national abortion ban. i think we have seen huge turnout as a result of that over and over in elections since november of 2022, and i have no doubt we are going to continue to see that all the way through. this is a huge issue for voters. the american people are with us. host: what is your take on that and abortion as an issue here in this united states election? do you have any examples from your own experience where a single issue really made a difference? guest: i agree with what the lady said. i think it is an important issue that probably will help democrats. maybe so far one of the very few issues that will help democrats

in that election. i don't think it is an issue that maybe is big enough to determine the election. i think it is important for suburban women, to younger women. that is how i would view it if i were democrat. but i think that the message for me is more than just one issue. it is also more than a slogan or a timeline. a real, coherent message is a narrative of why vote for me and not one of the other candidates or the other candidate for party. if you can be part of the message, i think a good message i described in the book and i think every candidate needs more than a single issue. very often, the economy is the deciding issue in campaigns.

we now have european elections for european parliament in early june, and i have the suspicion that immigration and asylum will be a huge issue across europe. host: speaking of immigration, that is a huge issue here in the united states as well. former president trump and many republicans are really focusing on immigration and border security. and we have an ad here from the trump campaign on that issue specifically. [video clip] >> a defenseless young girl was brutally raped and killed by an illegal alien and no member of the violent ms 13 ga ng. the killer was detained at the border but released onto our 355 is weak border policy. bidens open border puts us all at risk by releasing criminal illegals into our communities. we have to stop joe biden to

close our border. host: why does this issue have so much resilience globally? guest: i wrote a piece about that, why immigration is the secret weapon of the right. because if you are entering a campaign, i think you should always campaign on an issue where your own side is united and enthusiastic and ideally the other side is divided. and i think immigration is such an issue for the right. because everybody on the right agrees with what we heard in the ad, and i'm afraid even a substantial part of democrats would actually agree with it. it is the perfect issue for the right. there are also examples for the left. i think in many countries climate change and the environment is an issue for the left where the left is really

unified and feel strong about and many other people in the middle of the right actually agree that it is a problem that should be dealt with. host: we are taking your calls with questions for mr. perron. our number for democrats is (202) 748-8000. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents at (202) 748-8002. let's start with a question from cody in springfield, missouri, on our line for independence. caller: i haven't seen you in a while. i'm going to tell you what i think is going to happen. first off, god is protecting donald trump. they would not give bobby kennedy's boy a chance given , secret service. donald trump at the convention, everybody thinks he is going to get that black man. i think he's going to pick bobby. there is not going to be no third party. he's going to take bobby kennedy for his vice president. bobby kennedy is a lot like his

daddy, and that is the reason they won't give him secret service. if they lock donald trump up this week if they take that man , in handcuffs there will be a civil war in the united states. god is trying to protect -- host: i'm going to let mr. perron respond to a specific element of what you brought up. what is your take on the candidacy of robert f. kennedy, jr.? you do have a candidate with a very famous name, his uncle was president and his father was a u.s. senator, who is challenging not only an incumbent, but also a past president. guest: quite a unique situation. but i listened to the segment prior to our talk. the u.s. is just a very solid two-party system. looking at things from a distance sometimes helps you see the forest and not get lost in

the trees. i think the u.s. will remain a two-party system. another thing with this gentleman calling in is that obviously trump has a very enthusiastic base. right? i think probably the most enthusiastic base of any politician around the world. that said, he's also the most polarizing candidate probably alive on god's earth right now. host: speaking of trump in particular and his unique brand of populism, do challengers or two incumbents in particular have an advantage in this populist environment that we are seeing here in the u.s. and abroad? anger at the establishment, does that make nonincumbeny something of a virtue? guest: yes, absolutely. i think people are more and more willing to take a risk and i have an entire chapter in my

book about outsiders, about macron in france, zelenskyy in ukraine at the time, and donald trump would be another great example. i think instead of politicizing the advantages of a challenger, they doubled down on the advantages of a challenger. yes, absolutely in today's environment it is so polarizing people are increasingly cynical about their political leaders. that can be a big advantage. host: we have a question from x, a person who asks his president biden in normal incumbent? does age or the fact that president trump is the other candidate come into consideration? guest: he's not a normal incumbent because he is obviously a very vulnerable incumbent. i am not saying this because of the vote question, who are you going to vote for, but because

of the underlying dynamics reflected in the polls. a majority of people disapprove of the job he's doing. a majority of people think the country is going in the wrong direction. so, what does that mean? that means in order to win a majority or a plurality of the votes, he needs to get these people to vote for him who think he is doing a bad job that makes them by definition very vulnerable and i think, yes, age is of course the elephant in the room. and i wrote another piece about this for "the hill." i think that is what keeps him from beating trump. host: it is interesting that you mention polls because you also have an opinion piece in "newsweek" the headline presidential election polls are close and meaningless. why do you think that the case? guest: yes, i wanted to provoke

a bit of course. at this point in time, it really doesn't matter if you're a point ahead or a point behind. i think it is a close election and people have to accept that unless something very fundamental changes, health, legal, international, war, economical, this will remain a very close election because both candidates are deeply flawed general election candidates. now, you may think that it's always better to be ahead in the polls, even if it is one or two points. i actually disagree from a consultant perspective because i think it is like a sweet poison putting candidates and their teams sleep, making them full of confidence at a time when serious dramatic action is needed. they feel overconfident.

so i think from a handler's perspective, i don't think it is necessarily better to be ahead. host: matt is in clearview, pennsylvania on airline for , democrats. caller: hi, mr. perron. thank you so much. i just wanted to ask, we've seen the economy, especially since covid, it has really kind of rebounded in a way that not a lot of people were expecting. and our european counterparts have not seen with the most recent processions. so i think my main question is why, despite this economic rebound, why has this malaise kind of persisted in the united states? i mean, i'm sure it is cultural related, but i would just be interested in hearing your perspective on that. thank you. guest: it's because inflation is extremely dangerous politically. and let me explain.

we haven't had inflation for such a long time as a political issue that we forgot about how dangerous it is. if there is unemployment in the country, maybe 10%, 15% of people are affected with it. maybe another 10% worry about it or know but inflation is different. everybody feels it. everybody feels it. it may not be existential for everybody, but it is an issue that everybody feels. that is why it is so dangerous politically. what i can tell from my own experience around the globe, it is everywhere as an issue. a lot of folks in southeast asia, it is the same thing. in europe, it is a big issue. it is really a global issue and actually, policy-wise there is