“And what is Aleppo?”.
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Trump, meanwhile, said he doesn’t believe Johnson’s recent Aleppo gaffe – in which the Libertarian candidate asked “what is Aleppo?” when questioned about how he would address issues in Syria – will have much of an impact in the 2016 presidential race.
“It came out of nowhere”, Stossel said of the question posed to Johnson during his interview Thursday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, adding of Johnson, “He knows what Aleppo is”.
Now that we finally do know what Aleppo is (thanks Gary), wouldn’t it be nice if it was just a quiet town in Syria again and not the epicenter of the refugee crisis riddled with killings and bombings?
“OK, got it”, Johnson said, going on to provide a general answer about the Syrian conflict, where he said the only viable option “is to join hands with Russian Federation to diplomatically” resolve the conflict.
The third party candidate has been able to gain marginal traction because of the high unfavorability ratings of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Johnson, a former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, has been campaigning for a spot on the stage at the first presidential debate September 26. The rules say a candidate needs to hit at least 15 percent in national polls to make the cut.
That is an argument that Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, both made in their speeches Saturday. Romney, a leading Republican critic of Trump, stopped short of endorsing the Libertarian ticket.
In a later interview with Bloomberg News, Johnson admitted he was “incredibly frustrated” with himself and admitted he was surprised “at a time of little clarity”. “You can find Aleppo on a map”, she said.
“I have to get smarter, and that’s just part of the process”, he said.
Later in the day, the former New Mexico governor clarified his initial confusion, explaining that he had thought the interviewer was referring to an acronym – and that yes, he does understand the Syrian conflict.
“Can I name every city in Syria?”
“Sometimes I think there is a conspiracy”, he said.
“I understand its importance”.
A Morning Consult survey echoed these findings, with more than half of registered voters saying they believe Johnson should partake in the event and 47 percent contending that Stein should.
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Look, if you want to keep harping on about how Gary Johnson didn’t know what Aleppo was, then that’s your prerogative, but in the meantime please pardon the serious students of government while we move on to things that actually make a difference in the nation and in the world. “It worked. That is what a President must do”.
