Gary Johnson, Libertarian Presidential Nominee, Talks About Climbing The Seven Summits And His Outlook On Life

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson sat down with International Business Times Thursday in New York City to talk about why he’s an authentic candidate and why young voters should get behind him. Spoiler alert: It involves a story about the former New Mexico governor breaking his leg and then climbing Mount Everest.

See the video above and the corresponding transcript below.

IBT: Millennials, right, they’re 18- to 34-year-olds, 50 percent of them identify as independent. They don’t have party loyalty — we know that. They don’t really love authority figures — we know that, as well. They’re really looking for somebody who is authentic. What makes you authentic?

Johnson: I tell the truth, and because I tell the truth … I’m in that category of people ... that means that I admit my own mistakes — which are plenty — but if you admit your mistakes, you can certainly move on from there.

I’m a plodder, one foot in front of the other. Life is all about understanding that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And it’s your ability with how you deal with that adversity that ultimately affects your success. You can either crawl up in a ball, declare yourself a victim and give up, or — hey! — recognize that this is part of the process and get up the next day with a smile on your face and keep after it. I suggest everybody get a smile on their face and keep after it.

IBT: That’s a good outlook. What you’re saying kind of lines up with something else I read about you on the Internet ... you climbed Mount Everest with a broken leg?

Johnson: Well, I don’t think you can climb Mount Everest with a broken leg, but I did break my leg prior to going to Mount Everest, so I was really climbing with a healing broken leg. I had the good fortune of climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. That was a goal that I had.

Some people say, “Gary, you conquered the Seven Summits.” Julia, I didn’t conquer a one of them. There was just a whole lot of good grace involved in all that, and there was a whole lot of putting one foot in front of the other and dealing with the adversity that went along with doing something like that.

Editor's note: Read more about Gary Johnson and his pitch to young voters, his views on marijuana and what he thinks about comparisons to Bernie Sanders.