Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle announced her resignation over the weekend, saying that she will be taking on a new opportunity that would make it difficult for her to stay on in her current leadership role.
“I am taking on a new opportunity soon that will make it impossible for me to stay on as Chair, so I am resigning,” McArdle announced in a January 25 thread on the public Business List. “I’m very grateful that I was able to help facilitate Ross’s full pardon and release from prison before I left, and I will have a longer statement soon about my experience as chair and gratitude for the people who helped me accomplish so much in my two terms.”
McArdle said that she would continue to work closely with staff over the coming weeks to ensure the party has a strong successor, as well as to help with its brand identity and overall political strategy for the new year. She expressed continued support for Outreach Manager Michael Heise’s fundraising efforts, and added she would ideally like to see either him or Josiah Baker, the chair of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee, be elevated to positions on the LNC to fill vacancies.
On social media, McArdle posted the same. She also teased a “series of big reveals” to be announced that she claimed would “make some heads explode.”
McArdle’s resignation comes following allegations that Freedom Calls LLC, a voter outreach company used by the national committee in 2024, has undisclosed connections to her domestic partner. According to a member report, the LNC paid the company $45,600 between February and November 2024 for fundraising-related services, including merchandise, telemarketing, and advertising.
Jake Porter, the report’s author, contends these payments potentially violate a 2023 Policy Manual amendment, which restricts transactions with vendors linked to party officials unless explicitly disclosed. A vote is currently underway to sever ties with Freedom Calls LLC and to formally investigate these allegations.
With McArdle’s resignation, the LNC is now absent both its chair and vice chair. A motion is currently underway to appoint Jonathon McGee to the vice chair role, with six members voting for his appointment as of this article’s publication. Party bylaws specify that if the chair resigns, the vice chair would typically assume the role until the next available national committee meeting.
Editorial note: Jake Porter is the web host of Independent Political Report. He was not approached or consulted for this article.
Mr. Berkman said “There is plenty of evidence that Angela McArdle intentionally acted to destroy The Libertarian Party. ”
That’s a very strong statement which should require much stronger proof than, in essence, “I disagree with her strategy of working with people with whom we disagree strongly on other issues on those issues where we do agree and of inviting candidates who have a high likelihood of winning the presidential election to speak to us to see where we might influence them and what publicity we might get out of it.”
“A motion is currently underway to appoint Jonathon McGee to the Vice Chair role, with six members voting for his appointment as of this article’s publication”
After a majority of those who voted indicated that they were opposed to him taking on the roll of interim vice chair/vice chair pro tempore, Jonathan McGee alas pre-empted the possibility by withdrawing. (And yes, despite what the Harlos creature would have everyone believe, Mr McGee’s given name is in fact “Jonathan”, not “Jonathon”.)
Shouldn’t charges of embezzlement, conspiracy, and knowing collusion with Steve Bannon against the libertarians require more substantial evidence than anything posted thus far in this thread? If there was embezzlement, collusion and conspiracy, what is the evidence that any of it occurred?
If that’s true:
The 2020 psl candidate was Gloria La Riva and AIP candidate was De La Fuente. Why didn’t they get more votes than Jo Jorgensen and Howie Hawkins in California? Why didn’t LaRiva get more votes than Johnson or Stein in California in 2016?
I would be willing to bet that the only reason Ricky de la Fuente got more votes than Angela McArdle for US House was because Ricky de la Fuente has a Spanish surname. I have noticed that in heavily Hispanic areas candidates with Spanish surnames tend to get more votes, especially if it against races against minor party or independent candidates. Claudia de la Cruz was, the 2024 presidential candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberartion, got on the ballot in California as the candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party, and she received more votes for President than did Libertarian Party candidate for president, Chase Oliver. These are example of ethnic block voting. If Angela McArdle had been Angela Marcano and if Chase Oliver had been Chase Olivera it would have boosted both of their vote totals.
Richardson is far left, so he’s clueless about libertarianism.
Berkman has still not provided any evidence of McArdle embezzling funds. Using this logic, I’m going to say Gene Berkman is embezzling from the LP. I have no evidence, but that doesn’t matter. How are you going to defend this?
“As for Russia being post-Communist, the fact is that Vladimir Putin was career KGB and many other old apparatchiks have important position in his regime.”
They were ambitious young men of certain skill sets at a time when the Soviet state controlled everything. Working against or outside of it was not an option for them. That in no way makes them or Russia in the 21st century Marxist. It’s clearly capitalist, and these days it is the West which is relatively Godless vis a vis Russia.
Mr. Berkman,
“Lots of libertarians went to antiwar protests – but no Libertarian organization ever co-sponsored a protest with any Communist organization.”
It wasn’t for lack of trying. There were libertarians who wanted to cosponsor Marxist organised antiwar protests over the years, and others such as the openly Marxist, anti-White racist, violent “black lives matter” better known as Burn Loot Murder cult. They certainly did what they could to attend them and promote them through their own channels – it was the Marxists who didn’t want libertarians listed on the handbill as co-organizers or up on the stage as speakers.
Some libertarians cooperated with Marxists to the extent they could in opposing US involvement in wars in southeast Asia, the middle east, and now in central Europe. There’s nothing unusual there besides getting more prominent billing.
Mr. Richardson, you continue to disappoint. You keep avoiding the questions that were asked of you, several times, which you should be easily able to answer. Instead, you make up imaginary “Trump critics” (who?) and “people pretending to be libertarian” (again, who?) and lamely try to insinuate that there’s anything wrong with the great tradition of anonymous commentary.
Neither one of us is a libertarian, and one doesn’t need to be a libertarian to ask or answer logical questions about actual evidence of the allegedly corruption and collusion, the outgoing chairwoman supposedly being responsible for the failure of a presidential campaign to attract votes, or the Green Party supposedly surpassing the libertarians – to see how untrue that is, check out https://ballot-access.org/2025/01/29/january-2025-ballot-access-news-print-edition/ and scroll down to the tables comparing the cumulative vote totals by party for Governor, US Senate, and US House last year, among other measures discussed below.
Asking questions relative to that type of analysis or trying to answer them is in no way, shape or form indicative of supporting or not supporting President Trump, outgoing chair McArdle and either her faction or factional opponents in the libertarian party, or being a libertarian. These matters can be discussed regardless of personal ideology.
Miss McArdle’s past performance as a political candidate, however poor, is also not evidence of corruption or collusion. I’m also not saying that no such evidence exists – it may or may not exist, but logically the burden of proof is on those who allege that it does to provide it, not on anyone else (particularly those of us who are open minded on the question) to prove a negative.
You’re grasping at straws, and it’s obvious. And, as you said, sad, because you have the knowledge and background to explore these subjects at a much higher level than what you’re exhibiting here.
Ah yes, Ricky de la Fuente, the perennial Democrat son of that famously anti-libertarian perennial candidate of the Democrat, Republican, Reform Party, Alliance Party, American Delta Party and who knows how many others, none of which the LP – or any LP for that matter…
Sad.
“That was a great response to his anonymous Trump critics from Gene Berkman”
Not sure what Trump has to do with anything, but it was a non-response that fails to even acknowledge any of what I said. And so I repeat:
– Pretending Tim Pool’s podcast is “a bad joke funded by Russia” is insane drivel.
– Calling Scott Horton “an apologist for […] State aggression” is insane drivel.
– Pretending there is or ever was any “Russian State aggression in Ukraine” is insane drivel.
– Pretending that Chase Oliver is more libertarian than Scott Horton, Angela McArdle and Michael Heise is insane drivel.
– Pretending that actual libertarians “have no standing to judge whether other people defend individual freedom” is insane drivel.
– Pretending that actual libertarians have no interest in defending freedom is insane drivel.
There is plenty insane drivel in this comment section to be getting on with for the forseeable future. But the facts are very simple and unavoidable:
– If you do not support Russia in protecting innocent lives against nazi “ukraine”, then you are no libertarian.
– If you do not support Israel in protecting innocent lives against nazi “palestine”, then you are no libertarian.
– If you do not support protecting innocent lives against abortion under any and all circumstances, then you are no libertarian.
– If you do not support protecting innocent children against having their genitals mutilated and being pumped full of hormones, then you are no libertarian.
– If you do not oppose untested and unsafe gene therapies from being unleashed on the innocent people under the false guise of “vaccines”, then you are no libertarian.
Oliver is no libertarian. ter Maat is no libertarian. Harlos is no libertarian. Seebeck is no libertarian. Redpath is no libertarian. Phillies is no libertarian. Badnarik was no libertarian. Gene Berkman is no libertarian. Adamson Scott is no libertarian. Darcy Richardson is no libertarian. And guess what, Trump also is no libertarian – shocking, I know.
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“He’s far more libertarian than any of his anonymous critics pretending to be ‘libertarian’ on this site”
Well, if Mr Darcy says so, then of course that must be true, seeing as he is certainly no libertarian and would therefore clearly know best who are and who are not… U+1F60F
—
“most of whom probably think that the Elon Musk — projected to be the world’s first trillionaire within the next five years — Inauguration Day salute was just an innocent ‘awkward gesture.'”
Of course it wasn’t “just an innocent ‘awkward gesture'”. There was nothing “awkward” about it. It was just an innocent gesture. Full stop.
How much derangement syndrome would you have to be suffering to pretend otherwise? Never go full retard, Mr Darcy.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1881567286273990873
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1881789407117857025
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1881800472081891815
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1881955757438160947
It’s truly a shame that McArdle, with little political experience or background — Rocky De La Fuentes son, Ricky — finished ahead of her in a special election. Lol. Ricky, a really smart Harvard-educated young man who speaks seven languages fluently, didn’t really actively campaign. Yet she became the Libertarian Party’s national chair.
Sad.
That was a great response to his anonymous Trump critics from Gene Berkman, the thoughtful and well-read owner of one of this country’s coolest independently-owned bookstores and one of America’s most dedicated libertarian and third-party activists, dating back to his involvement with the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in the sixties and with the Peace & Freedom Party during the Vietnam War — before the P&F turned explicitly socialist.
He’s far more libertarian than any of his anonymous critics pretending to be “libertarian” on this site, most of whom probably think that the Elon Musk — projected to be the world’s first trillionaire within the next five years — Inauguration Day salute was just an innocent “awkward gesture.”
I attended many antiwar protests during the Vietnam War. I did other things in opposition to the war as well – writing articles and commentaries, supporting antiwar candidates and more. Looking back on it as I have many times, it is pretty clear that the antiwar protests did little to stop the war, and often offended many Americans who were antiwar, but opposed the radicalism apparent at some of these protests.
I was involved with libertarian groups since the formation of the Libertarian Caucus in Young Americans for Freedom – I edited the program of the caucus, and I
represented the Caucus on the Platform committee. The Libertarian Caucus opposed the Vietnam War, and the successor groups did also – The Society for Individual Liberty, The California Libertarian Alliance, the New Jersey Libertarian Alliance etc.
Lots of libertarians went to antiwar protests – but no Libertarian organization ever co-sponsored a protest with any Communist organization. Dr Rothbard and Leonard Liggio promoted allying with the communists, but we in the California Libertarian Alliance were vocal in opposing allying with Communists.
As for Russia being post-Communist, the fact is that Vladimir Putin was career KGB and many other old apparatchiks have important position in his regime.
I might giver more informatin later, but I have to run my book shop now.
Mr. Berkman, your evidence of corruption and collusion seems to be that she helped organize an antiwar rally and invited President Trump to speak at an event held in conjunction with their national convention.
It’s quite normal, as I’m sure you know, for people with different motivations to come together for issue based rallies.
For example, at protests against the Vietnam war, some were there because they thought the war was not the business of the US government, some because they didn’t want to be drafted, some were there to find sexual hookups, friends, drugs, etc, some were itching for a fight with law enforcement officers, and yes, some people waived North Vietnamese communist flags, chanted communist slogans, and distributed Marxist propaganda.
Did you ever attend a rally against the Vietnam war or support such rallies, even though there were some people waiving Viet Cong flags, chanting in support of Ho Chi Minh, handing out communist leaflets, selling communist newspapers, etc? Have you ever been at any other rallies were communist groups participated, or supported any such rallies? Do you regret opposing US involvement in the Vietnam war, or any other causes which you may have supported over the years alongside communist agitators?
The communism accusations are pretty odd, given that Russia has not been communist in decades, but even if they were true, they still would not be evidence of collusion or corruption.
Your other evidence – Trump’s speech in conjunction with the convention – indisputably got the Libertarian Party its biggest media coverage ever, most of it centered on attendees expressing opposition to Mr. Trump, and arguably led to Ross Ulbricht being released from prison. Libertarians can disagree whether it was a good idea to invite President Trump, but it’s not in and of itself evidence of corruption or of collusion with Steve Bannon to undermine the Libertarian Party.
What else do you have, if anything? ?
There is plenty of evidence that Angela McArdle intentionally acted to destroy The Libertarian Party. She is not enough of a libertarian to qualify as a fake libertarian. Like Rick, she is just a faker.
She acted to dirty the name of The Libertarian Party by allying with Communists to defend Russian aggression in the Ukraine. At the joint rally organized by the LNC and the Organization of American Communists (or whatever) protestors were carrying Russian flags. They were not advocating non-interventionism – they were support Russian military intervenionism. If anybody is like Dick Cheney, it is the Dicks in the so-called “Mises” Caucus who love Russia more than they love freedom.
She dirted the reputation of The Libertarian Party by inviting the uberstatist Donald Trump to speak at the National Convention. If Bill Weld did not do enough to oppose eminent domain in Massachusetts or New York, Donald Trump has profitied and gaind property by being a beneficiary of the exercise of Eminent domain.
Aside from supporting interventionist government much less that Donald Trump, what evidence has Rick provided against Bill Weld? None, Zero, Nada.
Angela McArdle dirtied the name of The Libertarian Party by promoting the idea of the Q-Anon Shaman running for Congress on the Libertarian ticket.
There is plenty of evidence that Angela McArdle is either a conscious agent of MAGA statism, or what Robert Welch would call a neutralizer. Someone who gets involved in a pro-American organization and then works to get the members involved in actions that will undermine the goals of the organization.
The sooner Angela McArdle moves on to her new scam., the better for the Libertarian National Committee. And too bad for whoever is involved in her new opportunity..
I don’t know what sort of support Chase Oliver expected from the LNC. They promoted him on the front page of their site after he got the nomination. They allocated money to his ballot access. The only states where he failed to make the ballot were the ones they already expected to fail before he was nominated and Tennessee, which requires 275 valid signatures statewide and shouldn’t require any out of state help.
It sounds to me like he fails to accept personal and campaign responsibility for attracting voters and supporters, which is primarily the campaign’s responsibility, not the LNC’s.
The problem is Berkman, Phillies, Knapp, Sarwark, Harlos, and the other fake libertarians have no evidence. They hate Angela McArdle so they will do anything to smear her, no matter how false it is.
They prefer Bill Weld and Dick Cheney.
If you’re going to allege corruption and conspiracy, someone at least should be willing and able to post actual evidence and not just insinuating and emoting, which is all the accusers have done thus far below. Otherwise, you leave the distinct impression that it’s all sour grapes and hot air.
I don’t side with any faction of the allegedly libertarian party. I’ve never met Miss McArdle, Chase Oliver, etc. I don’t follow the lnc discussion list or discussion of these topics on X, f***book, or any of their competitors. My sole knowledge of anything being discussed here is from discussions on this site, third party watch, ballot access news, and the occasional search engine query.
I don’t attend libertarian meetings. I’ve voted in every presidential election that the libertarians had a candidate running and voted for theirs twice. I’ve voted for libertarians down ticket quite a few times, and did not many more times. I don’t hold any strong opinions as to which libertarian party faction leaders are corrupt, if any.
I’m for substantially reducing the size and cost of government but don’t call myself a libertarian and couldn’t care less which faction are the “true libertarians.”
Is anyone here willing and able to try to convince people like me that your allegations or conspiracy theories are correct, or are you just here to trade insults and try to dominate a discussion, perhaps to compensate for lack of success in other endeavors, due to lack of outlets for pent up energy and aggression, etc?
Mr. Berkman, those are all certainly words. But, the only question you ask is a loaded one, and you continue the streak of your side of this discussion not answering questions (scroll down to see what they are) or asking real questions yourselves.
Given the choices they had for the presidential ticket, NOTA would have made more sense, and for once was a serious contender. Too bad it didn’t prevail. That’s not the outgoing chairwoman’s fault.
“Why would a Libertarian – who believes in Freedom – have anything to do with these two losers?”
For the same reason that any other presidential candidate would: because they are running for office and thus need and should want exposure. Harris made the same mistake as Oliver and snubbed independent media. And both suffered the consequences.
“the Tim Pool Podcast – a bad joke funded by Russia – and that he refused to meet with Scott Horton, also an apologist for Russian State aggression in Ukraine […] If there are any fake libertarians – Scott Horton, Angela McArdle and Michael Heise fit the bill better than anyone.”
This insane drivel coming from the unhinged clown who pretends that I “have no standing to judge whether other people defend individual freedom” and do not see “defending freedom […] as libertarianism”…
I’m going to speak an objective, necessary and absolute truth which you are not going to like:
If you do not support Russia’s defense of the people of Donbass and Crimea – who successfully elected Viktor Yanukovich as president in both 2004 and 2014 only to have their elections democratically overturned both times by brazen and unapologetic national socialists, and who consequently elected to secede – against nazi “ukraine”‘s invasion, occupation and genocide, if you do not support the liberation and denazification of nazi “ukraine” by freedom-loving and -respecting Russia, then it is you who have no interest in defending freedom, you who have no standing to judge whether people defend individual liberty, you who have never believed in anything even remotely similar to libertarianism.
Just so, if you do not support Israel’s defense of innocent lives against nazi “palestine”‘s invasion, occupation and genocide, you do not believe in freedom and have been a libertarian.
It really is as simple and clear-cut as that.
As you say, the exit is clearly marked. Stop pretending that you are anything other than a totalitarian, a statist, a banderite, a nazi, a satanist. Get thee behind me, never darker any libertarian doorstep again, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. U+1F60F
Some idiot posted on X that he is down on Chase Oliver because he did not go on the Tim Pool Podcast – a bad joke funded by Russia – and that he refused to meet with Scott Horton, also an apologist for Russian State aggression in Ukraine.
Why would a Libertarian – who believes in Freedom – have anything to do with these two losers?
If there are any fake libertarians – Scott Horton, Angela McArdle and Michael Heise fit the bill better than anyone.
Now that Angela has found a scam that she thinks will be more proifitable than ripping off The Libertarian Pary, we can hope these other losers follow her out. The exits are clearly marked,
https://x.com/LPNH/status/1854585634289074553
True.
Notably, one side in this discussion isn’t asking or answering any questions. Anyone can have an opinion, but opinions need to be backed up with facts and logic. Otherwise, you may as well get rid of discussion fora and put up polls instead.
Jose
“Having said that however I will say the Libertarian Party is still the largest third party in America. ”
Thank you. So we agree. As for the rest of your reply, it did not answer the question, since everything you said was about the presidential campaign.
I think we can all agree that their presidential campaign did not do well compared to others their party ran before, others running last year, etc. The question was why or how we should blame Miss McArdle for that when she and her allies vociferously opposed that nomination. It seems to me that it’s much more logical to blame the failure on the presidential ticket, campaign, and lackluster supporters.
As for the Green Party, they will have to do better in translating relative presidential campaign success into overall party success than they did after the 2000 and 2016 elections, when their presidential tickets got more votes than last year. What is the evidence, if any, that they are better prepared to do so now?
Darcy Richardson is far left, so of course he hates actual libertarians.
Adamson Scott has a warped view on libertarianism. Covid lockdowns and mandates are not libertarian. Sex changes and puberty blockers for little kids are not libertarian. Censoring speech is not libertarian. Chase Oliver supports all of this.
It’s disappointing to see Mr. Richardson make all these opinion comments without answering simple, logical questions. Adamson Scott likewise fails to address these questions. Can anyone who agrees with them answer them if they won’t?
What is the evidence of a Bannon infiltration operation? How do you know that the timing isn’t a coincidence, or that an administration job would be evidence of some nefarious infiltration?
Are there any data points besides presidential vote results that Greens surpassed libertarians? What other data points would be relevant?
If you think their observations are insightful, shouldn’t you be able to answer these basic questions, even if they can’t or won’t?
Anyone?
Whatever her new opportunity will be, you can rest assured that Trump had a hand in it.
Can’t wait to see what Angela McArdle’s “new opportunities” are — her reward for pulling off one of the most nefarious and despicable acts by a third-party leader in American history. All for one megalomaniacal man’s self-serving interests.
Great observation from Steve.
Keen and insightful observations from Rick, too.
—
“Under this Chairperson, the libertarians have catered to Klansmen, Holocaust deniers, and far-right evangelicals”
You are confusing your right and your left again. Just as you are confusing under which chair the LP has catered particularly to klansmen and Holocaust deniers. Bishop-Henchman, Sarwark, Bilyeu and Redpath especially come to mind… the bigoted, racist and antisemitic, totalitarian creeps.
—
“Trump is smarter and more cunning than Hitler. Instead of trying to enact the German leader’s “Enabling Act” in the early 1930s, which outlawed opposition parties, the megalomaniacal grifter merely uses his sycophants to legally neutralize those parties.”
Oh come now, think what you are saying. Look, I despise Trump as much as the next person – and unlike the next person, I do so for all the correct reasons. But the guy has faced endless attempts to outlaw his presidential run – and that after winning the 2020 election and having his second term blatantly stolen from him. If any side of the Democrat-Republican/Nazi-Sozi uniparty can be said to behave comparably to Hitler, Trump’s sure isn’t the first to come to mind. In fact, his campaign has been a lot more similar to that of Otto Wels than that of Hitler.
—
“The LP nominated a terrible, anti-libertarian candidate. That’s why they did poorly.”
“It seems particularly odd to blame Miss McArdle for poor presidential ticket performance when the contentious, internally divisive, unaccomplished and unimpressive ‘DEI hire’ presidential nominee came from the faction opposing hers within the party. If anything, the blame falls on the presidential candidate, his lackluster campaign, his lack of funding, volunteer base and resume, and some of his positions which many party activists and voters alike found unacceptable and repulsive.”
While there is certainly something to such descriptions of Oliver, let’s not forget that he was never (legitimately) nominated.
He was only (fraudulently) “nominated” by a very slim margin, after first only beating Rectenwald thanks to ter Maat seizing the microphone to illegally make an illegitimate point of personal privilege/parliamentary procedure in which he endorsed Oliver in return for usurping Kristin Alexander as his running mate; and after then only beating None of the Above thanks to delegates being lied to that many state affiliates would lose their ballot access if NOTA won.
Such shenanigans do not exactly attract much support from those you have deceived and screwed over. Nor does the national secretary conspiring with Colorado’s notoriously crooked secretary of state to go behind the back of the LPCO and put a different ticket on the ballot than the one they nominated…
So besides and beyond Oliver’s own un- and anti-libertarian positions, a great deal of damage to his campaign was done by crooked cop ter Maat and pink-haired heretic Harlos, and their cronies and sycophants.
—
“Chase was the most thoroughgoing libertarian to head up the LP ticket since at least Michael Badnarik.”
It is this comment that is beyond laughably wrong. You must mean that Oliver-ter Maat was the most thoroughly anti-libertarian LP ticket since at least Badnarik-Campagna.
Let’s be honest here. The LP leadership in the 2024 presidential campaign was nothing more than the self-serving megalomaniacal grifter’s wrecking crew.
Adamson is so right. McArdle and her Trump-loving toadies on the LNC did little to support their own presidential ticket. It was probably the most shameful episode in the annals of third-party politics.
“The LP nominated a terrible, anti-libertarian candidate.”
That comment is so far wrong it’s beyond laughable. Chase was the most thoroughgoing libertarian to head up the LP ticket since at least Michael Badnarik. It was the LNC, full of terrible anti-libertarians, who sabotaged his campaign.
Curious:
Do you have any data points to back this up other than presidential vote totals? What other measures of party size and relevance can you think of?
Jill Stien received more votes than Chase Oliver while only being on the ballot in 37 states to Chase’s 47 states. This was also the first election since 2000 that the Green Party finished third nationwide, and the first since 2008 that the Libertarian Party failed to. In California and New York two of the largest states she received more votes than Chase (it was not even close.). Results in New York: Stien 46,698 Oliver 5,3338. Results in California Stien 167,772 Oliver 66,662. Stien finished third while Oliver came in fifth (Robert F Kennedy Jr came in fourth). Jill Sien would have received more votes but even though she was on the ballot in Iowa the Secretary of State refused to count her votes (This was approved by the courts).
Having said that however I will say the Libertarian Party is still the largest third party in America. But let us be honest the Libertarian Party had a very poor performance in 2024. It has to do better. And, if I was a member (I am a member of the Libertarian Party) of the Green Party I would be happy with the performance in 2024 and I would be hopeful for the future.
Since McArdle announced her resignation, I’ve seen some people online point out that her remarks did not include a specific date. However, there is a current motion underway by the Libertarian National Committee to accept her resignation “effective immediately.” The motion in question, which currently has ten votes in favor of acceptance and six members who have not yet voted, will close at the beginning of next month.
Folks may need to manually select the 20250125-01 ballot, but link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1OMLmOstNc1IE2fMrdFZxFVwaz29jzhmn/htmlview#
The LP nominated a terrible, anti-libertarian candidate. That’s why they did poorly. Losing to a guy not even running is pathetic.
The left wasn’t completely thrilled with a dementia patient, so he was replaced with an unlikable drunk. That’s why Stein and company picked up votes.
Comparing Trump to Hitler clearly shows Darcy Richardson is not to be taken seriously.
“libertarians have catered to Klansmen, Holocaust deniers…”
How so? Which ones? Do you have any facts and evidence to back this up, or is it just a drive by smear? If you have facts and evidence, would you please back up your claims? If anyone else agrees with these claims, can you back them up?
More broadly, the 2024 presidential election saw relatively good performance for minor party and independent presidential tickets from the left – not just Greens but DeLaCruz, West etc – compared to how their equivalents usually do.
This was because the Democrats had an unimpressive record in office and unimpressive candidates imposed from above by party bosses and dying legacy media elites who alienated both marginal supporters on their left flank and swing voters in the middle and losing support not just to Trump and leftist minor parties and independents but also to abstention from voting.
Conversely, right leaning voters were more satisfied with the Republican ticket, on average.
Thus, it made perfect sense for the libertarians and constitution party to concentrate on policy gains rather than presidential ticket vote totals performance this cycle.
In addition to the aforementioned weaknesses of their presidential nominee, and in the context of the other signals of party strength, it seems like very much the opposite of insightful to judge Miss McArdle’s tenure as chair by presidential ticket performance or to infer that the Green Party has as a whole surpassed the libertarians.
Looking at a broad range of signs of relative party strength, the Green party has a long way to go to surpass the libertarians.
It seems particularly odd to blame Miss McArdle for poor presidential ticket performance when the contentious, internally divisive, unaccomplished and unimpressive “DEI hire” presidential nominee came from the faction opposing hers within the party. If anything, the blame falls on the presidential candidate, his lackluster campaign, his lack of funding, volunteer base and resume, and some of his positions which many party activists and voters alike found unacceptable and repulsive.
There are many signs of relative party strength besides presidential vote totals:
Number of voters registered with party
Total number of votes for all their candidates at all levels
Number of states with retained ballot access
Number of candidates fielded at all levels
National party annual budget
Number of active state and local organizations and various signs of their local strength
Number of elected officeholders
Etc.
Using a broad range of measures, I don’t see how a claim that the Green Party has surpassed the libertarians can be seriously defended, but if anyone wants to try, please have at it.
It’s particularly odd that Mr. Richardson, who has written books on this subject, would call such an odd claim “insightful.” He’d be the first to know that presidential ticket vote totals are far from the only indicator of party strength.
Logically, the burden of proof is on those making positive claims, such as a conspiracy theory involving Mr. Bannon, Miss McArdle, President Trump, Secretary nominee Kennedy, and or whoever else.
Mr. Richardson, since you agree with Ryan and Former Libertarian, can you or anyone answer:
What is the evidence of a Bannon infiltration operation? How do you know that the timing isn’t a coincidence, or that an administration job would be evidence of some nefarious infiltration?
Are there any data points besides presidential vote results that Greens surpassed libertarians? What other data points would be relevant?
If you think their observations are insightful, shouldn’t you be able to answer these basic questions, even if they can’t or won’t?
Trump is smarter and more cunning than Hitler. Instead of trying to enact the German leader’s “Enabling Act” in the early 1930s, which outlawed opposition parties, the megalomaniacal grifter merely uses his sycophants to legally neutralize those parties.
Sad days ahead…
Keen and insightful observations from Ryan, too.
Good riddance! Under this Chairperson, the libertarians have catered to Klansmen, Holocaust deniers, and far-right evangelicals that think marijuana is of the devil. This proof.that the Greens are always a better alternative to the duopoly in Washington. Bye and hope you jeber return Angela
Great observation from “Former Big L Libertarian.”
Sounds like Ryan is one of the fake libertarians.
Where is the proof of money laundering? Has Harlos been investigated for same? She’s always begging for money online, can’t keep a paralegal job and admitted Wayne’s been struggling in real estate.
This is why the LP can’t have nice things, even when Ross is pardoned.
“The Green Party surpassed the Libertarians as the largest or more relevant third party this past election.”
Do you have any data points to back this up other than presidential vote totals? What other measures of party size and relevance can you think of?
“There’s always been evidence this was all his project,”
What is that evidence?
“McArdle is gone the week of the inauguration, speaks for itself.”
She might have a job offer in the administration, or it could be coincidence. If you have evidence of something nefarious, why not spell out exactly what it is?
Good riddance. Her and her partner have done monet laundering but will never see a courtroom because the Justice Department doesn’t care. Doubt there’s some law on non-profit sabotage, but this situation shows there probably should be.
Steve Bannon has gotten completely sidelined by this new Trump admin you can tell from his social media reactions to the outsized importance Elon Musk is enjoying. There’s always been evidence this was all his project, but I expect they’ll be gone to the wind and scattered by May 2026. Their only goal was the 2024 election for Trump and that’s accomplished. McArdle is gone the week of the inauguration, speaks for itself.
Best of luck to Angela on her next endeavor. She did the best she could with all of the fake libertarians and drama queens (Harlos) constantly knifing her in the back.
@Aiden
On the contrary, you are confusing paleo-conservatism (i.e. well-meaning but naive statism; e.g. Juenger) with paleo-libertarianism (i.e. libertarianism; e.g. von Kuehnelt-Leddihn), and neo”liberalism” (i.e. libertine socialism; e.g. Doherty) with classical liberalism (i.e. liberalism; e.g. von Mises).
@Nuña… You really do keep repeatedly confusing paleo-conservatism with classical liberalism (aka libertarianism).
Well, this is probably the end of the LP then. At least the national party. Unless they can find an equally strong yet unifying replacement chair. And even then only very maybe.
McArdle managed the incredible feat of bridging all the fissures and somehow keeping what few disparate shreds of the party remain tied together against all odds. Without her it’s practically guaranteed to all fall apart now. Exactly as Seebeck and Harlos were aiming for when he initiated the stand-off between the LNC and the JC.
“McArdle’s resignation comes amid allegations that Freedom Calls LLC, a voter outreach company used by the Libertarian National Committee in 2024, has undisclosed connections to her domestic partner. […] A vote is currently underway to sever ties with Freedom Calls LLC and to formally investigate these allegations.”
I must again point out that Jake Porter seems to have spent months and months doing nothing besides attempting to dig up any and all dirt that he could possibly try to make stick against McArdle. I don’t know what his vendetta against her is, but in my opinion that context does not do much in the way of adding credibility to his latest “independent investigation”.
(Again, I’m sorry, Jake, it’s nothing personal, but you’ve cried wolf about McArdle so often in the past few months, only to come up empty handed each time, that it is very difficult for me to consider your latest “report” objectively with that in mind.)
Really, the only things speaking in its possible defense, are that Yeniscavich*, Hays* and Haman* are co-sponsoring the motion to terminate the contract with Freedom Calls LLC effective immediately, and that Haman* and Malagon* are co-sponsoring the motion to investigate allegations of misconduct against McArdle*.
Unfortunately, the proposed investigative committee consists of 60% anti-McArdle clowns (Redpath*, Darr* and Nekhaila*) who will certainly trump up something when they can’t find any evidence of wrongdoing, thereby completely defeating the credibility and nominal purpose of the investigation. There were so many less biased LNC members* to assign that investigation to, I don’t understand why Haman and Malagon would co-sponsor this kangaroo court.
“A motion is currently underway to appoint Jonathon McGee to the Vice Chair role, with six members voting for his appointment as of this article’s publication.”
Case in point, why not put McGee* on the investigative committee.
*
At least somewhat libertarian: (McArdle), Vinson, Watkins, Yeniscavich, Haman, Hays, Malagon
Toss up: Bost, Garcia, Chadderdon, Shawhan, McGee, Hertzsch, Dassing, Bracco, Ford
Mostly to completely anti-libertarian: (Rutherford), [Harlos], Redpath, Nekhaila, Johnson, Nanna, Darr, Thompson, (Weir)
What a hot mess! There is so much hate and discontent swirling around the LNC this is probably a very good thing. I sure hope the party can find its way and not continue to splinter.
If anyone embezzled, it’s Sarwark or Caryn Ann Harlos.
Big shock! Trump gets elected, and the pro-Trump infiltrator resigns once her work is done. Go figure.
At least Sarwark saw 50 state ballot access and 7 million votes for Johnson under his time. The Green Party surpassed the Libertarians as the largest or more relevant third party this past election.
The Republicans did their job and burned the then largest third party and biggest threat to their election victories to the ground.
The Bylaws do not say that the VC becomes Chair, only that they perform the duties of the Chair if needed. Article 6, Section 4. It also says the LNC appoints to fill the vacancy of an Officer. Article 6 Sections 1 and 7.
That overrides RONR 47:28, because Bylaws override RONR, and because “expressly” doesn’t require one location, just that it is explicitly given.
This was brought up in the Henchman resignation and they got it wrong then, too.
Believe we’ll fine that new opportunity is a prison stay for the embezzlement and fraud her and her partner have been committing