Carson Supporters were not supporting a gifted brain surgeon.
Today former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson announced his support and endorsement of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. This endorsement has not only shocked but confused many of Dr. Carson’s supporters. In a Facebook post, which within minutes had already been shared over 5000 times, Dr. Carson justified his endorsement: “We can have disagreements, but it is critical that we not allow those disagreements to divide us as a party or as a country.”
He continued, “It is with that in mind that I endorse Donald Trump for President. I have known Donald for many years. He is a successful businessman who has built a recognizable global brand that no one can question. His experience as a businessman is exactly what we need to move our economic engine in the right direction and empower those who have been left out of the American dream for far too long.” Responses to Dr. Carson’s post were immediate and without censor.
In a comment that garnered nearly 5000 likes, a gentleman named Kevin wrote, “Can't believe you chose to support the one candidate who mocks God and is definitely not a Christian. Very disappointed in you and have lost much respect.” A woman under the profile Debi Sweet lamented, “No no no no no!!!!!! Please Dr. Carson no!!! He has made a mockery of all you fought so hard for!!!! I am beyond shocked and disappointed that you would stoop to endorse that wolf-in-sheep's-clothing......
I am SO disheartened by this!! You didn't have to endorse anybody, let alone hiM!!”
Why are people so upset and shocked? People are shocked because they were not supporting an amazing brain surgeon. People who supported Dr. Ben Carson for President were supporting a man they believed to be godly, genuine, and principled. They supported the man who just made sense to them. They were drawn to the humble man who had the audacity to stand up at a prayer breakfast in 2014 with President Obama present and decry the “moral decay and fiscal irresponsibility” plaguing our nation. Carson supporters were pulling for the soft-spoken man who when prompted by the White House to apologize to the President, refused stating he had, “talked to the president afterwards. He didn’t seem upset and there’s no reason he should be unless what I said applied to him,” Carson said in 2014.
Dr. Carson ran on a campaign that stood against political correctness and doing what is politically expedient. Now, for many former Carson supporters, it appears he is doing the very thing he stood against. It appears Dr. Carson is making political moves by supporting Donald Trump. If Dr. Carson believes those who supported him will now support Donald Trump because he is “a successful businessman,” then Trump and the good doctor don’t know the principled Americans who stood behind him in the first place.
If Carson supporters stood behind him because they were enamored by his gifted hands then yes, all of that support would belong to Trump. But that is not why God-fearing Americans supported Ben Carson. Principled Americans supported who they believed to be a principled leader. Christians supported him because they believed he feared God rather than man. They viewed him as a David in the Goliath world of politics. They wanted to rally behind the man who spoke softly but spoke indeed when it mattered. The people who supported Carson are not political groupies, they are leaders in the culture war. They go against the grain of what’s expedient. To think these people will now without question hand their support over to a man they find morally reprehensible, is a gross miscalculation. Carson supporters could never stand behind the man who made his money off strip clubs and casinos. What a juxtaposition! The life-saving doctor backing the man who made his living off destroying the lives of Americans.
