Brian Snyder/Reuters
“Booing Trump was an act of patriotism. They were loudly warning Americans about who Trump is and the danger he poses to our republic,” Dean Obeidallah wrote.
Editor's note: Dean Obeidallah, a former lawyer, is the host of the daily show “The Dean Obeidallah Show” on SiriusXM Radio. Follow him on Threads. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinions on CNN.
CNN —
Donald Trump is used to having enthusiastic fans at his rallies. These MAGA fanatics, including supporters who travel hundreds of miles to attend multiple rallies, laugh at his jokes and applaud his bombastic rhetoric. That's why it must have come as a shock to him when he was subjected to multiple loud heckling and jeers during his speech at the Libertarian Party National Convention in Washington, DC on Saturday.
Trump openly pleased the crowd and drew cheers, including promising to appoint Libertarians to his Cabinet if he won, but headlines around the country showed him being heckled repeatedly, the likes of which had never been seen before this election.
Trump had lobbied for an invitation to the event in an effort to persuade some of the attendees to support his bid for president in November. The New York Times reported that Trump “appeared frustrated by the chaotic atmosphere,” which prompted him to rush through his speech.
Things actually got tougher for Trump when, after urging attendees to nominate him for president in 2024, he was booed by a chorus of voices. Like a comedian lashing out at his audience, Trump mocked the Libertarian Party, saying they could choose between nominating him or “keep getting 3% every four years.”
Things might have been even worse for Trump if the Secret Service hadn't confiscated the loud-squeezing rubber chickens that a political action committee supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had handed out to attendees. (Of course, this raises the question of why the taxpayer-funded Secret Service was being used to silence people who wanted to express their opposition to Trump's political speech.)
Frankly, booing Trump was an act of patriotism. They were loudly warning the American people about who Trump is and the danger he poses to our country.
Attendees at the Libertarian Caucus cited a variety of reasons for their staunch opposition to Trump, including the massive federal deficit he ran while in the White House, but what stood out to me was how many pointed to him as a threat to our very way of life.
A convention delegate told The Times before the speech that Trump “trys to portray himself as a libertarian, but he's the ultimate authoritarian.” During the speech, some attendees yelled, “Donald Trump is a threat to democracy!” Another person was dragged away by security guards after holding a sign that read, “No wannabe dictators!”
A few days before the speech, Peter Gettler, president and CEO of the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post explaining why so many liberals oppose Trump, noting that liberals' core beliefs include “individual liberty, equality under the law, pluralism, tolerance, free speech, religious freedom, government by the consent of the governed, and the rule of law,” as well as “limited constitutional government.”
Goetler went on to say that Trump does not share these views, and listed a number of issues anathema to libertarians, including that Trump has “added $8.4 trillion to the national debt” during his presidency.
He also addressed the threat Trump poses to our freedoms, noting that he plans to “crack down on his political opponents” if he wins the White House, suggesting he plans to expand government power to silence critics and opponents.
Gettler then forcefully explained that while both Democratic and Republican presidents “are willing to use extralegal means to achieve their policy objectives,” President Trump is far more dangerous, “the best example of which is the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a tragic event that showed complete disregard for the peaceful transfer of power and constitutional order.” He added, “Libertarians know that the Constitution and the rule of law are essential checks on government power.”
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You don't have to be a Libertarian to know that if Trump had been successful in his efforts to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election, the democratic republic as we know it would have been over. If Trump, or any candidate, could declare that he could stay in office simply by alleging widespread fraud without any credible evidence and after losing all judicial appeals, elections would no longer mean anything. That is why Trump has been indicted on numerous felony charges both in federal court and in Fulton County, Georgia.
In December, former Republican congresswoman and fierce Trump critic Liz Cheney made a comment that stuck with me: She warned about the threat posed by a second Trump term: “One of the things we're seeing today is that the United States is sleepwalking into dictatorship.”
I hope people across the nation read what happened at the Libertarian Convention on Saturday night. Maybe the loud jeers and boos directed at Trump by patriotic Americans will wake them up to the threat he poses if he is re-elected to lead our nation.
