Bill Weld's New Focus: Defeat Donald Trump, Come In 2nd to Hillary Clinton

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld's addition to the Libertarian Party's national ticket was a surprise; his latest decision is another.

In an interview with The Boston Globe, Weld said he is pivoting to focus exclusively on barring Trump from the White House and, the paper reports, giving himself a key role in helping to rebuild the GOP."

His new plan targets Trump in specific Republican-leaning states, as well as the swing state of new Hampshire.

Weld told the Globe he's still behind Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, but "is now interested primarily in blocking Trump from winning the presidency and then potentially working with longtime Republican leaders such as Mitt Romney and Haley Barbour to create a new path for the party after the election."

>>> Read the fully story in The Boston Globe <<<

Romney had previously pushed to get Weld and Johnson on the debate stage, and seemingly flirted with the idea of endorsing their ticket.

Weld, of Canton, previously pledged to "remain a Libertarian for life and would do all he could to help elect his running mate (Johnson)," the Globe reports. Since then, however, Weld has had to excuse for his running-mate's prominent gaffes, include a notable inability to answer a question on the situation in Aleppo, Syria.

Forced to account for that moment during a recent Boston visit, Weld said his newly adopted party's presidential candidate has "been flying around the country" and "not reading newspapers" as often as usual.

Unfortunately, the mistake goes straight to the heart of a perceived vulnerability in a campaign from two men whose leadership experience is limited to state government.

Photo by Marc Nozell, Flickr/Creative Commons