Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson went on MSNBC’s Hardball program Wednesday night, three weeks after he shocked the world by asking “what’s Aleppo?”, and somehow, he managed to muck up an even easier question about foreign policy. (By the way, this is Aleppo.)
Hardball’s host Chris Matthews asked Johnson to name his favorite foreign leader, and Johnson struggled to name a single one.
Gary Johnson had an "Aleppo moment" after @hardballchris asks who his favorite foreign leader is #JohnsonTownhall https://t.co/nRazpPL0q0
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 28, 2016
After fumbling for words, Matthews tried to help Johnson out.
“Any one of the continents, any country. Name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to. Anybody,” he said.
“I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment,” Johnson said after failing to come up with one.
After stumbling for a bit, his vice presidential candidate (who picked Shimon Peres by the way) helped him land on Vicente Fox, the president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006.
“He was terrific,” Johnson said.
Johnson received the endorsement of Detroit News on Thursday morning, and poked fun at his two high profile gaffes in a tweet announcing the news.
Detroit News endorses Johnson. Who's endorsed Trump? Hmm…brain freeze. https://t.co/jANEAJzoAf via @detroitnews
— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 29, 2016
It’s concerning that Johnson hasn’t seemed to retain a story about foreign policy or what’s going on outside the United States since 2006 — and is able to make light of the matter. Among the foreign leaders Johnson wasn’t able to name were either of the U.S. neighbors (Canada’s media-friendly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto), Germany’s refugee-crisis facing Angela Merkel, leaders of any countries where U.S. troops have fought wars in recent years (Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan and Haider Al-Abadi in Iraq), and leaders of major U.S. allies Britain (Theresa May) or France (Francois Hollande).
At least Johnson didn’t name two of the leaders involved in the destruction of Aleppo: Russia’s Vladimir Putin or the Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.