“What would you do about Aleppo?”
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The Commission on Presidential Debates – which is led by Republican and Democratic co-chairs – is in charge of organizing the debates and requires a third-party candidate to have at least 15 percent in selected polls to be allowed to participate. When reminded by MSNBC on Thursday, Johnson said he’d work with Russian Federation to find a diplomatic solution to the civil war and that the conflict was an example of the dangers of meddling in the region.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is getting a lot of attention for his answer to an interview question.
But Johnson wasn’t quite sure what the seasoned journalist was referring to when he asked about Aleppo. 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.
“It’s how you deal with adversity that ultimately determines success”, Johnson said.
“So Aleppo is the centre of a lot of people’s concerns across the planet about the bad humanitarian crisis that is unfolding not only in Syria, but especially in Aleppo”, Scarborough said.
“I think Gary just didn’t realize the context was Syria or geography or anything like that”, Weld said. “I do understand Aleppo and I … understand the crisis that is going on”. But hit with “What about Aleppo?”, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. The statement says, in part: “I blanked”.
While the Libertarian Party has long rejected US military intervention overseas, the candidate’s failure to recognize one of the most troubled spots in the Middle East drew ridicule and prompted speculation that his campaign was essentially over. Do I understand its significance? Yes.
Hillary Clinton swiped at Johnson for the gaffe when she was asked about his stumble during a news conference early Thursday.
Johnson reportedly said after the interview that he was “incredibly frustrated” with himself.
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Appearing on ABC’s talk show “The View” later, Johnson reacted mildly to suggestions the gaffe would kill his campaign.
