Former New Mexico Governor and current Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson tripped in an embarrassing interview moment. As he’s been fighting to remain relevant and hit the threshold to make the debate stage, he may have dealt his campaign to become Commander-In-Chief a blow. When asked about “Aleppo”, Johnson replied asking what it was. Shocked, the interviewer explained it was a city at the center of Syrian refugee crisis.
Some argue it’s not bad because Johnson is campaigning as a non-interventionist and thus wouldn’t be as concerned with Syria. But given the nature of United States foreign policy, Syria will be a relevant topic. Refugees are still going to try to come to America and the government is going to need to understand the situation.
It was an embarrassing moment, but it’s not the worst thing that has happened this election cycle. This is important to remember as the mainstream media swarms Johnson’s gaffe.
Remember when it was revealed that Hillary Clinton didn’t know what “C” stood for on e-mails? The e-mail controversy relating to her time as Secretary of State has been a mess. She claimed confidential materials had never been sent over her private server, which was determined to be false. It was found she used more than a dozen mobile devices and that her aides regularly destroyed them. E-mails had been destroyed, even relating to Benghazi, while we were told they were just about yoga and Chelsea Clinton.
Instead of spending time swarming the Democratic presidential nominee for any of the above topics, scattered outlets briefly touched upon them and focused on distractions.
Meanwhile, CNN is slamming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for not knowing the proper classification described by “C”. Whether Trump thinks it’s “classified” or “confidential” is irrelevant, because Clinton didn’t handle it as either when actually using it. Why are words a bigger deal than mishandling information that’s clearly meant to be handled with the utmost care?
Now the mainstream media is all over Gary Johnson. Why?
Conservatives and libertarians have criticized the Libertarian Party nominee thoroughly for a series of positions, claiming he’s more liberal or moderate than libertarian. This may be the reason that the mainstream media is getting defensive now. Johnson’s core views align more with the left and could appeal to those who are reluctantly leaning towards Clinton purely to stop Trump.
Gary Johnson himself is not a progressive, but he certainly “feels the Bern” more than Hillary Clinton ever could. On this point, his rise would impact Clinton’s bid to unify the left and hurt her presidential campaign. It’s become clear that the bulk of the mainstream media is in the bag for the left. Does this explain why the numerous issues involving Clinton’s e-mail controversies were never huge stories, but rather short-lived discussions that didn’t make it through the day? Does this explain why Johnson getting caught off guard is an enormous story that many pundits say has proven he’s not qualified to be President?
Could the mainstream media possibly make it any clearer who they’re pulling for?
