Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson Gets Caught Not Knowing What or Where Aleppo Is

Libertarian presidential nominee and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is polling at about 9 percent, which is very good for a third-party candidate. That may change after an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday in which Johnson earnestly admits to have no idea what the city of Aleppo, Syria, is.

BARNICLE: What would you do if, you were elected, about Aleppo?

JOHNSON: About?

BARNICLE: Aleppo.

JOHNSON: And what is Aleppo?

BARNICLE: You’re kidding.

JOHNSON: No.

BARNICLE: Aleppo is in Syria. It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.

JOHNSON OK. Got it. Well, with regard to Syria, I do think that it is a mess.

And then he goes on to give a pretty normal answer.

To his credit, Johnson makes no attempt whatsoever to pretend that he didn’t just get busted not knowing a basic fact about a major ongoing international news story, which is actually pretty refreshing.

Update, 11:10 a.m.: Here’s Johnson’s statement on the incident.