Former Governor of Massachusetts and Libertarian Vice President candidate Bill Weld has remained active in the political sphere since the end of the 2016 election cycle.
Weld spoke at the Students for Liberty Regional Conference in New York, and endorsed Larry Sharpe for Governor of the state. “He’s a real good candidate,” Weld explained in regards to Sharpe “I told him I’m going to do whatever I can for him in New York.”
The former Governor also was the host of a GOP fundraiser, which was met with lots of criticism in libertarian circles, even though the governor expressed in 2016 that he would support candidates who he saw “fit” regardless of party.
The question then becomes is Bill Weld’s recently activity suggest that he will run for the presidential nomination in 2020. According to the Boston Globe that may be a possibility. “The most I’ve said is I’m still a Libertarian,” stated Weld “and as the years roll by I’ll probably want to involved in the discussion leading up to 2020, and supportive of the Libertarian Party efforts there.”
Obtaining the party’s nomination could be an uphill battle for the former Governor due to many criticisms during the campaign of Weld being too friendly towards Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, supporting a ban on assault weapons, and in general not being consistent enough with libertarian ideals.
In a recent interview with Reason, Weld stated that the 2016 campaign had changed some of his views on Marijuana legalization and foreign policy. “If I had to talk about an issue where the campaign changed my thinking, it probably would be interventionism. I do consider myself an internationalist, but that’s different from being an interventionist. I don’t like it when I see the body bags coming back. An air strike is maybe something a little different, to project U.S. military power, and Libertarians do believe in a very strong defense, so rattling the saber from time to time is not a bad thing. But U.S. land wars, it’ll be a cold day in July before I could think of a U.S. land war that was worth starting,” explains the Massachusetts Libertarian.
Bill Weld’s views could transform more as his involvement in the Libertarian Party increases and he very well could be the next nominee for President.
Categories: Bill Weld, Libertarian Party, Politics