‘What is Aleppo?’ White House candidate Gary Johnson asks, in stunning gaffe

This was not how White House contender Gary Johnson hoped to finally crack the headlines - mocked mercilessly for asking an interviewer “What is Aleppo?” in response to a question about the ravaged Syrian city.

But the exchange Thursday morning instantly thrust the former New Mexico governor under a global spotlight, with #WhatIsAleppo a trending hashtag on Twitter and a red-faced Johnson scrambling to fend off suggestions he is a foreign-policy amateur.

“This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human,” the Libertarian candidate said in a statement.

“Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict - I talk about them every day. But hit with ‘What about Aleppo?’, I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked.”

When MSNBC journalist Mike Barnicle asked him what he would do about the crisis in the devastated Syrian city, Johnson replied, “What is Aleppo?” - with an incredulous Barnicle responding “you’re kidding me.”

“Aleppo is in Syria,” Barnicle explained to Johnson, in seeming disbelief. “It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.”

On Twitter, the verdict was instant and clear, with a deluge of posts ranging from sarcasm to disbelief.