During CNN town hall, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson introduces himself, his policies

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last updated 23 June 2016

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, shared their positions on everything from taxes to Donald Trump during a CNN town hall Wednesday night.

Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico who also ran for president in 2012, and Weld, a former GOP governor of Massachusetts, both spoke out against Trump, with Weld calling him a "huckster" and Johnson calling him out for a number of his more controversial stances. "Starting with immigration, starting with free trade, going on and on and on, killing the families of Muslim terrorists," Johnson said. "Really, it's what's coming out of his mouth that I really have issues with." Weld also said Trump has succeeded in "tapping into the very worst political traditions of the United States and other countries," and it's impossible to be president of the United States and "talk like" Trump.

Johnson pledged to "sign on tax policy that would reduce or simplify taxes in this country," and said if he had a magic wand he would "eliminate income tax, I would eliminate corporate tax, I would abolish the IRS, and I would replace it all with one federal consumption tax." When it comes to fighting the Islamic State, Weld said the Libertarians would create a "thousand-person task force treating ISIS as a gigantic organized crime family." He added that, while they won't "roll back" any existing gun regulations, they do want to know how law enforcement can prevent someone like Omar Mateen from getting guns. They also feel a political shift will soon occur in the United States. "The two-party system is a two-party dinosaur, and they're about to come in contact with the comet here," Johnson said. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.