ben-carson

Ben Carson: Even if Trump’s a bad president, it’ll only be 4 years

“Even if Donald Trump turns out not to be such a great president, which I don’t think is the case, I think he’s going to surround himself with really good people, but even if he didn’t, we’re only looking at four years as opposed to multiple generations and perhaps the loss of the American dream forever,” Carson told Newsmax‘s Steve Malzberg.

Carson Endorses the Demagogue

On Friday, I watched yet another bizarre scene from an already bizarre election cycle: The affable but hopelessly vacant Ben Carson endorsing the demagogic real estate developer who once said of Carson that he had a “pathological temper” as a child and compared him to a child molester.

.. This is the same Ben Carson who has inveighed against the “purveyors of division,” who played a video at his presidential campaign announcement in Detroit in which the narrator said in part:

“If America is to survive the challenges of the modern world, we need to heal, we need to be inspired, and we need to revive the exceptional spirit that built America. Never before have we been so closely connected to each other, but more divided as a country.”

.. Indeed, the very words white supremacy, privilege, racism, bias, sexism, misogyny, patriarchy, homophobia, and poverty are seen as divisive.

.. This is the same Ben Carson who called President Obama a psychopathwho is possibly guilty of treason and was, oh my, “raised white.” He has accused President Obama of working to “destroy this nation” and compared Obama’s supporters to Nazi sympathizers.

..

This is the same Ben Carson who hascompared women who have abortions to slave owners, who said Obamacare is theworst thing since slavery — yes, he’s obsessed with slavery — and that being gay is a choicebecause people go to prison straight and leave gay. On the issue of whether a Muslim should allowed to be president, he said:

“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”

Ben Carson staying in the race makes a difference on Super Tuesday

In some of the Super Tuesday contests, the fact that Ben Carson is still in the race may prove more significant than Jeb Bush’s dropping out. If Carson draws large enough percentages of evangelicals, he can make the difference between a Cruz victory or a Trump victory—or in Colorado especially, a Rubio victory against both of them.

Gaming Out Ben Carson’s Fundraising Shakeup

So how to think of the latest move? For that, it’s important to heed the words of that famous analyst of Republican politics, Vladimir Lenin: “When it is not immediately apparent which political or social groups, forces or alignments advocate certain proposals, measures, etc., one should always ask: ‘Who stands to gain?’”

.. The central questions about Carson’s fundraising all along have been (1) is it sustainable? and (2) why is he plowing so much of it back into fundraising?

Carson’s campaign told me in October that it was necessary to do that to build fundraising lists and to track down the small-dollar donors he’s done so well with. But skeptics view it as a way to line the pockets of the vendors who are doing the direct mail and telemarketing for the campaign. And Murray is closely connected to them—in fact, he’s the president of a firm called TMA Direct.

.. As Mother Jones noted at the time, American Legacy’s spending in 2013 looked questionable. As of July 15 of that year, it had raised $1.4 million while contributing only $27,500 to actual candidates. The biggest recipient of American Legacy’s cash was InfoCision. TMA Direct also took in about $14,500. American Legacy’s mid-year report for 2015 is even worse. It raised $1.25 million but spent $1.38 million, and gave just $2,500 to candidates.