Other Candidates Have Made Bigger Gaffes Than Gary Johnson—And Got Much Less Blowback

This morning, libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson made a pretty embarrassing blunder during a TV interview on MSNBC when he failed to recognize the name “Aleppo”—the city at the center of Syria’s five-year civil war. Johnson was swiftly crucified by every political commentator on Twitter for failing to pass the “foreign policy test,” with NBC journalist Chuck Todd even calling the gaffe a campaign “killer.”

But plenty of blunders, flubs, and moronic statements this election season haven’t gotten anywhere near as much blowback. Let’s take a look back at all the times our favorite candidates were as clueless as Cher Horowitz on her first day at school.

    1. That time Hillary Clinton told the FBI she didn’t understand that her emails marked with a “C” referred to “classified” information, and said she thought it was simply a way to alphabetize paragraphs.

    2. That time Donald Trump claimed — twice — to have watched a secret Iranian recording of American officials unloading $400 million in cash off an airplane in exchange for the release of American detainees.

“You know it was interesting, because a tape was made, with the airplane coming in, nice airplane, and the money coming off I guess. That was given to us, has to be, by the Iranians. You know why the tape was given to us? Because they want to embarrass our country, ” he said during a rally in Maine.

Except that, well, as the Washington Post pointed out such footage doesn’t exist.

 

    3. That time Bernie Sanders was asked about something other than income inequality and proved his utter discomfort with foreign policy issues.

Asked by NBC moderator Chuck Todd during one of the presidential debates about North Korea ‘s potential threat to U.S. national security, Sanders revealed Kim Jong-Un had mastered the art of self-duplication:

“Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons.”

    4. That time Jill Stein swam against the scientific tide and pandered to the anti-vaxx crowd by suggesting in a Reddit AMA that the American people shouldn’t trust regulatory agencies that are “routinely packed with corporate lobbyists and CEOs.” “Who wouldn’t be skeptical?” she asked.

After being widely criticized for her comment, she *cough* “clarified” her beliefs on the matter.

5. That time Ben Carson confused Hamas, the Palestinian fundamentalist organization, with hummus (the Middle Eastern spread) when addressing a coalition of Republican Jews  in DC.

 

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