US election 2016: 'What is Aleppo?' asks presidential candidate
Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson stuns America with lack of foreign policy knowledge
The former New Mexico governor and Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson has revealed a surprising lack of foreign policy knowledge on American television.
Asked on MSNBC what he would do, if elected president, about Aleppo, the city at the centre of the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis, Johnson earnestly asked: "What is Aleppo?"
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"100152","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After explaining to him what the city was, Johnson replied "Okay, got it."
He then went on to say that the US should form a partnership with Russia to diplomatically improve the situation.
"With regard to Syria, I do think that it's a mess," he said.
The stumble could be a "serious blow" to Johnson’s campaign, says the New York Times, "just as he is making a final push to improve his standing in the polls."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
As the Libertarian candidate, Johnson has "ramped up his campaigning efforts in recent weeks, working to build enough national support to earn a spot on the general election debate stage alongside Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump," says Politico. In order to do so, he needs to reach 15 per cent in a series of major national polls but has been hovering around the 10 per cent mark until this point.
The gaffe was quickly seized upon by social media.
But it gets worse. In an interview after the event Johnson seemed even more tangled up in his own words, with predictably excruciating results.
Perhaps worse still, a few commentators even drew parallels with a certain other presidential candidate.
-
How are ICE’s recruitment woes complicating Trump’s immigration agenda?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Lowered training standards and ‘athletically allergic’ hopefuls are getting in the way of the White House plan to turn the Department of Homeland Security into a federal police force
-
What is a bubble? Understanding the financial term.the explainer An AI bubble burst could be looming
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
The UK-made Storm Shadow missiles Ukraine is using in RussiaThe Explainer Ukraine reportedly deployed the long-range British missiles this week, following a tense meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump
-
Proposed Trump-Putin talks in Budapest on holdSpeed Read Trump apparently has no concrete plans to meet with Putin for Ukraine peace talks
-
What is Donald Trump planning in Latin America?Today’s Big Question US ramps up feud with Colombia over drug trade, while deploying military in the Caribbean to attack ships and increase tensions with Venezuela
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
Remaking the military: Pete Hegseth’s war on diversity and ‘fat generals’Talking Point The US Secretary of War addressed military members on ‘warrior ethos’
-
How does the Nobel Peace Prize work?The Explainer Activist María Corina Machado wins prestigious prize, despite public campaign by Donald Trump