The GOP establishment is apparently so worried about Donald Trump that it’s working with Democrats and even Islamists to attack nice-guy Dr. Ben Carson.
By attacking Carson as “anti-Muslim,” it may be possible to shift some of Trump’s evangelical and social-conservative supporters over to join Carson’s team, just a few days after Trump told evangelicals that “I’m one of you.”
The GOP’s establishment loser in 2012, Gov. Mitt Romney, joined in late Monday, with a tweet saying “Of course, no religious test for the presidency–every faith adds to our national character.”
That pro-diversity, pro-Islam slam was quickly backed by one of Jeb Bush’s pro-establishment, anti-Trump supporters, Ana Navarro. “@MittRomney: Of course, no religious test for the presidency–every faith adds to our national character.” Experienced voice of reason,” she tweeted.
By boosting Carson, establishment candidates may hope to split Trump’s supporters, and move some of his many evangelical and social-conservative supporters towards Carson. Any subsequent drop in Trump’s poll numbers could be portrayed as a populist decline.
A new CNN poll puts Trump at 24 percent — down from a a high of 32 — Carson at 14 percent, Carly Fiorina at 15 percent, and the two leading establishment candidates — Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio — at a combined 20 percent.
Romney’s attack came shortly after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Wilson withdrew from the race, and urged GOP donors to unite behind a single anti-Trump candidate. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider [exiting] so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner,” Walker said, highlighting the establishment’s growing worry about the Carson and Trump numbers.
Romney’s anti-Carson, pro-Islam comment got little notice, even though he rarely gets involved in the 2016 race. His last prior political tweet was sent out Aug. 9, and was a dart aimed at Donald Trump
The new tweet is outwardly intended to portray Carson as unfair to Muslims, following his Sept. 20 statement that: “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”
That’s the same illogical criticism already launched by Democrats and jihad-linked Islamist activists at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
All three factions — aided by their media allies — are now arguing that Carson’s philosophical, religious and ideological opposition to Islamic ideology somehow violates the constitution’s ban against government religious tests for government jobs.
On Monday, Carson explained his position, in very simple language for people who do not want to understand obvious logic.
“We have to recognize that this is America, and we have a Constitution, and we do not put people in — at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution,” he said on Monday’s “Hannity” show on Fox News.
“So, if, for instance, you believe in a theocracy — I don’t care if you’re a Christian, if you’re a Christian, and you’re running for president, and you want to make this into a theocracy — I’m not going to support you,” he said. “I’m not going to advocate you being the president.”
Earlier, one of Carson’s aides told CNN that “he was thinking like someone who loves America first, who wants to protect America.” The aide, Armstrong Williams, said that Carson “understands that there are tenets of Islam that hates Jews, that kills homosexuals, will kill Muslims, do not advocate belief and value systems that made America into the country that it is today.”
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