How Trump Eclipsed the 'Libertarian Moment'

Yesterday was another bad day for the “libertarian moment” and for Sen. Rand Paul in particular. The candidate Paul endorsed and campaigned for in Virginia's Republican gubernatorial primary, state delegate Nick Freitas, lost to Corey Stewart, a pro-Trump candidate controversial for his defense of Confederate monuments, among other things. Further south, a Republican congressman of longstanding affinity to the Paul family and libertarianism, Mark Sanford, also lost his primary in South Carolina to an opponent who accused him of disloyalty to President Trump. A Paul-endorsed candidate, Eric Brakey, did win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine, in an uncontested primary, but his odds of defeating Sen. Angus King in November are long.