“And what is Aleppo?” Gary Johnson asked

Genuinely: trust me, nobody is taking this more seriously than I do.

Weld said he was “gratified” that Romney tweeted, but downplayed any chances for a future endorsement from the former MA governor.

He made the same Aleppo mistake the Times made, while acting incredulous about Johnson’s mistake. The hosts of “Morning Joe” dug in.

Screenshot of Gary Johnson on Morning Joe.

During an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee on Thursday flubbed a question on the Syrian civil war, asking, “What is Aleppo?”.

But Johnson wasn’t quite sure what the seasoned journalist was referring to when he asked about Aleppo.

Then, Aleppo was incorrectly identified as the capital of Syria, which is Damascus.

The stumble could be a “serious blow” to Johnson’s campaign, says the New York Times, “just as he is making a final push to improve his standing in the polls”.

Johnson expressed disappointment about the Aleppo lapse in a brief follow-up interview that was broadcast on MSNBC and canceled some of his other scheduled interviews that had been planned for later in the day.

The misstep was a boon for explainers.

On the question about the best way to deal with terrorist threats in the United States, Weld – a former U.S. Attorney for MA – said he would create a 1,000 member Federal Bureau of Investigation task force dedicated to tracking lone wolf killers. But the New York Times is and will likely continue to be the country’s most influential newspaper-so its gaps in knowledge are far more worrisome.

Johnson did eventually answer what he would do about Syria.

“You’re kidding”, commentator Mike Barnicle said.

As a presidential nominee, Johnson should have been able to better respond to a question about Aleppo.

Even when the media and experts talk about the city, they sometimes show a lack of understanding. He told the Daily Beast that he was “thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict”. “I have to get smarter, and that’s just part of the process”.

Deadspin pointed out that Google searches for the city’s name didn’t spike after a chlorine gas attack there on Tuesday.

“Probably 85 percent of the people in the country couldn’t put Aleppo on a map, so I’m not sure the effect of the slip is going to be lasting at all”, Weld said. Do I understand its significance? Yes.

He explained with a recollection back to his run for governor, where he was confused when asked about colonias. “I am talking about that everyday”. He graduated from high school in 1971, and attended the University of New Mexico from 1971 to 1975, obtaining a bachelor degree in political science. While Libertarians are very free-trade oriented, they are often criticized for being isolationist and lacking interest in foreign policy. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.

On Wednesday, Romney tweeted: “I hope voters get to see former GOP Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on the debate stages this fall”.