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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 themselves.”
Semafor reporter Dave Weigel, also covering the convention, had likewise noticed that Dr Rectenwald “was unusually off in his public remarks”, responding to a post by Libertarian National Committee treasurer Todd Hagopian, who alluded to the episode as “gummy gate”.
Libertarian presidential candidate Dr Michael Rectenwald on stage at the party convention in Washington DC on 25 May 2024 (Ford Fischer/X)
“People are asking me about #gummygate,” Mr Hagopian posted. “I will just say that Chase, Ter Maat and [Dr Rectenwald] were given a chance to respond to Trump, in front of the press, after the speech. Chase, and Ter Maat, did great.”
The Independent has reached out to Dr Rectenwald for further comment.
Dr Rectenwald ultimately did not secure the Libertarian Party’s nomination for the presidency, losing out to Mr Oliver after seven rounds of voting on Sunday.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr secured just 2.07 per cent of the vote in the first round while Mr Trump did not even qualify.
Other highlights from a lively weekend at the party’s convention included Vivek Ramaswamy being loudly jeered, activists sneaking squeaky rubber chickens into Mr Trump’s speech to protest his refusal to debate RFK Jr and delegate Jeff Coleman asking: “Did this body grab a former president by the p**** last night?”
