Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson has argued for limited U.S. intervention in world affairs and focused on the safety of U.S. citizens. | AP Photo Gary Johnson gets emotional after being asked about 'Aleppo' stumble

Gary Johnson got emotional while defending his foreign policy platform on Friday, arguing his recent interview stumbles are far less damaging than the country's broader foreign policy problems.

In a foreign policy speech and subsequent question-and-answer session, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee was asked about recent incidents in which he seemed unaware of Aleppo — a city at the center of Syria's humanitarian crisis — and, separately, struggled to name foreign leaders.


"Here's the point of that, okay? Because you can dot the I's and cross the T's on names of foreign leaders or geographic locations, then that qualifies you to put the military in a situation where the military is dying?" Johnson asked, raising his voice a few octaves as he spoke to a crowd at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics.

"We've got military personnel that are dying, they're getting hurt, they're getting maimed for the rest of their lives. They're getting psychologically damaged for the rest of their lives because we put them in a situation of a crossfire. And in that crossfire there are hundreds of thousands of people dying in these countries," he continued.

"So if that's the qualification to be president, dotting the I's and crossing the T's on the names of foreign leaders and geographic locations and because that's the quality that you have to posses, well just count on the military policies of this country continuing as they've been the last 15 years going forward," Johnson concluded.

A libertarian, Johnson has argued for limited U.S. intervention in world affairs and focused on the safety of U.S. citizens.

His campaign website reads: "Looking back over the past couple of decades, it is difficult to see how the wars we have waged, the interventions we have conducted, the lives sacrificed, and the trillions of tax dollars we have spent on the other side of the globe have made us safer. If anything, our meddling in the affairs of other nations has made us less safe."