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US presidential candidates follow different practices of faith

If you ask the U.S. presidential candidates who’s the most religious, chances are both would say, “I am.” VOA’s senior Washington correspondent Carolyn Presutti looks at the attitudes and practices of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump toward matters of faith.
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Libertarians warily welcome Trump to their convention

Washington — Every four summers in America comes the spectacle of nominating conventions for the two major political parties. This July, Republicans in Milwaukee are set to again place former President Donald Trump at the top of their ticket. The following month in Chicago, Democrats are to do the formalities for their incumbent, President Joe Biden. Less attention is being paid to another gathering that will nominate its presidential candidate Saturday night.

Compared to the behemoth conventions, the Libertarian’s nominating event is a rather low-key affair. Devoid of pageantry, its casually dressed delegates are nonetheless full of passion. And it is taking on new significance this year because it will place a presidential candidate on the ballots of most states.

With polls showing a very tight race between Biden and Trump — and independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. beginning to poll above 10% in some swing states — a small number of votes for the Libertarian candidate could determine whether it is Biden or Trump who gets a second term.

None of the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidates are household names. They include New Orleans surgeon Charles Ballay; adult entertainment and tech entrepreneur Lars Mapstead; Georgia political activist Chase Oliver; and economist Mike ter Maat. It will be up to the approximately 1,000 delegates to decide who will appear on their national ballot.

“The Libertarian Party — it’s really kind of a big-tent party,” said Nathan Polsky, chairman of the Libertarian Party in Collin County, Texas.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got people that are on the right. You’ve got people that are on the left. But the one thing we all agree on is that the state has too much control and we want to roll back the level of power that the state has. Give it back to the people,” said Polsky, a cowboy hat atop his head as he surveyed the scene inside the Washington Hilton Hotel, site of this year’s Libertarian convention.

An unusual invitation

The party takes its name from the classic liberalism movement that profoundly changed the face of nations from the start of the 18th century, waging political battles in Europe and elsewhere against monarchs, slavery and religious persecution in the pursuit of individual freedom.

The present Libertarian Party in America, however, is facing turmoil inside its big tent.  That ascendant faction, known as the Mises Caucus, generally supports as its presidential candidate a former Marxist scholar named Michael Rectenwald, who professes to a recent rightward shift that embraces radically free-market capitalism.

The Libertarians’ obscure presidential candidates and arcane philosophical infighting is now overshadowed by its unprecedented invitation to the presumptive nominee of another party to address them on Saturday night.

Donald Trump accepted the unusual offer.

“Trump recognizes that this election will be close and that just a few percentage points of the vote could make a real difference in some swing states,” said Seth Masket, a University of Denver political science professor who runs the school’s Center on American Politics.

“It is difficult to see Trump’s agenda as consistent with libertarian ideals of a smaller, less-invasive federal government. However, leaders of the Libertarian Party may find some other issues on which they are aligned,” Masket told VOA.

Some wary Libertarians view Trump wading into their political territory as merely another ploy to gain attention. They caution that the former president, used to addressing enthusiastic supporters at his MAGA rallies, may be surprised to find himself the target of some boos from the politically eclectic crowd.

“It’s a chance for him to speak and get his word out, and he can speak to a bunch of other people who probably would not normally listen to what he has to say,” said construction worker James St. John, a Libertarian delegate from Virginia.  “That’s the main reason he’s doing it.”

Intra-party disagreements

The party is “hardly libertarian anymore,” according to Peter Goettler, president and chief executive of the Cato Institute, the most prominent libertarian think tank in the United States.

“Trump’s appearance this week says as much about the Libertarian Party as it does about him,” writes Goettler in a Washington Post opinion piece. “The party has had its ups and downs and some embarrassing moments throughout its history. But its problems more often arose from amateurism and fractiousness rather than malice, the inevitable effect of being a small third party in a two-party system.”

Addressing the National Rifle Association last week, Trump was pragmatic about courting Libertarians.

“Largely, they have so much of what we have,” Trump told the NRA. “You know, they are also people of common sense, generally speaking. They have a couple of things that are a little different. But we have to join with them, because they get their 3% every year no matter who’s running. And we have to get that 3% because we can’t take a chance on Joe Biden winning.”

Since the Libertarians’ first presidential ticket in 1972, their best performance was in 2016 when former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson received 3.28% of the popular vote.

It is unlikely Trump can capture more than a sliver of that 3%, predicted Vermont Libertarian delegate Anne Lepeltier.

“Do I think he’s going to get the Libertarian vote? No. May some Libertarians vote for him? Surely, yes. Will I be one of them? Also, no,” she told VOA at the party’s convention.

Lepeltier said she is undecided about whether to attend Trump’s speech.

President Biden was also invited to address the Libertarian convention, but he declined the offer. His reelection campaign did not respond to repeated requests from VOA to comment on the Republican nominee’s outreach to the third party, or why Biden turned down equal time at the convention to that of Trump and Kennedy, who addressed the gathering Friday afternoon.
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Trump to take center stage at another party’s nominating convention

The two major U.S. political parties — the Democrats and the Republicans — will hold their presidential nominating conventions this summer amid spectacle and media saturation. Less attention is being paid to another gathering, one that will nominate its candidate Saturday. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman is in Washington with the Libertarian Party’s story.
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US elevates security relationship with Kenya at state visit

US President Joe Biden lavished Kenyan President William Ruto with more than just pomp and polish on his first state visit: On Thursday, Biden announced he would make the East African nation a major non-NATO ally – the first sub-Saharan nation to receive that status. The move signals the shifting of US security cooperation to East Africa right as US troops prepare to depart Niger. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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US political consultant indicted over AI-generated Biden robocalls

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Are veterans better off under Biden or Trump?

Under the Biden administration, U.S. veterans have received more than $5.7 billion in expanded health care benefits. But former President Donald Trump argues that veterans were better off when he was in the White House. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at what the veteran population will likely need from the next president.
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Biden, Trump compete for key swing state of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of US states that could determine the outcome of November’s presidential election. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at what Joe Biden and Donald Trump are doing to win there.
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Republican National Committee evacuates after receiving blood vials

WASHINGTON — The headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington was briefly evacuated Wednesday morning after a suspicious package containing two vials of blood was delivered to the building, the police said. 

The RNC, the parent organization of the Republican Party, is playing a major role in the campaign of former President Donald Trump, who will face Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in the November 5 presidential election.  

The authorities initially closed off one downtown block and directed staff and other personnel to avoid the area. By midmorning, employees were reentering the building and police were leaving the scene, according to a Reuters witness.  

“The source of the package and its contents will be further investigated,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. 

The RNC did not respond to a request for comment. 
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The history of the US Democratic Party

The United States has two majority political parties: Democratic and Republican. Here is a look at the history of the Democratic Party.
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The history of US Republican Party

The United States has two majority political parties: Democratic and Republican. Here is a look at the history of the Republican Party.
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