MSNBC Over Reacts To Gary Johnson Statement “What is Aleppo?”

This morning Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee for President, appeared on Morning Joe and was asked about the crisis in Syria.

Caught off guard for just a moment, Governor Johnson was not sure what was being asked of him. However, right away he gave a clear concise answer to the Syrian crisis but the MSNBC panel would not let it go and spent another 8 minutes bashing the Libertarian nominee for President.

This is a drastic overreaction on the part of MSNBC and the Morning Joe crew.  Governor Johnson knew what he was talking about in regards to the Syrian crisis, but failed to remember the name of the city that is considered the epicenter.  99% of the American people probably haven’t even heard of Aleppo including myself who is a pretty smart guy that pays attention to the world affairs.

It was a cheap move by MSNBC to discredit a Third Party candidate for President. A candidate who is turning the two party system on its heels and threatening the power of politicians and media elite like Joe Scarborough. Nevermind that the Republican nominee has bastardized every group of persons in this country and around the world. Nevermind that the Democratic nominee has no idea how to handle classified information. But Gary Johnson isn’t fit to be President because he got tripped up on Aleppo?  Give me a break!

Here is Governor Johnson’s statement concerning this line of questioning:

This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day. But hit with “What about Aleppo?”, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.

Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.

As Governor, there were many things I didn’t know off the top of my head. But I succeeded by surrounding myself with the right people, getting to the bottom of important issues, and making principled decisions. It worked. That is what a President must do.

That would begin, clearly, with daily security briefings that, to me, will be fundamental to the job of being President.

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Author: Robert J. Bentley

Defender of #Liberty | Political Scientist & Historian | Founder of The Libertarian Vindicator (www.libertarianvindicator.com)

12 thoughts

  1. I’m sorry, but there’s simply no excuse for this level of ignorance of current affairs coming from a presidential candidate. It’s exactly like when Trump was asked directly about “Brexit” just before the UK voted. Trump didn’t seem to have any familiarity with the word, but gave a hastily improvised opinion once its meaning was explained to him. Now this is regularly cited as an indication of Trump’s lack of preparation for office.

    The word “Aleppo” has been all over the news, since the iconic pictures of the wounded boy sitting in shock were published in mid-August. This disqualifies Johnson. It is evidence he doesn’t follow the news. It’s as indicative as Sarah Palin, when asked by Katie Couric, being unable to name any publication she reads.

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    1. Then Hillary should be disqualifired by forgeting her cyner security brief given to her every year she held the office of Sec. Of State. Where she says she just short circuited and doesnt recall signing papers saying sje had the briefings. Hes up to date, get off your corupt Dnc high horse.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Did I say HRC is not responsible for her mistakes? The topic of the post and discussion is Johnson’s unforced error, however.

        BTW, Jon, the words are “disqualified”, “cyber”, “doesn’t”, “she”, “He’s”, “corrupt”, “DNC”, and the proofreading process is called a “spell check”.

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  2. It would be interesting to research this by asking random people in the street “What about Aleppo?” without context, as happened to Johnson. A lot of people would be puzzled, I’m sure. It does indeed sound like some abstract acronym. I would certainly agree that it is the MSNBC crowd that come across as looking like fools.

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    1. But a “lot of people” aren’t running for President, so they would have no responsibility to know. Gary Johnson IS running, and should have known. I’m not remotely a news junkie, and I knew. And Johnson himself said he “KNEW, but ‘blanked” on-air. He’s an experienced politician, “gotcha” questions are nothing new from journalists, and it wasn’t asking the name of the #3 man in ISIS or anything hard.

      Maybe it won’t matter, but I’m guessing Johnson just blew any chance to make the 15% to get in the debates. I think that threshold should be lower, but I’m not sponsoring the debates so I don’t make the rules.

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      1. If it’s true that, for a politician, no news is bad news, then this might have worked in Johnson’s favour. Maybe a few more people know who Johnson is, given that he’s become so famous for this gaffe.

        If Aleppo is a bit too obscure for the man in the street, one could try another word that sounds like an acronym when presented without context. I’ve heard than many Americans have trouble with the question: Name a country that begins with the letter “U”.

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  3. Without the interventionist United States policies, no one in the general American public would know the name Aleppo. President Obama encouraged the downfall of Assad, which ignited all rebels against him, when they weren’t united and didn’t have the strength to overthrow him. Gary Johnson’s policies and goals are to stop putting any cities “on the map” for Americans just because they are places in a war zone with a refugee crisis.

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  4. It was complete set-up. “What about Aleppo? These Hillary Honks realize if Johnson is in the debates she will have to explain and defend her “policies” Not just throw insults back and forth with her good buddy Trump. I follow what is happening in Syria daily, What is Aleppo? Took me off guard. What I learned was Morning Joe was still on the air. I thought these idiots had been cancelled but then again, I not a lame stream media girl. And I can’t remember the other idiots names on the program?????

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