• Cuomo asked the two to choose single words or phrases to describe President Obama, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

CNN invited the Libertarian Party’s candidates for president and vice president — former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts governor William Weld — to answer questions at a wide-ranging town hall Wednesday night. Hosted by anchor Chris Cuomo, the duo, who currently poll at about 9 percent, according to CNN, spoke before a live audience on topics as disparate as immigration, healthcare, and even Johnson’s marijuana consumption. Here are some highlights from the hour-long talk.


On Trump, Johnson said: “ I am sure there is something good to say about Trump somewhere.”

Weld was more blunt: “Huckster.”

• Though reticent to participate in “name calling” against Trump or Clinton, Johnson did take issue with Trump’s proposed immigration policies. Notably, he said he found Trump’s plan to build a wall between the US and Mexico “incendiary.”

“Building a fence across a border borders on insanity,” he said.

• A mother who said her son’s brain had been irreparably damaged by heroin consumption asked why Johnson and Weld advocate legalizing drugs. Johnson, who said he has recently quit using marijuana (and hasn’t had alcohol in several decades), said he would legalize marijuana and work to change the culture around drug addiction and overdoses. Addiction is a public health issue, he said, not a criminal issue.

• The candidates were asked about the two-party system, and whether their candidacies would hurt the major candidates:

‘The two-party system is a two-party dinosaur and … they are about to come in contact with the comet here,” Johnson said. “I think that’s real possibility. Look, there are extremes on both sides and I think most Americans are libertarians — it’s just that they don’t know it.”


• Weld, as Cuomo pointed out, is a novelist. Asked to give the 2016 presidential election a title, Weld laughed, paused, and said, “I don’t know, monkey business?” Cuomo jokingly suggested that might have already been taken.