Trump booed and heckled by raucous crowd at Libertarian convention

Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters.

Libertarians, who believe in limited government and individual freedom, blame Trump, a Republican, for rushing through the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine when he was president and for not doing more to stop public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic.

When Trump took to the stage in Washington, there were loud boos and jeers. A smaller section of the crowd, Trump supporters, cheered him.

Shortly before he appeared, one Libertarian Party member shouted: "Donald Trump should have taken a bullet!"

Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hostile reception.

Libertarians garnered only 1.2% of the national vote in 2020, or about 1.8 million votes, but November's election could be decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of battleground states, so Trump is seeking to peel away some libertarian support.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also spoke to the convention on Friday, was hoping to rally support.

Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle ruled Sunday that Trump was not qualified to be the party's nominee for president, because he did not submit nominating papers.

"The reason I didn't file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination, which I would have absolutely gotten if I wanted it (as everyone could tell by the enthusiasm of the Crowd last night!), was the fact that, as the Republican Nominee, I am not allowed to have the Nomination of another Party," Trump said on Truth Social.

The party selected