In Defense of Dr Ben Carson…

Earlier today, Dr. Ben Carson endorsed Donald Trump for President, surprising many.

His detractors came out of the woodwork hard and fast, complaining that he’d betrayed his beliefs (both political and his faith) or that he undermined his (apparently former) polite demeanor. The harshest critics seem to be those that in the weeks previously had supported him to one extent of the other.

These detractors, I believe, are making some assumptions, based mainly on incomplete information, or that in combination with the media spin from the other camps’ PR teams and pundits. And it is a shame, especially considering the character of the man they are impugning. Frankly, it makes me sick.

There are two possible (and not mutually exclusive) situations that I see.

The first is that Dr Carson has seen a side of Trump that the public, from a stage, or a facade of a debate, or from the tilted stories the media is putting out, has not. In fact, he himself alluded to this very thing at the press conference announcing the decision, saying “[t]here are two different Donald Trump. There’s the one you see on the stage and there’s the one who is very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully. You can have a very good conversation with him.” Rather than considering that, though, the statement was ridiculed and became a meme.

The second possibility is this: what if, on the flip side of the coin, Dr Carson has seen something of the other candidates and their campaigns that turned him completely off to the possibility of endorsing them? Again, he alluded to that at the press conference, saying “What I have seen recently is political operatives… trying to thwart the will of the people.” He also has other reasons, like the rather slimy move by the Cruz campaign in the Iowa caucuses telling members that Carson had suspended his campaign, when not only had they not, but they had already clarified they had not.

He’s clearly a very intelligent man, so he didn’t make this choice on a whim.

He’s also a man of faith, and has based his life on that faith, so he didn’t abandon his faith to make this choice.

Perhaps…just perhaps…there’s more to it that you detractors are considering. Perhaps your conclusions are based on incomplete information.

I, for one, will not sit in judgment of Dr Carson’s decision, or in judgment of him. If anything, his endorsement makes it pretty clear to me that one, if not both of the possibilities above are in play…and in time, we’ll learn of them.

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In the meantime, the words of his books still ring true.

Earlier today, Dr. Ben Carson endorsed Donald Trump for President, surprising many. His detractors came out of the woodwork hard and fast, complaining that he’d betrayed his beliefs (both political and his faith) or that he undermined his (apparently former) polite demeanor. The harshest critics seem to be those that in the weeks previously had supported…