Adam Kokesh, Libertarian presidential hopeful for 2020, has seen a backlash on his campaign late Tuesday night, as some of his campaign staff and volunteers are jumping ship, and people in the LP are taking notice.
Someone that noticed some discord within the Kokesh camp stated that they’d “like to be the first one to unapologetically say that [they are] happy that Adam Kokesh 2020 is going down in flames. That was a dumpster fire waiting to happen.”
According to comments on separate posts, volunteers didn’t want to divulge why they left. “Quite honestly,” one said, “it wouldn’t be right to say why we decided to separate ourselves. But we are allowed to make it known that we have,” also seeming to indicate that they may not be allowed to talk about it yet.
A loss in support and morale this early in a run could be devastating, especially for a campaign that is starting three years earlier or more than a typical run.
Kokesh announced his 2020 campaign during the middle of the 2015-16 presidential cycle, since he is not yet old enough to become president — turning 35 in February.
Kokesh announced he would be running on a platform to abolish the federal government in 4 years. He garnered a lot of support from the anarcho-capitalist wing of the Libertarian Party, even this early. He is currently on his “For the Love of Freedom!” Tour around the country, a tour of events featuring local activists speaking about libertarianism, while also being a preliminary gauge of the support for a 2020 campaign.
Kokesh is only the second person to have announced a campaign within the LP so far — the other being Joy Waymire. Likely competitors are just rumored at this point, including Austin Petersen and Larry Sharpe, even Arvin Vohra – Vice Chairman of the LP – who said in an exclusive interview with us at Being Libertarian that he hasn’t ruled out a 2020 run. If the Kokesh 2020 campaign does crash and burn, it could leave anarcho-capitalists without their most viable candidate.
It remains to be seen what happened internally within the campaign that led to this sudden exodus of staff and volunteers.
Nicholas Amato
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