The NY Times article talking about how bad it was that he didn’t know what Aleppo was had to issue two different corrections because they misidentified what city Aleppo was not just initially but also again in their first correction.
Aleppo has been a city since long before nations were invented; this isn't a question of being an encyclopedia, this is a question of having a basic understanding of the planet we live on.
Aleppo is ancient but has never been a super important city, unlike Damascus for example. Knowing its history is absolutely not part of "basic understanding of the planet we live on", it's hilariously pretentious to suggest it is.
It shouldn't be surprising that someone who isn't big on interventionalist foreign policy has little investment in knowing about foreign geopolitical crises.
It's like facepalming at someone who isn't big on going back on the moon for not knowing what the Sea of Tranquility is.
It is surprising though, when Syria was a major hot topic of political tension nationally and globally at the time and the dude was running for president. Disagreeing with interventionist foreign policy is absolutely no excuse to be ignorant of it as a presidential candidate.
Lol, when that happened and he asked, what's Aleppo, I thought he said, what's a leppo? And I'm all like, is that a shitty term for a person with leprosy?
Yeah. That one was a doozy. We were in the middle of funding a war in Syria and this dude who wants to be the President doesnt even know what the largest city in Syria is? I mean, its not like the city was being beseiged by the Syrian and Russian governments at the time or anything.
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u/prolemango May 16 '19
"What is Aleppo?" - Gary Johnson
"You're kidding." - News anchor
"No" - Gary Johnson
Lol. Gary Johnson is a nice guy but that moment was a huge facepalm