Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) entered the 2024 presidential election late, but he’s maintained that he has the determination to stick it through. Despite early pushback from Republicans, Suarez has presented himself as a Republican who can unite voters during great dissent. However, a recent gaffe wherein Suarez asks “What’s a Uyghur?” could become a roadblock for his political aspirations.
In 2016, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and he was asked what he would do regarding Aleppo. To that question, Johnson asked, “what is Aleppo?” Shortly after, Johnson drew a negative reaction from both political pundits and voters, who went on to use the question to mock the Johnson campaign.
Similar to Johnson’s flub, Suarez now finds himself in a similar predicament.
During an interview on the Hugh Hewitt show, Host Hewitt asked Suarez “Will you be talking about the Uyghurs in your campaign?” Suarez nervously responded with “The what?”
When Hewitt once again repeated “the Uyghurs,” Suarez asked, “What’s a Uyghur?”
This caused Hewitt to tell Suarez “You’ve got to get smart on that.”
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R), who has in the past expressed his distaste for the Miami mayor called the "weeble" episode "embarrassing" and and asserted that Suarez wasn't even ready for "Wayne's World" let alone "Primetime."
"A ‘weeble’? Really? How embarrassing! Francis Suárez is completely unaware of the threat posed by Communist #China to our national security & the genocide against the Uyghur nation. He’s not ready for Primetime — he’s not even ready for Wayne’s World," stated Rep. Gimenez.
The criticism against Suarez comes after the Republican party has drawn a firm stance against the Chinese Communist Party over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims. Lawmakers have denounced Beijing over arguments that Uyghur Muslims are being detained in reeducation camps where they are being tortured and raped.
Upon announcing his candidacy for the presidency, Suarez emerged as a candidate affirming a strong stance against China. Vowing to be “strong on China,” Suarez came to the defense of Taiwan.
“I think that Taiwan’s independence is paramount to the United States… As president I would make sure that Taiwan has what it needs to defend itself not just for itself but for America and for its neighbors like Japan who are very worried about China controlling the Chinese sea,” Suarez said.
