During an interview on MSNBC in which Johnson would later say he mentally “blanked”, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee on Thursday flubbed a question on the Syrian civil war, asking, “What is Aleppo?”.
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“And what is Aleppo?”. To which Barnicle said, stunned: “You’re kidding”. Johnson initially said “What is Aleppo?” then offered an answer when reminded it’s Syria’s largest city.
Johnson insisted, “I do understand Aleppo, and I-I understand the crisis that is going on”, while adding that USA military intervention in the humanitarian crisis happening in Syria would have “unintended outcome of making things worse”. Even so, Johnson defended his familiarity with Aleppo’s importance, elaborated his approach to dealing with ISIS, and acknowledged that Mike Barnicle did ask him a fair question.
He needs to average 15% in polls to qualify for the presidential debates – the first of which is on September 26 – and has been trying to cash in on widespread voter revulsion towards the two major party candidates.
“What is Aleppo?” Mr. Johnson said when asked on MSNBC how, as president, he would address the refugee crisis in the war-torn Syrian city.
Campaigning to become commander-in-chief can be time-consuming, so much so that it’s potentially incompatible with identifying a war-torn Syrian city that most recently made headlines for a chemical attack where victims included women and children.
The stumble could be a serious blow to Johnson’s campaign, just as he is making a final push to improve his standing in the polls. “I was thinking about it in terms of acronym: ALEPPO”.
The most generous way to view Johnson’s performance is that, in the moment, he blanked on the word.
“OK, got it. Got it”, replied Johnson, before continuing to say of Syria: “It’s a mess”, and that the USA should join with Russian Federation to diplomatically end the war. Do I understand its significance?
Barnicle tried to clue in the clueless candidate, saying: “Aleppo is in Syria. And that’s just part of the process”.
Johnson: “OK, got it. It worked. That is what a President must do”, he said in the statement.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times quickly published the definitive piece for the paper of record excoriating Johnson for his ignorance.
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The former Governor of New Mexico later said he was incredibly frustrated with himself for his initial response and said the incident set aside any doubt that he is human.
