Libertarian Gary Johnson Makes Embarrassing Slip-Up on MSNBC

Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson may have just ruined his entire campaign. When asked, “What would you do if you were elected about Aleppo?” the stunned politician replied, “And what is Aleppo?”

“You’re kidding,” replied political commentator Mike Barnicle. “Aleppo is in Syria and the epicenter of the refugee crisis.” 

Johnson quickly recovered and gave a surprisingly vague answer: “Well, with regard to Syria, I do think that it’s a mess. And I think the only way that we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that to an end. But when we’ve aligned ourselves with, when we’ve supported the opposition…the Free Syrian Army is also coupled with the Islamists, and then the fact that we’re also supporting the Kurds. And this is – it’s just a mess.” 

Johnson’s stunning lack of knowledge about one of the biggest crises facing the world today may have put a serious damper on his insurgent campaign. The third party candidate must reach 15% in the polls in order to participate in upcoming presidential debates, and this morning’s blunder may have destroyed his chances to do so. 

The Libertarian’s popularity has been hovering around 10% as he strives to attract voters who oppose both Trump and Clinton. 

“So, Aleppo is the center of a lot of people’s concerns across the planet about the terrible humanitarian crisis that is unfolding not only in Syria, but especially in Aleppo,” said host Joe Scarborough, pressing the issue. 

“Do you really think that foreign policy is so insignificant that somebody who is running for president of the United States know what Aleppo is, where Aleppo is, and why it is so important?” 

The Libertarian insisted that he understands Aleppo “and I understand the crisis that is going on.” 

Johnson told Scarborough that he opposes US military involvement in “these humanitarian issues,” because “we end up with a situation that in most cases is not better, and in many cases ends up being worse. And we find ourselves always, politicians are up against the wall, and ask what to do about these things, and this is why we end up committing military force in areas that, like I say, at the end of the day have an unintended consequence of making things worse.” 

Johnson says he is “incredibly frustrated” with himself regarding the interview, and later suggested that he was clarifying Barnicle’s question when he asked, “And what is Aleppo?” 

Editor’s note: We might want to consider that Johnson isn’t that familiar since the Libertarian solution is to pull all troops from everywhere and leave the rest of the world alone. He doesn’t know because he doesn’t care. (Frankly, I don’t either…)