Trump, accustomed to friendly crowds, confronts repeated booing during Libertarian convention speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing the Libertarian Party National Convention on Saturday night, with many in the crowd shouting insults and decrying him for things like his COVID-19 policies, running up towering federal deficits and lying about his political record.

When he took the stage, many jeered while some supporters clad in “Make America Great” hats and T-shirts cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” It was a rare moment of Trump coming face-to-face with open detractors, which is highly unusual for someone accustomed to staging rallies in front of ever-adoring crowds.

Libertarians, who prioritize small government and individual freedoms, are often skeptical of the former president, and his invitation to address the convention has divided the party. Trump tried to make light of that by referring to the four criminal indictments against him and joking, “If I wasn’t a Libertarian before, I sure as hell am a Libertarian now.”

Trump tried to praise “fierce champions of freedom in this room” and called President Joe Biden a “tyrant” and the “worst president in the history of the United States,” prompting some in the audience to scream back: “That’s you.”

As the insults continued, Trump eventually hit back, saying “you don't want to win” and suggesting that some Libertarians want to “keep getting your 3% every four years.”

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won about 3% of the national vote in 2016, but nominee Jo Jorgensen got only a bit more than 1% during 2020’s close contest.

Libertarians will pick their White House nominee during their convention, which wraps on Sunday. Trump’s appearance also gave him a chance to court voters who might otherwise support independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who gave his own Libertarian convention speech on Friday.

Polls have shown for months that most voters do not want a 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden. That dynamic could potentially boost support for an alternative like the Libertarian nominee or Kennedy, whose candidacy has allies of Biden and Trump concerned that he could be a spoiler.

Despite the raucous atmosphere, Trump continued to press on with his speech, saying he’d come “to extend a hand of friendship” in common opposition to Biden. That prompted a chant of “We want Trump!” from supporters, but more cries of “End the Fed!” — a common refrain from Libertarians who oppose the Federal Reserve. One person who held up a sign reading “No wannabe dictators!” was dragged away by security.

Trump tried to win over the crowd by pledging to include a Libertarian in his Cabinet, but many in the crowd hissed in disbelief. The former president did get a big cheer when he promised to commute the life sentence of the convicted founder of the drug-selling website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and potentially release him on time served.

That was designed to energize Libertarian activists who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road, and who generally oppose criminal drug policies more broadly. Ulbricht’s case was much-discussed during the Libertarian convention, and many of the hundreds in the crowd for Trump’s speech hoisted “Free Ross” signs and chanted the phrase as he spoke.

Despite those promises, many in the crowd remained antagonistic. One of the candidates vying for the Libertarian presidential nomination, Michael Rectenwald, declared from the stage before the former president arrived that “none of us are great fans of Donald Trump.” After his speech, Rectenwald and other Libertarian White House hopefuls took the stage to scoff at Trump and his speech.

Those for and against Trump even clashed over seating arrangements. About two hours before the former president's arrival, Libertarian organizers asked Trump supporters in the crowd to vacate the first four rows. They wanted convention delegates — many of whom said they’d traveled from around the country and bought expensive tickets to the proceedings — could sit close enough to hear the speech.

Many of the original seat occupants moved, but organizers eventually brought in more seats to calm things down.

The Libertarian split over Trump was reflected by Peter Goettler, president and chief executive of the libertarian Cato Institute, who suggested in a Washington Post column that the former president’s appearance violated the gathering’s core values and that “the political party pretending to be libertarian has transitioned to a different identity.”

Trump’s campaign noted that Biden didn't attend the Libertarian convention himself, and argued that the former president's doing so was part of an ongoing effort to reach would-be supporters in places that are not heavily Republican — including the former president’s rally Thursday in the Bronx during a pause in his New York hush money trial.

The Libertarian ticket will try to draw support from disaffected Republicans as well as people on the left. Such voters could also gravitate toward Kennedy.

Trump didn't dwell on Kennedy on Saturday night. But, after previously praising him and once considering him for a commission on vaccination safety, the former president has gone on the attack against Kennedy. He suggested on social media that a vote for Kennedy would be a “wasted protest vote” and that he would “even take Biden over Junior.”

The former president, while in office, referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as “one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern-day medicine.” He’s since accused Kennedy of being a “fake” opponent of vaccines.

In his speech at the Libertarian convention, Kennedy accused Trump and Biden of trampling on personal liberties in response to the pandemic. Trump bowed to pressure from public health officials and shut down businesses, Kennedy said, while Biden was wrong to mandate vaccines for millions of workers.

For his part, Biden has promoted winning the endorsement of many high-profile members of the Kennedy family, in an attempt to marginalize their relative’s candidacy.

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for Biden’s reelection campaign, slammed Trump and top Republicans for opposing access to abortion and supporting limits on civil society, saying in a statement Saturday, that “freedom isn’t free in Trump’s Republican Party and this weekend will be just one more reminder of that.”

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

This combination photo shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on May 1, 2024, in Waukesha, Wis., left, and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. during a campaign event, Oct. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. Trump is addressing the Libertarian National Convention Saturday, May 25, 2024, courting a segment of the conservative electorate that's often skeptical of the former president's bombast while trying to ensure attendees aren't drawn to independent White House hopeful Kennedy, Jr. (AP Photo)

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — One is a wildly popular, seemingly happy-go-lucky YouTuber from Cyprus. The other is a brash, fringe figure of Spain's far right who rails against unauthorized immigrants. They both are new members of the European Parliament thanks to their savvy use of video-based social media.

YouTuber and TikToker Fidias Panayiotou is a 24-year-old with no political experience and no formal higher education who rode the wave of his online popularity — and public anger at the country's political elites — all the way to one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament.

He says he’ll keep using social media “as my biggest weapon to use” when he formally takes up his new job as a legislator in Brussels and Strasbourg, France.

Widely addressed by his first name, Fidias secured a remarkable one in five votes cast in Sunday’s election without the support of any political party — until now, thought to be the be-all and end-all of getting elected in any political contest in Cyprus.

Fidias sent shockwaves through the Cypriot political system by running a campaign in which he took no political positions, made no promises or even presented a program for his time in office.

“It seems now that people are hungry not for political positions, but for true people that are not lying (but) saying the truth,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in English, the language he uses for most of his posts.

While Fidias avoided strong political positions and was already widely known for his online high jinks, Spaniard Alvise Pérez was mostly unknown until he leveraged his diatribes on Instagram and Telegram against the alleged dangers of immigration. He also railed against claims of widespread corruption among politicians to score not one, but three of the 61 seats Spain gets in the European Parliament.

The common factor between the Alvise and Fidias is that both hit the bullseye thanks to their mastery of social media to garner support among young people, many of whom may have been indifferent to politics.

“This is not just a Spanish phenomenon or only about a YouTuber in Cyprus,” Steven Forti, a professor of history at Barcelona’s Autonomous University and expert on the far right, told the AP.

Forti said the creation of “digital subcultures” around unorthodox candidates had been critical to the rise of Donald Trump in the United States and, more recently, Javier Milei in Argentina, as well as far-right figures across Europe. But this dynamic has been turbocharged by the increasingly video-based trends in social media.

“The newer types of digital platforms like TikTok and Instagram have clearly accelerated” the fragmentation of politics, Forti said, because they help the far right achieve its two main objectives of disseminating their ideas very quickly and making themselves appear as everyday, normal people.

Fidias has spent the last five years boosting his popularity with outrageous video posts of him spending wads of cash in Vietnam, living a week in an airport for free, and burying himself alive for 10 days.

With over 5 million followers across all social media platforms, according to Fidias, that online footprint served him well when he decided to throw his hat into the election ring. He said he learned to play the social media game through trial and error and to understand what makes videos go “viral” online.

“At first I didn’t like what I saw in politics. So if you don’t like what you see, I think you need to become the change that you want to see,” said Fidias.

By his own admission, his online popularity only gave a segment of Cypriot voters — who are deeply disenchanted with the perceived corruption of a party system that has operated on a favors-for-votes basis for decades — an outlet to vent their anger and chastise the country’s political caste.

“It will be a lie to say that it was only the social media. I think it played the biggest factor, but it was a magnifying glass to what I really am,” he said.

Nicholas Papadopoulos, leader of the centrist Democratic Party, which lost its lone European Parliament seat, told Cypriot state radio on Tuesday that the vote clearly sent a “message of disappointment, of protest, of desperation, of anger” that targeted the country’s entire political system.

Political analyst Haridimos Tsoukas echoed Papadopoulos, saying one in five Cypriot voters wanted to make their point by sticking “their tongue out to the political system, not just in protest, but to express disgust in an ostentatious way.”

Alvise, which is a pen name, also successfully tapped into an irreverent vibe. He ran under the name “The Party Is Over” (“Se acabó la fiesta”) and with a logo of a cartoon squirrel wearing a Guy Fawkes mask that has long become associated with various so-called anti-system movements. Fawkes was an Englishman who tried to bomb the British Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605.

Forti said Alvise, like Milei, wanted to connect young people by projecting an image of being equal parts entertaining and rebellious. But he warns that the fun veneer is designed to deliver a hard-line message.

Alvise declares himself an admirer of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and says he would like to build a mega-prison like the one the central American leader is raising. Many of his posts are honed to fan fears about immigration, even when the country’s economic authorities say more foreign workers are needed to prop up the public pension system.

“A field full of tomatoes now needs more paperwork to leave the farm than an illegal immigrant needs to enter the country,” Alvise told a hooting crowd after “The Party Is Over” won over 4% of the ballots cast in Spain and pulled in 800,000 votes.

Alvise has shocked Spain’s far-right Vox party, which earned six seats in the election but it would have likely done much better if Alvise had not launched his rogue venture.

While Alvise's rhetoric points to a drift toward illiberal rule, Fidias sees his unexpected triumph as democracy turning a corner toward a more direct connection between between voters and those they elect. He said social media empowers citizens by giving them a real, direct voice, “not just to follow what the TV says.”

“They can comment on the video, they can share it, they can make a video and respond to it. So it’s kind of a more direct democracy," he said about his modus operandi.

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Alvise Perez, leader of "The Party Is Over" ("Se acabó la fiesta") poses for a photo in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 13, 2024. One is a wildly popular, seemingly happy-go-lucky YouTuber with no political experience from Cyprus. The other is a brash, fringe figure of Spain's far right who rails against unauthorized immigrants. They are now new members of the European Parliament thanks to their savvy use of the potential of video-based social media. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Alvise Perez, leader of "The Party Is Over" ("Se acabó la fiesta") poses for a photo in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 13, 2024. One is a wildly popular, seemingly happy-go-lucky YouTuber with no political experience from Cyprus. The other is a brash, fringe figure of Spain's far right who rails against unauthorized immigrants. They are now new members of the European Parliament thanks to their savvy use of the potential of video-based social media. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Fidias Panayiotou, right, speaks to his supporters after elected in the European Elections in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Panayiotou, a popular YouTuber and TikToker who's humorous and occasionally obnoxious posts have earned him tens of thousands of followers has stunned Cyprus' political world by appearing to wrest one of six seats allotted to the island nation in the European Parliament from traditional political powerhouses. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

FILE - Fidias Panayiotou speaks to his supporters after elected in the European elections in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou, File)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou holds his cell phone after his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A woman takes a selfie with popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou after his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou speaks to the Associated Press after his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou speaks to the Associated Press after his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou speaks to the Associated Press after his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Orthodox priest, father Kiprianos, left, and the mother Eirini Panayiotou, right, of the popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament, arrive at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou , third from left, stands with the others five elected, during his proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Popular YouTuber and TikToker with millions of online followers Fidias Panayiotou proclamation as the winner of one of six seats allotted to Cyprus in the European Parliament, arrives at the Filoxenia Conference Center in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The 24-year-old Cypriot says he will continue using social media in his new job as a member of the European Parliament because he sees it as "my biggest weapon to use" in affecting the kind of change he wants to see on issues such as education. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Alvise Perez, leader of "The Party Is Over" ("Se acabó la fiesta") poses for a photo in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, June 13, 2024. One is a wildly popular, seemingly happy-go-lucky YouTuber with no political experience from Cyprus. The other is a brash, fringe figure of Spain's far right who rails against unauthorized immigrants. They are now new members of the European Parliament thanks to their savvy use of the potential of video-based social media. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)