Trump faces boos and jeers as he asks for Libertarian votes at its national convention

Former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump faced an unwelcoming crowd when he spoke at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night.

Concretely, he faced boos and jeers during different passages of his speech, especially when he appealed directly to their vote in the November elections.

"You can keep going the way you have for the last long decades and get your 3% and meet again, get another 3%," Trump said during a passage of his address. "You don't want to win," he added after a new round of booing.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won roughly 3% of the national vote in 2016, and nominee Jo Jorgensen only got a bit over 1% in 2020. Despite comprising a relatively small part of the electorate, the votes could be enough to sway a battleground state in a close contest.

But outlets in the room reported repeated yelling in the crowd, including shouts of "Lock him up!" "Donald Trump is a threat to democracy" and "You had your shot." Fist fights were also reported, as well as booing that twice ended chants saying "we want Trump."

As polls show that a sizable amount of voters don't want a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, Libertarians could stick with their candidate or back Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is getting roughly 10% of the support in surveys including him in the race.

In another passage of his speech, Trump said he'd come "to extend a hand of friendship" and appealed to a shared criticism of Biden. He also sought to get support by pledging to include a Libertarian in his Cabinet, but The Associated Press reported that "many in the crowd hissed in disbelief."

Trump did get cheers when he promised to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web site Silk Road, known for selling drugs and other criminal goods and services.

This was the second time this week when Trump faced a crowd different to what he's accustomed to. On Thursday he held a campaign rally at the Bronx in New York City, a largely Latino and Black neighborhood.

The hour and a half speech was filled with regular talking points from the former president, namely increased crime in the city and his plans to conduct massive operations to deport undocumented migrants. He also encouraged New Yorkers to vote for him, communicating his confidence in winning the state.

"If you want to help, you must vote. I believe that we can win New York State," he continued. "We have levels of support that nobody's seen before... Don't assume it doesn't matter just because you live in a blue city. You live in a blue city, but it's going red very, very quickly."