I know many libertarians are angry with James Weeks. Not nearly angry enough, though.

Here is the struggling Libertarian Party, with the same Presidential candidate who drew all of 1% of the vote in 2012, finally attracting some attention from serious Americans desperately seeking a viable alternative to the two vile and untrustworthy candidates belched out by the major parties. For the first time, its nominating convention is news rather than trivia or a side-show. C-Span is broadcasting it live. Libertarian James Weeks, a candidate for party chairman, appears at the podium to argue for his candidacy, and knows that the Libertarian Party is being scrutinized and assessed. So what does he do to enhance its reputation, elevate its visibility, and increase the still infinitesimal odds that it will add another shocking and unforseen upheaval to the political landscape in a year that has already experienced so many of them?

He strips. He takes off his clothes until only his briefs remain, to a chorus of boos. “It was a dare,” Weeks explained at the end of his striptease. “I’m gonna go ahead and drop out.” 

“Get off the stage! You’re making an ass of yourself!” one man  yelled.

Though unquestionable correct, this was an understatement. Weeks betrayed the party, beliefs and colleagues. He didn’t just make an ass of himself, he made a laughing stock of his entire party, at the exact moment  it was the one thing his party could not afford to be. Naturally, the outrageous stunt received far more publicity than anything else that occurred at the convention.

While making himself look bad (well, he does look bad, but he looks a lot better with clothes on), Weeks’ stunt reaffirmed the suspicions many Americans have that Libertarians exist in some parallel universe where the sky is green, the U.S. should have let Hitler take over Europe, and, apparently, fat men are strippers. He did this when the entire nation and the world need an alternative to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the White House, and were looking in his party’s direction. This crisis is not a joke. By turning the Libertarian Party convention into one, however, Weeks made it clear that the search had better continue, and elsewhere.

One way we know (those of us ready to face cruel reality) that Hillary Clinton is more trustworthy than Donald Trump is that while it is not difficult to imagine him doing any of the corrupt things Clinton has done, Trump is constantly engaging in unethical conduct or saying things that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t consider on the most Pazuzu-infested day of her life.

What James Weeks did at the Libertarian Convention was something so irresponsible even Donald Trump wouldn’t do it.

Weeks may have dropped out of the chairman race, but he remains a very strong candidate for the Ethics Alarms Asshole of the Year.