Johnson admitted to having another “Aleppo moment”—a reference to a previous blunder, where he replied “What is Aleppo?” when asked by an interviewer what he would do about the Syria’s civil war.

“You gotta do this,” Matthews told Johnson. “Anywhere. Any continent: Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there, Asia, South America, Africa. Name a foreign leader that you respect.” Johnson eventually named Vicente Fox, Mexico’s former president, while his running mate, Bill Weld, named Merkel.

Donald Trump—generally a huge Vladimir Putin fan—also named Merkel as his favorite world leader, though he went on to criticize the German chancellor for her refugee policy. “Well, I think Merkel is a really great world leader, but I was very disappointed [in] this move with the whole immigration thing,” Trump told NECN. “I think it’s a big problem.”

Trump’s surprise praise for Merkel comes only nine months after he took to Twitter to accuse Merkel of “ruining Germany.” Trump was angry to have lost Time’s Person of the Year to Merkel last year, criticizing the magazine as well.

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