We seem to be in permanent primary season where the tryouts tempt too many not-ready-for-prime-time players. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez just proved he needs to get off the stage.

Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez struggled to articulate his foreign policy plans during a radio interview on Tuesday morning, at one point seeming unaware of the human rights abuses occurring in China.

Seemingly? Seemingly?

Roll tape.

Hugh Hewitt: “Will you be talking about the Uyghurs in your campaign?”

2024 GOP presidential candidate Francis Suarez: “What's a Uyghur?” pic.twitter.com/AlRkjZCJyK

— The Recount (@therecount) June 27, 2023

Ummmm… “What’s a Uyghur?”

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily expect a mayor to know off-hand all the nuances of national foreign policy. Conscientious mayors have their own garden to tend. But when someone like Suarez (or the simpering Mayor Pete before him) decides to file the paperwork to get the nation’s CEO, he or she should have already been coached on the major players.

And Communist China is pretty much the major player. From its ownership of Biden to openly encroaching in Cuba and Latin America, there’s little excuse for the Cuban-American mayor of Miami to be unaware of the genocide China has waged against the Uyghurs.

The comment comes as the U.S. government, as well as several other countries, have denounced China’s oppression of its Uyghur population. Roughly 800,000 to 2 million Uyghurs have been detained by the country’s government since 2017, and the ethnic group is often subject to forced sterilization and sexual assault, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mayor @FrancisSuarez was pretty good for a first conversation on air about national security –except for the 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.

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) June 27, 2023

Sorry, but Hugh wavers between conservative and squish in the GOP tent and this kind of “do better” softsoap is unacceptable. It is early enough in the season that the primary garden must be weeded and thinned in order to yield the strongest candidates.

Suarez needs to close down his nascent campaign and get back to mayoring. He doesn’t deserve a shot this go-around.

featured image original arwork by Darleen Click