Oh, Gary Johnson. The Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico governor just can’t seem to get out of his own way. He’s fighting hard to be a relevant presidential candidate on a national stage, and he just keeps choking under pressure.
First, there was the interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, when Johnson had his infamous Aleppo moment, and completely embarrassed himself about his lack of international issues.
Now There’s Aleppo… Part two.
During a town hall forum, Chris Matthews asked Johnson who his favorite foreign leader is. Pretty simple question to gauge Gary Johnson’s approach to foreign policy, I’d say. Matthews pressed:
“Any one of the continents, any country. Name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to, anybody.”
And all Johnson could do was sigh. His running mate Bill Weld tried to bail him out, offering up recently deceased Israeli politician Shimon Perez as a possible role model. Nice try, Bill.
Matthews kept at it:
“I’m talking about living. You gotta do this. Anywhere, any continent. Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there, Asia, South America, Africa. Name a foreign leader that you respect.”
And Gary Johnson replied:
“I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment … the former president of Mexico.”
Oh, Gary… Again?
Bill Weld tried to come to Johnson’s aid again, offering former Mexican president Vicente Fox’s name as a candidate. Fox has been a very vocal opponent of Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Weld, for his part, named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as his favorite, showing that at least one person on that ticket actually knows something about basic foreign policy.
Afterwards, Johnson did his best to deflect any criticism by tweeting:
It's been almost 24 hours…and I still can't come up with a foreign leader I look up to.
— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) September 29, 2016
“It’s been almost 24 hours…and I still can’t come up with a foreign leader I look up to.”
Nice try, Gary, but I don’t think many people are buying that.
Watch the cringe-worthy moment here:
Feature image via Youtube screengrab.
