Libertarian vice presidential nominee William Weld will focus all his attention on stopping Donald Trump. Weld also wants to be at the forefront of helping to rebuild the GOP.
Weld’s comments, made to the Boston Globe, mark a departure from his pledge in May at the Libertarian National Convention to stay in the Libertarian Party for life and help elect Johnson president.
From the Boston Globe:
“Maybe somebody is going to come up with a new playbook, and I don’t know who it’s going to be, but it would be fun to participate,” Weld said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, where he was holding a fund-raiser and rally and planned to watch and tweet about Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate featuring his major-party rivals, Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence.
Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said he is focusing on Trump because, while he disagrees with Hillary Clinton on fiscal and military issues, Trump’s agenda is so objectionable it’s “in a class by itself.”
“I think Mr. Trump’s proposals in the foreign policy area, including nuclear proliferation, tariffs, and free trade, would be so hurtful, domestically and in the world, that he has my full attention,” Weld said.
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According to the Globe, Gary Johnson is on board with the change in strategy, despite the fact that strategists close to Weld tried to have Johnson replaced at the top of the ticket. The new strategy is for the Weld to focus on attacking Trump in certain red states where Libertarians are running strong, along with the swing state of New Hampshire.
Weld later clarified on Facebook:
Weld’s change in focus comes as the Libertarian ticket is fending off attacks from Democrats that they’re working to elect Donald Trump president. Progressive super PACs have announced they’re going to spend millions targeting young voters and attacking Gary Johnson’s record on climate change, among other issues.
The Democrats have even unleashed their secret weapon to help persuade young voters…Al Gore. They’ve also brought out President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Bernie Sanders (who is ironically an independent) to warn against voting third-party this election. The Libertarian vice presidential nominee seems to agree.
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Many Libertarians were skeptical of William Weld’s place on the ticket, because of his record on everything from guns to government spending. Weld, and Johnson himself for that matter, shifting their focus with five weeks left to go in the presidential race only confirms suspicions that the Johnson-Weld ticket has gone belly-up.