In late 2023, a quiet operation was launched to neutralize a threat to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. The target wasn’t a Democrat, but the Libertarian Party (LP).
What followed was a masterclass in political co-optation. Through backroom deals, a highly unusual joint fundraising committee with Robert Kennedy Jr., and blatant internal sabotage, leadership within the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) effectively turned the party of “Principle” into a subsidiary of the Trump campaign.
This is part 3 of the inside story detailing how the LP was hijacked by the Donald Trump’s campaign.
Part 1: The Shady RFK-Trump Scheme That Nearly Destroyed the Libertarian Party
Part 2: The Shady RFK-Trump Scheme That Nearly Destroyed the Libertarian Party - The Joint Fundraising Committee
To understand why Trump’s team targeted the Libertarian Party, you have to look at the 2020 election data. For years, Republican strategists have privately obsessed over one question: Did Jo Jorgensen "Nader" Trump?
In three states, Libertarian Presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen covered the margin of difference between Trump and Biden. While it is not a view I necessarily hold, some election analysts have speculated that Jorgensen threw the 2020 election to Biden.
David Boaz examined the 2016 election and wrote following for Cato:
So where did those votes go? We do have some polling evidence.
In 2016, a CBS exit poll asked Johnson supporters who they would have voted for in just a two-candidate race. Twenty-five percent said Hillary Clinton, 15 percent Trump, and 55 percent said they wouldn’t have voted at all. (Hat tip to Matt Welch for rounding up all these polls.)
Cambridge University modeled the 2020 election and concluded:
Using this model on 2020 election data, we show that the Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson probably cost Donald Trump victory in at least two states: Arizona and Georgia.
Had Trump won Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, the Electoral College would have ended in 269-269 tie, sending the election to the House of Representatives where the Republican controlled state delegations would have handed Trump the presidency.
Trump’s public narrative focused on voter fraud, but behind closed doors, his consultants took note of a different reality: The Libertarian Party may have cost him the 2020 election and they couldn’t let it happen again in 2024.
The operation to neutralize the LP began with a text message in November 2023. Ric Grenell, Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence, reached out to then-Libertarian National Chair Angela McArdle, asking a simple question: What do Libertarians think of Donald Trump?
Within weeks, Grenell flew to Texas to meet McArdle. During that trip, McArdle was put on a 45-minute phone call with Trump himself. Shortly after, she was invited to Mar-a-Lago for a face-to-face meeting.
According to McArdle, this is where Trump asked to speak at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention. She claimed she used the opportunity to leverage a promise from Trump to free Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. However, as Reason’s Brian Doherty later pointed out, McArdle’s timeline was riddled with contradictions:
“...she told Tom Woods on his podcast in June 2024, Trump in fact already signed a pardon for Ulbricht in 2020 but was somehow foiled by underlings...”
McArdle kept the LNC and the party membership entirely in the dark about her meeting with the Trump campaign. It wasn’t until April 2024 that she publicly framed Trump’s attendance as a standard invitation sent to both major candidates. In reality, the deal had been cooked up months prior at Trump’s personal request.
Once Chase Oliver secured the 2024 Libertarian presidential nomination, McArdle didn’t just fail to support the party’s nominee she actively campaigned against him.
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
Kennedy's confirmation as HHS Secretary confirms we have entered a post partisanship age. It's Team Humanity vs. the Deep State. This is the most libertarian administration we have had in more than 100 years. I am so grateful to have helped Kennedy and Trump, and I am so
4:34 PM · Feb 13, 2025 · 60.9K Views
146 Replies · 344 Reposts · 3.77K Likes
In a series of stunning admissions on Twitter, McArdle openly bragged that she treated the LP presidential campaign as a tool to aid Donald Trump, while hurling homophobic slurs at Oliver who is openly gay.
On May 13, 2026, McArdle explicitly stated her goal:
“Excuse me, I ran that jerkoff so that he will pull votes from Kamala. You’re welcome.”
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
@jt_truck Excuse me, I ran that jerkoff so that he will pull votes from Kamala. You're welcome
4:10 PM · May 13, 2026 · 1.5K Views
3 Replies · 1 Repost · 51 Likes
When questioned by party members as to why she aligned with Trump over Oliver, she doubled down, citing Trump’s poll numbers over political alignment:
“It doesn’t matter who is more Libertarian on paper.”
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
Because Pres. Trump was / is: Willing to work with me Wanted to work with me Had something to offer Is intelligent and persuasive, and Had a majority of the country behind him. It doesn't matter who is more Libertarian on paper.
Shays @Shaysreb
@RealAngelaMc Chase Oliver shares more of your political views than Trump does, so why didn’t you align with him more than Trump?
12:44 AM · Aug 6, 2025 · 22.7K Views
56 Replies · 28 Reposts · 578 Likes
She went on to mock Oliver’s campaign as a “Grindr hookup tour”.
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
Perhaps if you'd taken your presidential campaign seriously instead of treating it like a Grindr hookup tour, you would have had a greater impact on America's foreign policy.
8:55 PM · Jan 4, 2026 · 15K Views
42 Replies · 25 Reposts · 879 Likes
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
Excuse me, but I believe the last libertarian presidential campaign had the greatest Grindr usage. I am really sick of my party being left out of the polls.
Governor Newsom Press Office @GovPressOffice
We got a call from Grindr after this and said your team was their biggest users. Congrats!
4:27 AM · Mar 26, 2026 · 5.74K Views
8 Replies · 6 Reposts · 155 Likes
In 2024, the LNC entered into a highly controversial Joint Fundraising Committee (JFC) with Robert Kennedy Jr. Even after RFK Jr. lost the Libertarian nomination and subsequently dropped out of the race as an Independent to endorse Trump, the fund kept moving money.
The JFC became a conduit to boost Trump, funding bizarre, thinly veiled campaign promotions like the “Day of Falconry” advertisement promoting RFK Jr.’s joint event with Donald Trump JR.
Furthermore, Kennedy-aligned PACs and the JFC funneled cash into a pro-Trump event hosted by “Rescue the West, Inc.”—a brand-new organization founded by McArdle herself. Molly Ball of the Wall Street Journal described the gathering as a “Coalition of the Weird” mobilizing for Trump. At the event, RFK Jr. took the mic and gave his marching orders:
“You need to go to the polls... and get Donald Trump and me into Washington, D.C.”
McArdle went so far as to authorize official Libertarian Party email blasts to promote this explicitly pro-Trump event.
The most alarming aspect of the JFC is where the money went after the election concluded. A look at campaign finance filings reveals a pattern of massive donations followed closely by presidential pardons, government contracts, and political appointments.
Utah billionaire, Trevor Milton, donated $56,000 to the Kennedy Victory fund on October 30, 2024 just days before the election and $750,000 to the MAHA Alliance Kennedy supporting PAC in September 2024 among other contributions to Republican causes.
In 2025, Milton was granted a pardon by Donald Trump.
In December 2024, after the election, the Kennedy Victory Fund received a contribution of $147,900 from one of the contractors awarded the Alligator Alcatraz contract.
On January 29, 2025, months after the election, a Patrica Duggan of Florida donated $176,800 to the Kennedy Victory Fund. Weeks later on February 12, 2025, a Patricia Duggan of Florida is named as a member of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
After the Kennedy Center appointments were made, the new board named Donald Trump Chairman of the Board and changed the name to the Trump Kennedy Center.
The link between Patricia Duggan’s appointment and the money trail features a familiar face: the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was led by none other than Ric Grenell—McArdle’s handler from the Trump campaign.
And we can’t forget that Kennedy himself was rewarded for dropping out of the campaign with a post in the Trump administration.
While skeptics claims these post-election windfalls are merely coincidental, the optics are devastating. The Libertarian Party’s apparatus was clearly used to facilitate a funnel of cash that directly ties to the Trump administration.
Angela McArdle@RealAngelaMc
We tossed Bill Weld, and helped get Trump elected this last term in exchange for Ross Ulbricht's freedom. We will likely do it again in 2028 if a libertarian Republican (or independent) runs for POTUS.
Palmer Luckey @PalmerLuckey
I am regularly asked why I don't support the Libertarian Party, given my strong libertarian bent. Lots of reasons, but two big ones: 1) They are too focused on making noise vs winning. 2) Libertarian VP pick Bill Weld: “The five-shot rifle, that’s a standard military rifle;
8:51 PM · Mar 2, 2025 · 18.3K Views
34 Replies · 24 Reposts · 454 Likes
According to multiple inside sources, the Kennedy Victory Fund was never meant to be a one-off transaction. Plans were already underway to execute the exact same scheme for the 2028 election cycle, using figures like RFK Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, or Nicole Shanahan (Kennedy’s VP) to establish another slush fund for party leadership.
There is no indication that Kennedy, Ramaswamy, or Shanahan signed off on this strategy. The grand plan hit a wall when McArdle was forced to resign from the LNC altogether. The resignation came after an expose by this Substack revealed she was secretly routing party funds to her domestic partner through a hidden Delaware LLC. That came a month after we uncovered that she was using JFC money to secretly pay her household.
This weekend, the Libertarian National Committee meets at its national convention to decide its future. The integrity of the party is on the line. Will the delegates vote to reclaim their independence, or will they permanently solidify the party’s status as nothing more than a political strumpet for the major parties?
Only time will tell. But the paper trail suggests the price for the party of principle has already been paid.
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