Culture

Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton Both Answered The ‘Favorite World Leader’ Question In The Same Way

by: Uproxx authors

In his second gaffe-heard-round-the-world in as many weeks, Gary Johnson couldn’t manage to name one world leader that he admires during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Wednesday. Since then, both the Democratic and Republican nominees for president were asked the same question — and surprisingly, they answered it in the same way.

When Hillary Clinton was asked by reporters on her campaign plane to answer the question that stumped Johnson, she smiled. “I like a lot of the world leaders,” she said, causing the press pool to giggle. “One of my favorites is Angela Merkel. I think she’s been an extraordinary, strong leader during difficult times in Europe.”

Donald Trump also received the question during an interview with New England Cable News. “Well, I think Merkel is a really great world leader, but I was very disappointed that — when she — this move with the whole thing on immigration,” he said. “I think it’s a big problem and really, you know, to look at what she’s done in the last year and a half. I was always a Merkel person. I thought really fantastic. But I think she made a very tragic mistake a year and a half ago.”

As the New York Times‘ Maggie Habermann points out, Trump has previously put down Clinton by comparing her to Angela Merkel. Last month, at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Trump said, “Hillary Clinton is running to be America’s Angela Merkel, and we’ve seen how much crime and how many problems that’s caused the German people.”

But really, is anyone surprised that Trump doesn’t have a consistent opinion about the German Chancellor?

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/781607630246731777

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