Party Crasher

Hello from Washington, DC where I’m covering this year’s National Libertarian Convention.

Robert F Kennedy Jr spoke at the convention yesterday and he stuck to a script of subjects he and the delegates agree on, like vaccinations will kill you. While at least half the delegation didn’t want him here, he wasn’t treated too badly. Vivek Ramaswamy, who spoke last night stuck to a similar conspiracy theory-driven script, he got booed each time he mentioned Donald Trump. RFK Jr read the room and criticized Trump more than he did Biden. The Libertarian Party may hate Trump more than Democrats do.

RFK Jr is conspiratorial nut who may have had a part of his brain eaten by a hungry hungry worm, but he’s not stupid. There’s a lot of knowledge in that half-eaten-by-a-worm brain, but he’s a terrible speaker.

Yesterday, there was a scuffle on the convention floor when one delegate (or maybe just an attendee) got the microphone and said, “I would like to propose that we go tell Donald Trump to go fuck himself!” He was cheered wildly. After shouting a few obscenities, there was a scuffle, punches were thrown, and the go-fuck-yourself guy was frog-marched out of the room. I like using the term “frog-marche.)

Earlier during a debate, I witnessed a few delegates cursing at each other. That was the most excitement I’ve seen at this convention so far because unfortunately, I took a power nap at my hotel between the RFK Jr and Vivek Ramaswamy speeches.

Some Libertarians are planning to protest during Trump’s speech and even though we’re getting close to the time of his speech, I’m still half expecting him to cancel. This may be the most hostile crowd Trump has ever spoken to and maybe even more negative since that time he got laughed and ridiculed while speaking at the United Nations.

There’s a delegate handing out kazoos to be blown during Trump’s speech. Unfortunately for me, the delegate who told me this is one of those gold bullion Ron Paul whackanoodles and proceeded to give me literature and a speech. That’s the danger of talking to any Libertarian. You get politicked, especially if you’re wearing a press pass. I’m still working on the art of tearing myself away from these conversations. “Look! It’s Edward Snowden”, and running while they turn to look has only worked for one time so far. “Look! It’s Matlock” has worked twice with codger delegates.

Someone made a comment on one of my photos about Libertarians having worms in their brains, but that’s not accurate. that’s RFK Jr…he’s an Independent, not a Libertarian.

I keep getting told by friends to be careful and wary of these people, but I think they misunderstand Libertarians.

Libertarians are nuts and believe in a lot of conspiracy theory shit. For the most part, they just have ideas you don’t agree with. They do hold a lot of opinions that are not based on any facts, but suspicions. You hear a lot of them say, “I was told this” or “I heard that” or “people are saying,” but, they’re not MAGAts. They’re not stupid.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare Libertarians to MAGATs. A MAGAt will tell you that Donald Trump is going to carry every state. I saw dozens of tweets yesterday about Trump winning the Bronx, which he lost to Joe Biden by around 70 percent in 2020. They’ll tell you a Trump Rally had a crowd size of 15 billion people and tweet a photo of a crowd from a Rolling Stones concert. Check out Laura Loomer’s Twitter/X feed to see the workings of a true sycophant.

A Libertarian is more grounded in reality and is not a cultist. If you ask a Libertarian how well their party will do in 2024, he’ll probably tell you he believes they can win up to five percent of the national vote.

Every Libertarian I’ve talked to has been delightful. They’re a lot nicer than those college protesters I tried talking to at George Washington University. The most danger you risk when you’re talking to a Libertarian is that you’re talking to a Libertarian. Get ready for some Ron Paul worship. There’s even an Emo Caucus here.

I must note that this Libertarian convention is whiter than a Trump rally in West Virginia.

I’m looking forward to the Trump speech…if the Secret Service lets me in. I have a pass and a ticket but I’m still worried they’ll stop me when they see my news outlet is Claytoonz.com. That was good enough for the Libertarian Party but maybe it won’t be for the Secret Service.

I gotta go find the kazoo guy.

Creative notes: I planned to keep my Libertarian Convention cartoons to the colored roughs, and I even woke up a few times this morning thinking about what I’ll draw. After I got to my favorite coffee shop despite them not bringing your sandwich to your table even though you tipped them 20 percent (Hey, you’re orders ready!), I got this idea.

The cartoon was started at the cafe where I got the outline and lettering done. Then I Ubered down to the convention and drew more it the convention room full of delegate and all those state signs you see on TV, and then I finished it in the hall where the big-time speakers have spoken. There’s a media room here that I found yesterday and now can’t find again, but there are not enough outlets in there. Now, I’m writing the blog back in the convention room because the Secret Service chased me out of the other room to do a security sweep. They refused to sweep around me. Fuckers.

I haven’t been bothered by too many people while drawing. Three actually. One guy came up behind me to tell me I was awesome (that was yesterday when I was drawing some worms). Another guy was just looking over my shoulder, and then I met Frazier (sp?), a very nice photo journalists from Scotland. We had a nice chat.

I don’t really mind when people approach me when I’m drawing in public, unless they’re MAGAts. MAGAts are the worst.

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