Between Michael “Says Who?” and Katrina “The Iraq War Was Illinois State Senator Obama’s Fault” Pierson, the competition to be Donald Trump’s least-helpful supporter is stiff. However, today we were reminded that no ostensible ally has undermined the GOP presidential nominee as consistently as Dr. Ben Carson.
The famed neurosurgeon served up a fruit salad of awkward remarks in the spring, suggesting Trump may turn out “not to be such a great president,” acknowledging that he has “major defects,” and intimating that Trump illegally promised him a position in his administration in exchange for his endorsement.
Now he’s adding fuel to questions about Trump’s failure to disavow birtherism. Tuesday, on CNN, Jake Tapper asked Carson if he thinks Trump should “acknowledge that all that birther nonsense was a mistake and to apologize so that African-American voters, to whom he’s reaching out, might be more willing to listen to his message.”
“I think that would be a good idea, absolutely,” Carson said. “I suggest that on all sides. Let’s get all of the hate and rancor out of the way.”
Throughout his campaign, Trump has said he would prefer not to talk about his suggestion that Barack Obama was not actually born in the United States — which he has never disavowed. Trump’s only explanation for his uncharacteristic silence is that he feels the press is too focused on his effort to undermine the legitimacy of the first black president.
“I don’t talk about it, because if I talk about that, your whole thing will be about that,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “So I don’t talk about it.”
Hours after Carson’s CNN interview, Bill O’Reilly asked Trump if he thinks birtherism hurt his image with African American voters. “I don’t even talk about it anymore, Bill,” Trump reiterated. “Very few [people] — you’re the first one that has brought that up in a while,” he added, erroneously.
It may seem odd that Trump keeps letting Carson speak on his behalf when all he does is call him out for “all of the hate and rancor” — but who else is going to stand up and point out that Hillary Clinton has ties to Lucifer?
