--- title: Gary Johnson, 2016 Libertarian Candidate: What is Aleppo description: Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson answered a question on MSNBC's Morning Joe about Aleppo — the heart of the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis — with another question: "And what is Aleppo?" canonical: https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-08T13:20:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:18.345Z article:section: Politics og:title: Gary Johnson, Presidential Candidate, Asks "What is Aleppo?" og:description: The Libertarian nominee was unfamiliar with a prominent center of Syria's war. og:url: https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91a02c894849b129/6988a538fb4eacd44188f055/gary-johnson-what-is-aleppo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: gary johnson what is aleppo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gary Johnson, Presidential Candidate, Asks "What is Aleppo?" twitter:description: The Libertarian nominee was unfamiliar with a prominent center of Syria's war. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91a02c894849b129/6988a538fb4eacd44188f055/gary-johnson-what-is-aleppo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Asks 'And What is Aleppo?' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Sep 8, 2016 1:20 PM UTC  Former New Mexico Governor, and third party presidential candidate hopful, Gary Johnson smiles and gestures to supporters after a campaign speech in Portland on August 26. Former New Mexico Governor, and third party presidential candidate hopful, Gary Johnson smiles and gestures to supporters after a campaign speech in Portland on August 26. Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Sep 8, 2016 1:20 PM UTC Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson answered a question on MSNBC’s _Morning Joe_ about Aleppo — the heart of the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis — with another question: “And what is Aleppo?” The presidential candidate revealed his unfamiliarity with the city when he appeared on the show Thursday morning. _Morning Joe_ panelist Mike Barnicle prompted the response when he asked the former New Mexico governor, “What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo?” > [](https://twitter.com/Morning%5FJoe/status/773851435477762048) When Johnson asked what Aleppo is, Barnicle seemed baffled. The exchange continued as follows: Barnicle: “You’re kidding.” Johnson: “No.” Barnicle: “Aleppo is in Syria. It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis—” Johnson: “Okay got it, got it.” Barnicle: “Okay.” Johnson later said that he did know about Aleppo but misheard the question. In a statement, he said: “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.” Soon after, #WhatisAleppo began trending on Twitter, with many users shocked by (or making fun of) the presidential candidate’s basic question. > [](https://twitter.com/MargieOmero/status/773858294620385280) > [](https://twitter.com/LukeBrinker/status/773867006722465792) > [](https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/773863391400235008) > [](https://twitter.com/weezwrites/status/773851573059514368) > [](https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/773861363399753728) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/"},"headline":"Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Asks 'And What is Aleppo?'","datePublished":"2016-09-08T13:20:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:18.345Z","description":"\"It's the epicenter of the refugee crisis\"","url":"https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/","keywords":["2016 Election","politics","Syria"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91a02c894849b129/6988a538fb4eacd44188f055/gary-johnson-what-is-aleppo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91a02c894849b129/6988a538fb4eacd44188f055/gary-johnson-what-is-aleppo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gary johnson what is aleppo","caption":"gary johnson what is aleppo","creditText":"Portland Press Herald—Press Herald via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/","name":"Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Asks 'And What is Aleppo?'"}}]}] ```