--- title: Gary Johnson Can't Name Foreign Leader in 'Aleppo Moment' description: Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson struggled to name a foreign leader he admires in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night canonical: https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-29T12:30:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T18:31:28.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Gary Johnson Can't Name Foreign Leader in 'Aleppo Moment' og:description: Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson struggled to name a foreign leader he admires in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night og:url: https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2049e787fe85384e/6988a809fb4eac18c388f4ed/gary-johnson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Libertarian Presidential Nominee Gary Johnson Speaks At Purdue University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gary Johnson Can't Name Foreign Leader in 'Aleppo Moment' twitter:description: Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson struggled to name a foreign leader he admires in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2049e787fe85384e/6988a809fb4eac18c388f4ed/gary-johnson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gary Johnson Struggles to Name a Foreign Leader in Interview > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ac1051dd-9c12-45d0-9ead-d2833e1ed3d5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:31 PM UTCPublished: Sep 29, 2016 12:30 PM UTC  Gary Johnson, 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee, listens to questions from audience members during a campaign event at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Gary Johnson, 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee, listens to questions from audience members during a campaign event at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:31 PM UTCPublished: Sep 29, 2016 12:30 PM UTC Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson [struggled](https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/781278922201718784?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) to name a foreign leader he admires in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who asked the question during a town hall session, responded to a long pause from Johnson with prodding. “You got to to do this. Anywhere, any continent,” Matthews said. “Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there, Asia, South America, Africa.” “I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment,” said Johnson, referring to a now [infamous moment](http://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/) when he failed to recognize the name of Syria’s most populous city on live television. Johnson settled on “the former president of Mexico,” apparently referring to recent [Trump critic Vicente Fox](http://time.com/4473985/vicente-fox-donald-trump-interview/), but he could not remember Fox’s name. Finally, former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, Johnson’s running mate, lent Johnson a hand with a reminder of Fox’s name. Johnson’s campaign manager released [a statement](https://www.facebook.com/ronald.t.nielson/posts/10210354380196637) about the incident on Facebook, calling it “gotcha-ism at its finest.” “Yes, asked to name a favorite foreign leader, Gov. Johnson didn’t quickly name a specific favorite. That really doesn’t mean much. Most Americans and certainly most political candidates would have to stop and think before responding, with the possible exception of a Donald Trump who is enthralled by Putin,” Ron Nielson wrote. The awkward exchange comes less than a month after the Aleppo exchange and further weakens his credibility as he tries to position himself as a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/"},"headline":"Gary Johnson Struggles to Name a Foreign Leader in Interview","datePublished":"2016-09-29T12:30:22.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T18:31:28.000Z","description":"'I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment'","url":"https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2049e787fe85384e/6988a809fb4eac18c388f4ed/gary-johnson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2049e787fe85384e/6988a809fb4eac18c388f4ed/gary-johnson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Libertarian Presidential Nominee Gary Johnson Speaks At Purdue University","caption":"Gary Johnson, 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee, listens to questions from audience members during a campaign event at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.","creditText":"Bloomberg 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":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4512853/gary-johnson-aleppo-moment-foreign-leader/","name":"Gary Johnson Struggles to Name a Foreign Leader in Interview"}}]}] ```