Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson drew a blank this week when he was asked to name his favorite foreign leader, and now reporters are posing the same question to the other presidential candidates.
Here is how they answered:
The Democratic nominee told her traveling press corps Thursday evening that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of her “favorites.”
“I think she has been an extraordinarily strong leader during difficult times in Europe,” Clinton said.
“Which has obvious implications for the rest of the world and, more particularly, our country. You know, her leadership and steadiness on the euro crisis and her bravery in the face of the refugee crisis is something that I am impressed by,” Clinton continued. “I have known her for a long time. She and I have known each other back into the 1990s. I have spent a lot of time with her, and I hope I will have the opportunity to work with her in the future.”
2. Donald Trump
The GOP nominee also listed Merkel as his favorite world leader, though he was not as complimentary of the German politician as Clinton.
“I think Angela Merkel is a really great world leader, but I was very disappointed that, when she, this move with the whole thing on immigration,” Trump said Thursday.
“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.”
3. Gary Johnson
In a town hall event Wednesday evening, Johnson struggled to answer the question. He eventually listed Vicente Fox as his favorite foreign leader, but that was only after the Libertarian nominee’s running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, floated the former Mexican president as a possible candidate.
Weld, for his part, answered the question with Merkel.
Johnson recanted the next day, withdrew Fox’s name from the running and said he still couldn’t answer the question.
“It’s been almost 24 hours … and I still can’t come up with a foreign leader I look up to,” he said on Twitter, clearly trying to spin his blank-out moment.
4. Jill Stein
Stein produced a list of her own Thursday morning, seeking to capitalize on Johnson’s gaffe.
However, no one mentioned by the Green Party nominee actually holds a top spot in government.
Stein named Canadian politician Elizabeth May, economist Joao Stedile and Britain’s Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as her favorites.
She also listed Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and environmental activist Berta Caceres.
When it was noted that none of the people named by Stein are recognized as “world leaders,” the Green Party candidate responded with, “I admire real leaders, not politicians who sell their people out to the global economic elite for power.”
Independent candidate Even McMullin was also asked Thursday to name his favorite world leaders, to which he responded with Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation Garry Kasparov, human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, Venezuelan Politician Leopold Lopez, Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For good measure, the former CIA officer also made it clear he does not admire Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar Assad or North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
