After failing during an interview Wednesday night to come up with the name of a world leader he looks up to, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has evidently decided to just own it:
C’mon now, I know other countries are weird and all but there’s got to be someone out there you can say nice things about, Gary. Here are a few current leaders Johnson could cite if he ever finds himself in this situation again. Note, these aren’t necessarily my favorite world leaders, just five that I have, through painstaking research in the past 20 minutes, determined Johnson might like because they are, say, committed to free-market principles, generally respected on the world stage, not directly implicated in any massacres or war crimes, and relatively chill about weed and stuff.
1. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia
An American-educated Putin foe, free-marketeer, Twitter star (he famously went ballistic on Paul Krugman for questioning Estonia’s economic policies), and e-government pioneer with snazzy taste in bow ties. And I’m not just saying this because he’s my e-president.
2. Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia
A right-of-center president who’s an economist by training, a drug war skeptic, supports gay marriage, and just ended one of the world’s oldest wars. Would be a solid answer!
3. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
The chancellor has lost of some of the luster she had a year ago, and her conservative social views would probably rub Johnson the wrong way, but she’s still Europe’s most forceful and effective advocate for economic austerity and foe of populism. Also, Donald Trump hates her.
4. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, President of Mongolia
Pro: Gary Johnson might admire a veteran of the democracy movement that ended Communist rule in Mongolia and has remained committed to free-market reforms.
Con: There’s no way Gary Johnson will be able to pronounce Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
5. Vit Jedlicka, President of the Free Republic of Liberland
If it’s ideological purity Johnson is after, the only place he’s going to find it is in Liberland, the libertarian microstate proclaimed by this Czech politician last year on a patch of unclaimed no-man’s land between the borders of Serbia and Croatia. Granted, Liberland isn’t a recognized country and nobody actually lives there yet, but that’s just the kind of extreme long-shot Johnson should love.
