Libertarian VP Weld: Trump has ‘a screw loose’

Donald Trump is not only a “huckster,” but he also has a “screw loose,” according to Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee William Weld.

Making the case for their third-party candidacy at a CNN town hall Wednesday night, Gary Johnson and Weld, Libertarian presidential and vice presidential nominees respectively, panned the polarization they say has consumed the 2016 campaign, saying either major party’s nominee would only result in continued political stagnation.


“If either Trump or [Hillary] Clinton are elected, things will be more polarized than ever,” said Johnson, a former New Mexico governor and member of the Republican Party.

“I think it might be refreshing to have a party that was not terribly partisan holding the White House. And we would hire the best people from the Democratic Party that we could find. The smartest people from the Republican Party that we could find. The best people of the Libertarian Party,” Weld said.

Weld, a former Massachusetts governor who previously took particularly sharp aim at Trump by labeling him a “huckster,” took the critique a step further Wednesday.

“I think he is a showman, a pied piper, the music man,” he said, mocking the former reality star’s style. “More recently, it has gotten more serious and the noun that comes to my mind is a screw loose.”

Johnson, who has been polling around 10 percent when pitted in a general election matchup against Clinton and Trump, also addressed concerns among Republicans and Democrats alike that a vote for a third party candidate is a “wasted vote.”

“A wasted vote is voting for someone you don’t believe in,” Johnson said.

“We have no problem with people casting a wasted vote. If we get in the debates, we'll win this whole thing,” Weld said. “If you want to waste your vote on Trump or Clinton, be our guest.”

Asked about how they intended to appeal to wayward Republicans who have opted to back Clinton over Trump, the two Libertarian candidates boasted about their conservative credentials.

“[We’re] two former Republican governors that got reelected in heavily Democrat states, I think that speaks volumes,” said Johnson, citing their fiscal conservatism as their selling point to Republicans.

“We were two of the most fiscally responsible, i.e., conservative governors in the United States,” Weld added.

The tandem also unveiled a “unique” proposal for their ticket: a presidential “partnership” if elected, including joint staffs. Pressed on how such an approach would work by CNN host Anderson Cooper, the duo listed the ways in which a truly joint ticket would benefit the presidency while touting their longstanding relationship.

“How does it work: Not having separate staffs, not being divided? But really two heads for the price of one,” Johnson said.

“It helps that we've known each for 20 years and sort of chose each other a long time ago to be friends and then again more recently,” said Weld.