Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s quirky nominee for president, opened his speech at a New York City rally Saturday with an unusual statement for a politician: an apology.
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Johnson’s response shocked the MSNBC hosts interviewing him, who remarked on Syria’s largest city being central in coverage of the country’s ongoing conflict and refugee crisis. “I feel frightful”, he said to Bloomberg Politics.
According to RealClearPolitics’ polling averages, Johnson has won about 9 percent of the vote, while Stein has received just 3 percent. But hit with ‘What about Aleppo?’, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict.
Candidates are required to reach 15 percent support in national polls to make it to the presidential debates, which commence later this month. “He was a gentleman about it”, she said. But in the contest between the United States and an autocratic and increasingly belligerent Russia, Trump appears not to be sure which side he is on.
Others at the event, including Kyra Chamberlain, 47-who said she and her husband Chris are volunteer coordinators for Johnson in Maine-expressed similar sentiments. “I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign”, Johnson said.
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“He has no knowledge of foreign policy, he spends his time advocating for legalized prostitution and for a drug culture here in America, rather than dealing with problems that are really big like our economy and our national security and government reform”, McMullin said. But for some, Johnson’s demeanor is also a selling point. “He’s not running on fear”, Antisell added. “Gary Johnson just is not a serious candidate”. Though they now tout the appeal of a third-party option, both Johnson and Weld were Republicans when they served as governors. During a televised show for MSNBC, Johnson asked, “And what is Aleppo?”. Maybe it will hurt him a little bit, but I think he’ll scoot by.
