Then, Aleppo was incorrectly identified as the capital of Syria, which is Damascus.
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Geography much? Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson completely flubbed on a question about Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday, September 8.
He also suggested that the United States should “join hands with Russia” to bring an end to the conflict in Syria. “With regard to Syria, I do think that it’s a mess”, he said.
“Probably 85 percent of the people in the country couldn’t put Aleppo on a map, so I’m not sure the effect of the slip is going to be lasting at all”, he said, per the Globe.
But the mistake Thursday, widely mocked on social media via hashtags like #allepogate and #whatisalleppo, could ding the ticket’s credibility on foreign policy. He is a proponent of legalizing the drug and he was previously the chief executive of a business that marketed and sold recreational marijuana products.
Johnson also said he thought the question was a fair one since he’s running for president.
The former governor of New Mexico’s stumble could have been prevented if only he had – like most college grads his age – read a little Vladimir Nabokov or Shakespeare. Despite the increased attention he has received in the last couple of months, and the continued unpopularity of Trump and Clinton, Johnson’s support has not grown significantly during the summer.
The Independence Party of New York State is pleased to announce that it has chosen to endorse Gary Johnson and William Weld for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States.
However, he has just 8.6 support in the current average of opinion polls by website RealClearPolitics in a matchup with Clinton, Trump, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Never mind the unusual phrasing of the MSNBC commentator’s question, which one could surmise would not be directed at Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in such an unusual manner, at least without the cue that he’s referring to “Syria”.
Asked by a reporter afterwards, Weld said his and Johnson’s intent is still to win the election.
Gary Johnson had a great news day on Wednesday.
It’s become a war-torn battleground in the country’s civil war and a nexus of the refugee crisis. “It was just mind-blowing”, Hill said, shooting himself in the foot.
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Barnicle then asked, “You’re kidding?”. I was wondering if he was talking something called ‘an Aleppo, ‘ and was confused by that. Behar told him “I think it’s a disqualifying statement, frankly”. Mitch Daniels, the former Republican Indiana governor and member of the Commission on Presidential Debates, wants Johnson to be included in the debates to give turned-off voters more of a choice. “Weld added that if the question to Johnson had been, “‘What do you think about the awful atrocities of the refugee problem in Aleppo’, that would put it in context”.
