Don’t mistake neurosurgeon and potential GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson’s niceness for a lack of toughness.

In an interview that aired on Breitbart News Sunday from this weekend’s Iowa Freedom Summit, Carson told hosts Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow that he is amused by people who assume that he is too nice.

“They haven’t seen my fight,” Carson said. “You can be nice but you can still be tough in principle.”

He made no mistake that a potential Carson administration would be tough on terror.

Regarding ISIS, Carson said his philosophy is, “You gotta kill them before they kill you.”

He said the military under a potential Carson administration will received the proper guidance but will not have their “hands tied behind their backs” and be micromanaged.

Carson said in foreign policy, he is guided by the philosophy that, “if you get rid of the cancer while it’s small, you don’t have to deal with it when it gets big.”

“With the right group of people around me, we can lead in a much better way and in a way that will benefit our entire nation,” he said.

Carson added that one of the most important things the next president must do is to understand the economy and “put the constitution on the top shelf instead” and honoring the whole document instead of “picking and choosing” parts of it to follow.

The retired neurosurgeon said he will decide by May 1 on whether to run for president.