Dr. Ben Carson has a complicated history with Pres. Donald Trump. An always polite Carson “sparred” with Trump during the 2016 presidential election debates, and even managed to occasionally make Trump look like a fool. Watch this. It’s epic.
Drs. @RealBenCarson and @RandPaul discuss vaccines with @realDonaldTrump http://t.co/jcEf6bW9ja #CNNDebate #GOPdebate http://t.co/usGOrqNJ1v
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 17, 2015
To be fair, though we marvel that an inarticulate and sometimes clueless Carson was an actual real brain surgeon, he does maintain a semblance of class and is rarely (if ever) mean-spirited. What you see in that video is about the harshest Ben Carson can be. Oh, and he’s a world class ass kisser.
It’s therefore noteworthy (and somewhat shocking) to see him criticize his boss. His passive and submissive demeanor paid off; it earned him a seat in Trump’s cabinet as Housing and Urban Development Secretary, an area in which he has exactly zero expertise.
When speaking at a MLK event on Monday, Carson vehemently articulated his frustration with Trump and his racist views. His outspokenness seems to have been sparked by Trump’s now infamous “shithole countries” comments during an Oval Office immigration meeting last week.
“I’m a member of this administration and I don’t agree with the president about everything that he says or of how it is said,” Carson said during a speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
“If the way you say things is so inflammatory that people can’t hear your message, it is not helpful. And that is why I don’t do that anymore.”
Watch:
To be honest, it’s refreshing to see Carson stand up to Trump’s racist remarks. In the past, he’s been shockingly obtuse about the plight of people of color and has said stupid things like “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less.”
They worked for free, you idiot. They were UNWILLING IMMIGRANTS. They were S L A V E S.
“But they, too, had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land,” Carson said.
I’m sure they hoped and prayed for the best, but it’s doubtful they put a lot of thought into the future of their descendants. They likely assumed they’d be slaves as well. That’s how it goes when you’re mentally beaten down for centuries and have been deliberately conditioned to see yourself as less than human.
Carson even proposed a solution to illegal immigration (which he called “a war we’re fighting): military action. Really.
“You can entertain all kinds of things. Here’s the take-home point: The take-home point is that we have excellent military leaders and we need to employ their expertise because this is a war we are fighting. That’s the bottom line.”
“You look at some of these caves and things out there one drone strike, boom, and they’re gone.”
Yes, you just read that Dr. Ben Carson floated the idea of a drone strike to rid the world of the scourge of immigrants and refugees.
Oh and he said that Obamacare is “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
But here’s to hoping that Dr. Ben Carson has a change of heart and realizes that the people who immigrate to the U.S. now (or would like to) are not coming here to do harm, but because they have the dreams he so eloquently spoke about.
Images via Wikimedia, Wikimedia, and YouTube screengrab
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