Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shot back at fellow GOP candidate Dr. Ben Carson for his criticism of Trump’s faith, slamming Carson’s faith, accusing him of holding “horrendous” positions on abortion, and stating Carson was “perhaps an okay doctor” on Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day.”
Trump was asked, “Ben Carson, he’s also making a lot of traction. He’s feeling good about himself, enough that he’s coming at you. He is a man of faith, everybody knows that, it’s a cornerstone of his existence, and certainly his motivation to run.” Trump then cut in, “I don’t know that. I mean, I hadn’t heard that. You know, I’ve known Ben Carson — of him, for a long time, I never heard faith was a big thing, until just recently when he started running. So, I don’t know about Ben Carson’s faith, and of all of a sudden he becomes this great religious figure. I don’t think he’s a great religious figure. And I saw him yesterday quoting something, he was quoting on humility, and it looked like he had just memorized it about two minutes before he made the quote. So, you know, don’t tell me about Ben Carson.”
Trump continued, “He’s starting to hit me, so I hit back. I only hit back when I get hit. I’m a great counter-puncher. But, Ben Carson, you’re talking about his faith, excuse me, Chris, go back and look at his past. Go back and look at his views on abortion, and see where he stands. You talk about abortion, I mean, go back and look at his views on abortion, where — now all of a sudden he gets on very low-key, I mean, frankly he looks like — he makes Bush look like the Energizer Bunny. He’s very low-key. He’s got a lot of donors, a lot of people pushing him. But, Ben Carson, you look at his faith, and I think you’re not going to find so much. And you look at his views on abortion, which were horrendous. And that’s, I think, why I’m leading with all the Evangelicals. I’m — as you know in your poll, number one, I’m leading Ben Carson by a lot. … I’m almost double his numbers.”
Trump added, “he’s questioning my faith. I happen to be a great believer in God, and great believer in the Bible. Who is he — hey Chris, who is he to question my faith, when I am — you know, I mean, he doesn’t even know me. I’ve met him a few times, but I don’t know Ben Carson. He was a doctor, perhaps, you know, an okay doctor, by the way, you can check that out, too. We’re not talking about a great — he was an okay doctor. He was just fine.” And “now, because he’s a doctor, and he hired one nurse, he’s going to end up being the president of the United States? But, for him to criticize me on my faith is absolutely — and for him to read from the Bible, in his memory, it looked like he memorized it about two minutes before he went on stage. But, Ben Carson is not going to be your next president, that I can tell you.”
Trump was then asked if he thinks he’s “more a man of faith” than Carson. Trump responded, “I can’t quote him. I can only say I am a man of faith. I can’t — I don’t know enough about Ben Carson. But, if you look at his past, which I’ve done, he wasn’t a big man of faith. All of a sudden he’s become this man of faith. And he was heavy into the world of abortion, and he was a doctor, and take a look at the hospitals where he worked. He was a doctor, check out the past, and see. All of a sudden he’s, oh, he’s totally…anti-abortion. Well, if you look back, you will find he’s a very much different Ben Carson. Now, one other thing, he shouldn’t be questioning my faith, because, number one, I’m leading with the Evangelicals. I’m Protestant. I’m Presbyterian. I have great relationships with the people of Iowa, with New Hampshire, with South Carolina, and he shouldn’t be questioning my faith. You know what? Because he knows nothing about me. I’ve met him a couple times.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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