Longshot Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez announced his 2024 bid to much skepticism. After a disastrous radio hit Monday, his campaign may be over before it even began.

The Miami mayor appeared out of his depth when asked about China's detention of the Uighurs. His response, "What's a Uighur?" left host Hugh Hewitt stunned. 

Republican makes critical mistake

Communist China's treatment of the Muslim minority group has become a point of contention with Western governments. In Washington, it's a rare issue where the parties see eye to eye.

Hewitt had asked Suarez if he would be discussing the Uighurs on the campaign trail.

"The what?" Suarez responded. "What's a Uighur?"

After a light scolding, Hewitt let the awkward moment pass. But later in the interview, Suarez brought the issue up again unprompted.

“You gave me homework, Hugh. I’ll look at what a, what was it, what did you call it, a weeble?” Suarez asked.

Deja vu

The moment was redolent of libertarian Gary Johnson's gaffe in 2016, when he asked in earnest, "What is Aleppo?"

Later, Suarez blamed Hewitt's pronunciation for throwing him off.

"Of course, I am well aware of the suffering of the Uyghurs in China. They are being enslaved because of their faith. China has a deplorable record on human rights and all people of faith suffer there," he tweeted. "I didn’t recognize the pronunciation my friend Hugh Hewitt used. That’s on me."

Suarez did not explain what pronunciation he would have used instead. Hewitt pronounced the word "WEE-ghur," which is the common English pronunciation.

Not ready for primetime

Hewitt also fired off a tweet, expressing doubt that Suarez is ready for primetime over his "huge blind spot on the Uyghurs."

“‘What’s a Uyghur?’ is not where I expect people running for president to say when asked about the ongoing genocide in China," he wrote.

One could well argue that politicians in Washington should be more focused on issues at home than in China, but Suarez's apparent ignorance of a basic foreign policy issue certainly doesn't instill confidence in his ability to lead the country.

Suarez took many by surprise this month by entering an already crowded field of primary candidates, none of whom appears to be a real threat to frontrunner Donald Trump, at this point. Will Hurd, an obscure never-Trump Republican, was the latest to jump in last week.