Gary Johnson’s Aleppo moments reached fever pitch weeks ago, but he’s still trucking on the campaign trail. A current RealClearPolitics poll average shows him hovering at 5.5%, which is a drop from 9.2% in mid-September. So, he’s going nowhere but down, and as Guardian reporter Paul Lewis found out in this interview, he appears intent upon reaching rock bottom.
Actually, Johnson’s losing it. The interview begins with him braggng, “I’m an idiot, really. I’m the dumbest guy you’ve met in your whole life.” He claims this is sarcasm, and he bristles at how the media calls out his gaffes. He’s angry at RealClearPolitics, and when Lewis informs him that the outlet averages several polls, Johnson contemptuously asks, “Why are you even interviewing me? I don’t get it. If I’m doing so poorly, is this to preside over a funeral here? It’s not a funeral! It’s a celebration!”
Then Lewis broaches Johnson’s taxation plan (which includes doing away with income and corporate tax and replacing it with a consumption tax). And Lewis, who is painfully polite, simply points out that most economists say it won’t work. That’s when sh*t hits the ceiling. Out of nowhere, Johnson gets in his face … about pot: “Look, I came out for the legalization of marijuana,” he spits. “And I had people in my face for years and years and years talking about how stupid and how idiotic it was that we should allow marijuana to be legal.” Lewis has no idea what this has to do with tax policy, to which Johnson snaps, “It’s leadership.”