Libertarian candidate reveals he took an edible before bashing ‘buffoonish’ Trump in convention speech

Libertarian presidential candidate Dr Michael Rectenwald has revealed that he took an edible before taking to the stage at the party’s convention to give a speech where he laid into “buffoonish” Donald Trump.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee had given a speech at the convention in Washington DC on Saturday evening and was booed and jeered by the audience when he urged them to vote for him.

“Maybe you don’t want to win,” the candidate hit back. “Only do that if you want to win. If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting three per cent every four years.”

When Dr Rectenwald and rivals Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat eventually succeeded Mr Trump on stage in the Washington Hilton ballroom, they were each asked in turn to give their least favourite part of the former president’s address.

Dr Rectenwald didn’t hold back.

“The Trump speech was so buffoonish and so forth that I couldn’t take it that seriously,” he said.

He went on to complain about “all the egregious offenses against our freedom” perpetrated by the Trump administration between 2017 and 2021, at which point a member of the audience shouted out: “How high are you?”

Dr Rectenwald grinned and called back: “Not high enough! Hey, I’m living liberty today!”

When he was later asked about that answer by The Washington Post journalist Meryl Kornfield, Dr Rectenwald confirmed that wasn’t joking: he had taken an edible before going on stage.

“This was not some sort of a major political scandal, okay. I wasn’t found in bed with Stormy Daniels. I’m at a Libertarian Party convention. Somebody offered me something,” he said.

Party chair Angela McArdle subsequently added: “I don’t have any judgement on anyone taking any substance so long as they can behave