Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor and Libertarian Party presidential nominee, revealed a surprising lack of foreign policy knowledge Thursday that might rock his insurgent candidacy when he could not answer a basic question about the crisis in Aleppo, Syria.
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“And what is Aleppo?”.
The independent candidate’s comment comes days after Johnson’s gaffe on the Syrian city Aleppo.
Weld said Johnson thought he was being asked about an acronym. Johnson was also asked about whether that stance presented a conflict of interest, as he once ran and still owns stock in, a company that markets marijuana products.
Johnson went on to say the United States should “join efforts with Russian Federation to end the conflict in Syria diplomatically” while adding that the conflict was the result of regime change gone badly.
Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, has been trying to turn the two major candidates’ negative approval ratings to his advantage in the race to win the November 8 election. To qualify, he would have to reach a 15 percent average in five national polls that are recognized by the presidential debate commission.
Johnson has sought the support of Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, and other high-profile Republicans upset with the party’s nomination of Donald Trump. It wasn’t a full-throated endorsement and the election battle at this point is centered around Trump and Clinton and Romney has “yielded the stage”.
Johnson admitted during his interview on “The View” that he had genuinely forgotten about the city of Aleppo.
Syria’s 2011 pro-democracy uprising, which gradually devolved into civil war, has sparked a refugee crisis across the Middle East and Europe as millions fled their homes for safety.
“Johnson: “OK. Got it”.
After piling on Gary Johnson after a mistake that honestly many people would have made, and which he was refreshingly honest about, people were not kind to The New York Times.
“Do you really think that foreign policy is so insignificant that somebody running for president of the United States shouldn’t even know what Aleppo is, where Aleppo is, why Aleppo is so important?” “I understand the significance”. The statement says, in part: “I blanked”. No”, he continued. “Should I have identified Aleppo?Yes.
“This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human”, the candidate said.
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“I think people understand that you can forget a detail, so, no, I don’t think it has any impact on the debates except perhaps to increase our name recognition”, Weld said. “It worked. That is what a President must do”, he wrote.
