Monday night during an interview on Fox, Ben Carson essentially took back his endorsement of Trump. He said that if it was just up to him, he “would be on #NeverTrump too.” He made these comments in response to a Fox News reporter saying she would never vote for Trump under any circumstances.
He described his decision to support him as purely pragmatic, saying:
“John Kasich cannot win without a brokered convention-which would guarantee a democratic win…Ted Cruz can bring conservatives but will have a very difficult time bringing in moderates and Democrats…So in terms of who could potentially win, I think that would be Donald Trump.”
He argued that he is putting the future of the country ahead of his own personal preferences by backing Trump.
So in other words, Carson just said that Trump sucks and he’d prefer to never vote for him too, but he has no choice.
And he may be right. Trump may be Ben Carson’s best hope for getting a cabinet position. So no matter how much Carson may dislike him, and he clearly does, he has no choice but to suck up to him.
It’s not the future of the country Carson’s concerned about, it’s the future of his political career. It is clear this is what Carson means by “pragmatism.”
But Carson has been less pragmatic in choosing his words when talking about Donald Trump. This is not the first time he has made unflattering comments about him since his endorsement. Earlier this month, when asked if Trump would make a good president, he replied by saying “are there better people? Probably.” This is just the latest of Carson’s gaffes.
Clearly, Carson is struggling to contain his true feelings about Trump.
Then again, to be fair to him, Carson may have just come up with the best strategy to rally the GOP around Trump: empathizing with the millions of Republican voters who don’t support him and telling them they have no choice, he’s their only hope for taking back the White House.
Since polls show a vast majority of Americans view Trump unfavorably, including the all-important white working class demographic, maybe Carson has just realized there is no point in trying to sell people on Trump by persuading them to like him. Maybe it’s just better to admit that he sucks but tell GOP voters that like him, they have no choice but to suck up and support him.
Feature image via Fox News 5