Poor relations between police and African-Americans stems from the criminalization of drug use, Gary Johnson said. | Getty Gary Johnson compares Libertarian ticket to 'comet' hitting 'two-party dinosaur'

The two-party system is teetering on the brink of extinction, and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said his party’s ticket could be the one to knock it out.

“This is a two-party dinosaur,” Johnson said Thursday during a National Press Club luncheon. “We think we're going to be the comet in this equation.”


Appearing with his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, Johnson said this year’s Libertarian ticket is in the campaign to win it. Their chances are helped, the former New Mexico governor said, by the historically unpopular Republican and Democratic candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Johnson said the GOP’s unwelcoming views toward the LGBT community and ethnic minorities have turned off voters nationwide, and he was especially critical of Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric, which Johnson called “incendiary.” Likewise, Johnson said Democrats penchant for advertising their taxpayer-funded proposals as “free” puts them out of touch with the voting public.

Between two candidates with historically high unfavorability ratings and partisan gridlock in Washington, Johnson said voters will gravitate toward a third option. He dismissed the notion that he would be satisfied with enough of the vote in November that would exceed expectations but not yield a victory. Instead, Johnson said he and Weld first had to reach the 15 percent support in national polls necessary to earn a spot on the debate stage this fall. Those debates, he said, are “the only opportunity we have of winning.”

“We think we’ll make our case over the summer. We think we’ll get to the 15 percent,” Johnson said. “We think we’ll be in the presidential debates and we think that anything can happen at that point. And I am speaking to the fact that we have the two most polarizing figures in America today. If Mickey Mouse were the third name in any of these polls, Mickey would be polling at 30 because Mickey is a known commodity.”

Johnson said he expects to draw support roughly equally from those who might otherwise vote for Trump or Clinton. The former governor scoffed at the notion that he might be labeled a spoiler candidate, similar to Ralph Nader in 2000 or Ross Perot in 1992.

“I will lose no sleep if that is the label given to me, and I will reiterate: This is a party that needs crashing,” Johnson said.

Weld chimed in, “What’s to spoil?”