Tactics in 2016. Also for 2020

From: W
Sent: Thu 5/26/2016 2:33 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Libertarians for Trump

Dr. Block,

Even though Trump is now the presumptive nominee, could you see the Libertarians for Trump movement continuing into the general election if the Libertarian Party nominates Johnson-Weld?

Dear W:

Good question. The libertarians for Trump movement will support Trump vis a vis the LP candidate (unless its Ron Paul, I’m pretty sure).

As for me, I’m not sure. It’s a tactical question. I want to promote the LP. I also desperately favor Donald over Hillary (or Bernie).

How can we have our cake and eat it too? In Red states, where Trump will win by large margins, vote for Johnson-Weld; he won’t need libertarian votes. In Blue states, where Hilary will win by large margins, again vote for Johnson-Weld; libertarian votes won’t help him. But in Purple states where it will be a toss up, then and only then vote for Donald. Here, libertarians may sink or swim him.

I think a similar situation will eventuate in 2020. Probably, Donald will be the Republican candidate, and one of the extreme lefties will carry the Democratic banner. What should libertarians do, supposing we get a reasonable LP candidate (NOT someone like Bob Barr, perish the thought). Again, I think we supporters of the LP who favor Donald over Bernie or some Bernie-light type person (Pocahontas, Kamala Harris), should adopt much the same policy as I advocated for 2016: vote for Donald only in the few toss-up states, and for the LP candidate everywhere else.

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5:10 pm on February 18, 2019