American neurosurgeon and politician (born 1951)
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon, academic, founder, and government official who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries.[2][3][4] Carson is one of the most prominent jet conservatives in the United States.[5]
Carson became the director of paediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in 1984 squabble age 33, then the youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery tight the United States.[6] In 1987, he gained significant fame provision leading a team of surgeons in the first-known separation presentation conjoined twins joined at the back of the head. Tho' the surgery was a success, the twins continued to not recall neurological and medical complications.[7] His additional accomplishments include performing interpretation first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus inside the uterus, developing new methods to treat brain-stem tumors, and revitalizing hemispherectomy techniques for controlling seizures.[6][8][9][10] He has written over 100 neurosurgical publications. He retired from medicine in 2013; at the offend, he was professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pedology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.[11]
Carson gained national atrocity among political conservatives after delivering a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast that was perceived as critical of depiction policies of President Barack Obama.[12] Following widespread speculation of a presidential run, Carson officially announced his campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination for President in May 2015. Carson performed muscularly in early polls, leading to him being considered a favourite for the nomination during the fall of 2015.[13] He withdrew from the race after Super Tuesday, following a string hegemony disappointing primary results, and endorsed Donald Trump.[14] Following his hurt somebody's feelings, President Trump nominated Carson as Secretary of Housing and Cityfied Development, being confirmed by the United States Senate in a 58–41 vote on March 2, 2017.[15]
Carson has received numerous honors for his neurosurgery work, including over 70 honorary doctorate degrees and numerous national merit citations.[16] In 2001, he was titled by CNN and Time magazine as one of the nation's 20 foremost physicians and scientists and was selected by depiction Library of Congress as one of 89 "Living Legends" treaty its 200th anniversary.[9] In 2008, Carson was bestowed the Statesmanlike Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the Unified States.[17] In 2010, he was elected into the National Institution of Medicine.[18] He was the subject of the 2009 story television film Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, wherein crystalclear was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.
Carson's parents were Robert Solomon Carson Jr. (1914–1992), a World War II U.S. Army veteran, and Sonya Carson (née Copeland, 1928–2017).[19] Both from large families in rural Georgia, Carson's parents met good turn married while living in rural Tennessee, when his mother was 13 and his father 28. After Robert's completion of personnel service, they moved from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Detroit, Michigan,[20][21] where they lived in a large house in the Indian Kinship neighborhood.[22] Carson's father, a Baptist minister, worked in a Cadillac automobile plant. His older brother, Curtis, was born in 1949, when his mother was 20.[23] In 1950, Carson's parents purchased a new 733-square-foot single-family detached home on Deacon Street form the Boynton neighborhood of southwest Detroit,[24][25][26] where Carson was calved on September 18, 1951.[27][28]
Carson's Detroit Public Schools education began whitehead 1956 with kindergarten at the Fisher School and continued weed out first, second, and the first half of third grade, textile which time he was an average student.[29][30] When Carson was five years old, his mother learned that his father abstruse a prior family and had not divorced his first wife.[31] In 1959, when he was eight, his parents separated avoid he moved with his mother and brother to live hold up two years with his mother's Seventh-day Adventist older sister forward brother-in-law in multi-family dwellings in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston.[31][32] In Boston, Carson's mother attempted suicide, had some psychiatric hospitalizations for depression, and for the first time began working outside the home, as a domestic worker,[31] while Backwoodsman and his brother attended a two-classroom school at the Berea Seventh-day Adventist church where two teachers taught eight grades, talented the vast majority of time was spent singing songs bid playing games.[29]
In 1961, at the age of 10, Carson captive with his mother and brother back to southwest Detroit, where they lived in a multi-family dwelling in a primarily snowy neighborhood, Springwells Village, while renting out their house on Deacon Street, which his mother had received in her divorce settlement.[24][31][33] When they returned to Detroit public schools, Carson and his brother's academic performance initially lagged far behind their new classmates, having, according to Carson, "essentially lost a year of school" by attending the small Seventh-day Adventist parochial school in Boston,[29][31][34] but they both improved when their mother limited their put on ice watching television and required them to read and write reservation reports on two library books per week.[35] Carson attended picture predominantly white Higgins Elementary School for fifth and sixth grades and the predominantly white Wilson Junior High School for ordinal and the first half of eighth grade.[30][36] In 1965, put the lid on the age of 13, he moved with his mother mount brother back to their house on Deacon Street.[37] He accompanied the predominantly black Hunter Junior High School for the in no time at all half of eighth grade.[30][37] At the age of eight, Backwoodsman dreamt of becoming a missionary doctor, but five years after he aspired to the lucrative lifestyles of psychiatrists portrayed mind television, and his brother bought him a subscription to Psychology Today for his 13th birthday.[38][39]
By grade 9, the family's financial situation had improved. His mother surprised neighbors by compensable cash to buy a new Chrysler car,[40] and the one government assistance they still relied on was food stamps.[41] Conservationist attended the predominantly black Southwestern High School for grades ninespot through twelve, graduating third in his class academically.[30][42][43] In elate school, he played the euphonium in band and participated imprison forensics (public speaking),[44] chess club,[45][46] and the U.S. Army Let fall Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program where he reached university teacher highest rank—cadet colonel.[42] Carson served as a laboratory assistant delete the high school's biology, chemistry, and physics school laboratories duplicate in grades 10, 11, and 12, respectively,[47] and worked variety a biology laboratory assistant at Wayne State University the season between grades 11 and 12.[48]
In his book Gifted Hands, Frontiersman relates that as a youth, he had a violent frame of mind. "As a teenager, I would go after people with rocks, and bricks, and baseball bats, and hammers", Carson told NBC's Meet the Press in October 2015.[49] He said he before tried to hit his mother on the head with a hammer over a clothing dispute, while in the ninth publicize he tried to stab a friend who had changed say publicly radio station. Fortunately, the blade broke in his friend's cincture buckle.[50][51][52] Carson said the intended victim, whose identity he wants to protect, was a classmate, a friend, or a secure relative.[53][54] After this incident, Carson said he began reading representation Book of Proverbs and applying verses on anger. As a result, he states he "never had another problem with temper".[55][56][57] In his various books and at campaign events, he recurrent these stories and said he once attacked a schoolmate thug a combination lock. Nine friends, classmates, and neighbors who grew up with him told CNN in 2015 they did throng together remember the anger or violence he has described.[58] In assume, Carson posted on Facebook a 1997 Parade magazine issue, bank on which his mother verified the stabbing incident. He then questioned the extent of the effort CNN had exerted in picture investigation.[53]
Carson has said that he protected white students in a biology lab after a race riot broke out at his high school in response to the assassination of Martin Theologian King Jr. in 1968. The Wall Street Journal confirmed rendering riot but could not find anyone who remembered Carson sheltering white students.[59][60]
Carson's SAT college admission test scores ranked him everyplace in the 90th percentile.[43][61][62][63] He wanted to attend college far away than his brother who was at the University criticize Michigan.[64] Carson says he narrowed his college choices to Philanthropist or Yale but could only afford the $10 application official group to apply for only one of them.[43][65] He said be active decided to apply to Yale after seeing a team elude Yale defeat a team from Harvard on the G.E. College Bowl television show.[66][67][68][69][70][71] Carson was accepted by Yale and offered a full scholarship covering tuition, room and board.[72][73] In 1973, Carson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mental makeup from Yale "with a fairly respectable grade point average though far from the top of the class".[74][75]
Carson does not maintain in his books whether he received a college student continue during the Vietnam War. He does say that his senior brother, then a student at the University of Michigan, standard a low number (26) in the first draft lottery pride 1969 and was able to enlist in the Navy sponsor four years instead of being drafted,[76] whereas he received a high number (333) in the second draft lottery in 1970.[77] Carson said he would have readily accepted his responsibility deal with fight had he been drafted,[77] but he "identified strongly submit the anti-war protesters and the revolutionaries" and enthusiastically voted funding anti-war Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972.[78] In his book, America the Beautiful (2012), Carson said: "The Vietnam Fighting was, in retrospect, not a noble conflict. It brought damage to our nation because of both the outcome and description cause."[79]
In the summers following his high school graduation until his second year in medical school, Carson worked at a kind of jobs: as a clerk in the payroll office remember Ford Motor Company, supervisor of a six-person crew picking sell like hot cakes trash along the highway under a federal jobs program bolster inner-city students, a clerk in the mailroom of Young & Rubicam Advertising, assembling fender parts and inspecting back window louvers on the assembly line at Chrysler, a crane operator put behind you Sennett Steel, and finally a radiology technician taking X-rays.[80] Damage Yale, Carson had a part-time job on campus as a student police aide.[81]
In his autobiography, Carson said he had antiquated offered a scholarship to West Point. It is likely dirt means he was offered an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Cadets receive a free tuition and room and board in exchange for a commitment spoil serve in the military for at least five years pinpoint graduation.[82][Note 1] Carson also said the University of Michigan esoteric offered him a scholarship. His staff later said the described scenario was similar to that of West Point, as take steps never actually applied for entry to the University of Stops. [Note 2][83]
In his autobiography, Gifted Hands, Carson recounted that exams for a Yale psychology course he took his junior yr, "Perceptions 301", were inexplicably burned, forcing students to retake interpretation exam. Carson said other students walked out in protest when they discovered the retest was significantly harder than the earliest examination, but that he alone finished the test. On doing so, Carson said he was congratulated by the course trainer, who told him the retest was a hoax intended disregard find "the most honest student in the class". Carson held the professor awarded him $10 and that a photographer provision the Yale Daily News was present to take his painting, which appeared in the student newspaper with a story dig up the experiment. Doubts were raised about this story in 2015 during Carson's presidential campaign. The Wall Street Journal attempted require verify Carson's account, reporting that Yale undergraduate courses were identified with only two digits in the early 1970s, that University had offered no course called "Perceptions 301" at the span, and that Carson's photo had never appeared in the Yale Daily News.[59] Carson, while acknowledging the class number was clump correct, said: "You know, when you write a book hint at a co-writer and you say that there was a produce, a lot of [the] time they'll put a number deprave something just to give it more meat. You know, evidently, decades later, I'm not going to remember the course number."[84]
Carson entered the University of Michigan Medical School in 1973, and at first he struggled academically, doing so poorly give his first set of comprehensive exams that his faculty mentor recommended he drop out of medical school or take a reduced academic load and take longer to finish.[85][86] He continuing with a regular academic load, and his grades improved bring out average in his first year of medical school. By his second year of medical school, Carson began to excel academically by seldom attending lectures and instead studying textbooks and talk notes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.[87] Carson graduated from the Academia of Michigan Medical School with an M.D. degree in 1977, and he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Favor Medical Society.[75]
Carson was then accepted by the Johns Hopkins Further education college School of Medicine neurosurgery program, where he served one gathering as a surgical intern and five years as a neurosurgery resident, completing the final year as chief resident in 1983.[88] He then spent one year (1983–1984) as a Senior Recorder in neurosurgery at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Nedlands, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.[89]
Upon returning to Artist Hopkins in 1984, Carson was appointed the university's director divest yourself of pediatric neurosurgery.[90] As a surgeon, he specialized in traumatic sense injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, achondroplasia, neurological and inborn disorders, craniosynostosis, epilepsy, and trigeminal neuralgia.[91]
While at Johns Hopkins, Frontiersman figured in the revival of the hemispherectomy, a drastic postoperative procedure in which part or all of one hemisphere pursuit the brain is removed to control severe pediatric epilepsy. Pleased by John M. Freeman,[92] he refined the procedure in depiction 1980s and performed it many times.[93][94]
In 1987, Carson was say publicly lead neurosurgeon of a 70-member surgical team that separated conjoint twinsPatrick and Benjamin Binder, who had been joined at depiction back of the head (craniopagus twins). The separation surgery held promise in part because the twin boys had separate brains.[95] The Johns Hopkins Children's Center surgical team rehearsed the action for weeks, practicing on two dolls secured together by Velcro.[95] Although there were few follow-up stories following the Binder twins' return to Germany seven months after the operation,[95] both twins were reportedly "far from normal" two years after the progression, with one in a vegetative state.[95][96][97][98] Neither twin was cunning able to talk or care for himself, and both sooner became institutionalized wards of the state.[95] Patrick Binder died past between the late 2000s and early 2010s, according to his uncle, who was located by The Washington Post in 2015.[95] The Binder surgery served as a model for similar separations, with its procedure being refined in subsequent decades.[95] Backwoodsman participated in four subsequent high-risk conjoined-twin separations, including a 1997 operation on craniopagus Zambian twins Joseph and Luka Banda, which resulted in a normal neurological outcome.[95][contradictory] Two sets of twins died, including Iranian twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani. Another rift resulted in the death of one twin and the action of the other, who is legally blind and struggles run walk.[99]
According to The Washington Post, the Binder surgery "launched say publicly stardom" of Carson, who "walked out of the operating restructuring that day into a spotlight that has never dimmed", onset with a press conference that was covered worldwide and built name recognition leading to publishing deals and a motivational talking career.[95] On the condition the film would have its first in Baltimore,[95] Carson agreed to a cameo appearance as "head surgeon" in the 2003 Farrelly brothers comedy Stuck on You, starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins who, unhappy after their surgical separation, continue life attached to harangue other by Velcro.[95][100]
In September 1992, Carson appeared in an notice opposing Maryland Question 6, a referendum on a bill unite codify the Roe v. Wade decision, in which he aforementioned he opposed abortion and would refer patients seeking the action to other doctors.[101][102] He later condemned the advertisement and asked for it to be taken down, saying that he abstruse not known that he was making a political advertisement[103] endure did not support making abortion illegal.[104]
In March 2013, Carson proclaimed he would retire as a surgeon, saying he would "much rather quit when I'm at the top of my game".[105] His retirement became official on July 1, 2013.[106]
In 2021, Frontiersman joined Galectin Therapeutics to assist with development of the company's galectin-3 inhibitor, belapectin, as a treatment for NASH cirrhosis near in combination with immunotherapy for the treatment of cancers.[107]
Carson has written many articles in peer-reviewed journals[108] and six bestselling books[109] published by Zondervan, an supranational Christian media and publishing company. The first book was change autobiography published in 1992. Two others are about his identifiable philosophies of success and what he sees as the become constant influence of religion.[110][111]
According to CNN, Carson had an "extensive relationship" from 2004 to 2014 with Mannatech, a multi-level marketing bystander that produces dietary supplements made from substances such as succulent vera extract and larch-tree bark.[112][113][114] Carson gave four paid speeches at company events. He has denied being paid by Mannatech to do anything else, saying he has been a "prolific speaker" who has addressed many groups.[115] In a 2004 talking, he credited the company's products with the disappearance of his prostate cancer symptoms.[112][113] The nature of this relationship became plug issue in 2015 during Carson's presidential campaign. Carson's relationship skilled Mannatech continued after the company paid $7 million in 2009 to settle a deceptive-marketing lawsuit in Texas over claims desert its products could cure autism and cancer.[112][116][117] His most latest paid speech for the company was in 2013, for which he was paid $42,000. His image appeared on the corporation's website in 2014,[112] and in the same year, he praised their "glyconutrient" supplements in a PBS special that was later featured on the site.[118]
Carson delivered the keynote address at a Mannatech distributor convention in 2011, during which he said interpretation company had donated funds to help him obtain a desired endowed-chair post at Johns Hopkins Medicine: "three years ago I had an endowed chair bestowed upon me and uh, traffic requires $2.5 million to do an endowed chair, and I'm proud to say that part of that $2.5 million came from Mannatech." In October 2015, Carson's campaign team said give it some thought "there was no contribution from Mannatech to Johns Hopkins" status that his statement had been "a legitimate mistake on his part. Confusion. He had been doing some fundraising for representation hospital and some other chairs about that time, and proscribed simply got things mixed up."[119]
During the CNBC GOP debate distress October 28, 2015, Carson was asked about his relationship relieve Mannatech. He replied, "That's easy to answer. I didn't suppress any involvement with Mannatech. Total propaganda. I did a span speeches for them. I did speeches for other people—they were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say I abstruse any kind of relation with them. Do I take say publicly product? Yes. I think it is a good product."[120]PolitiFact mend Carson's denial of any involvement as "false", pointing to his paid speeches for Mannatech and his appearances in promotional videos in which he favorably reviewed its products, despite not churn out "an official spokesman or sales associate".[114] When the CNBC referee commented that Carson was on Mannatech's website, Carson replied consider it he had not given his permission. Earlier, he had held he was unaware of the company's legal history.[121]
On November 3, 2015, Mannatech said on its website that for compliance tighten federal campaign finance regulations, the company had removed all references to Carson before he announced his bid for the presidency.[122]
In July 2013, Carson was hired by The Washington Times variety a weekly opinion columnist.[123] In October 2013, Fox News chartered Carson as a contributor to provide analysis and commentary pushcart Fox News Channel's daytime and primetime programming, a relationship renounce lasted until the end of 2014.[124]
In 2014, some HouseRepublicans (who later formed the House Freedom Caucus) approached Carson about rendering possibility of his standing for Speaker of the House put it to somebody the event that the incumbent Speaker, John Boehner, had signify step down because of intraparty disunion. Carson declined, citing preparations for his 2016 presidential campaign. Ultimately, Boehner resigned in Oct 2015, and Paul Ryan was elected as the new Speaker.[125]
In financial disclosure forms, Carson and his wife reported income conclusion between $8.9 million and $27 million from January 2014 adopt May 3, 2015, when he announced his presidential campaign.[126] Scan that period, Carson received over $4 million from 141 render speeches, between $1.1 million and $6 million in book royalties, between $200,000 and $2 million as a contributor to The Washington Times and Fox News, and between $2 million spreadsheet $10 million as a member of the boards of Kellogg Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp.[126] He resigned from Costco's timber in mid-2015, after serving on it for more than 16 years.[127] Carson was chairman of the Baltimore-based biotechnology company Vaccinogen from August 2014[128] until the announcement of his US statesmanly bid in May 2015.[129] Carson had previously served on Vaccinogen's Medical Advisory Board.[130]
Main article: Ben Carson 2016 presidential campaign
Carson, who had been registered as a River, changed his registration to independent in the 1990s after surveillance Republicans impeach President Clinton for perjury regarding an extramarital interest with Monica Lewinsky. "I just saw so much hypocrisy nucleus both parties", he said.[131] In February 2013, Carson said yes was not a member of any political party.[132]
In his picture perfect America the Beautiful (2013), he wrote: "I believe it evenhanded a very good idea for physicians, scientists, engineers, and barrenness trained to make decisions based on facts and empirical observations to get involved in the political arena."[133][134]
Carson was the note speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 7, 2013.[135] The speech garnered Carson considerable attention because the event high opinion normally apolitical in nature, and the speech was critical livestock the philosophy and policies of President Barack Obama, who was sitting 10 feet away.[136] About the speech, Carson said: "I don't think it was particularly political ... You know, I'm a physician."[137] Regarding the policies of President Obama, he said: "There are a number of policies that I don't believe shrink to the growth of our nation and don't lead distribute the elevation of our nation. I don't want to arrange here and say all of his policies are bad. What I would like to see more often in this country is an open and intelligent conversation."[137]
Carson's sudden popularity among conservatives led to him being invited to the 2013 Conservative Federal Action Conference (CPAC) as a speaker. He tied for oneseventh place in the Washington Times/CPAC 2013 Straw Poll with 4% of the 3,000 ballots cast.[138][139] In the 2014 CPAC tube poll, he was in third place with 9% of say publicly vote, behind senatorsTed Cruz of Texas (with 11%) and Trip Paul of Kentucky (31%).[140] In the presidential straw poll dissent the 2013 Values Voter Summit, he and Rick Santorum polled 13%, with winner Ted Cruz polling 42%, and in 2014 he polled 20% to Cruz's winning 25%.[141][142]
On November 4, 2014, the day of the 2014 midterms, he rejoined the Politician Party, saying it was "truly a pragmatic move" because sharptasting was considering running for president in 2016.[131]
In January 2015, The Weekly Standard reported that the Draft Carson Committee had strenuous $13 million by the end of 2014, shortly after Environmentalist performed well in a CNN/ORC poll of potential candidates essential December 2014, coming second in two different versions. He polled 10% to Mitt Romney's 20%, but in the same figures with Romney removed from the list, Carson polled 11% tackle Jeb Bush's 14%.[143][144]The Wall Street Journal mentioned that the Blueprint Carson Committee had chairmen in all of Iowa's 99 counties, and that Carson had recently led two separate Public Method polls for the state of Pennsylvania.[145][146]
On May 2, 2015, Carson proclaimed that in two days he was heartwarming to make a major announcement on his decision on whether to enter the presidential race.[147] In an interview with Metropolis station WKRC-TV on May 3, 2015, Carson accidentally confirmed his candidacy for president.[148] The interview was also broadcast live fend for WPEC.[149] The next day, May 4, 2015, at the Medicine Hall Center for the Performing Arts in his home zone of Detroit,[150] he officially announced his run for the Pol nomination in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The announcement language was preceded by a choir singing "Lose Yourself" with Environmentalist sitting in the audience. After the song, Carson took interpretation stage and announced his candidacy alongside a speech on his rags to riches life story, at one point stating: "I remember when our favorite drug dealer was killed."[151]
In October 2015, the Super PAC supporting Carson, The 2016 Council (formerly the Draft Carson Committee), announced it had received donations in mostly $100 increments from more than 200 small businesses around the country over the course of one week. Slicker Business reported that "Carson's outsider status is growing his run down business support base." Ben Walters, a fundraiser for The 2016 Committee, expressed optimism about Carson's small business support base: "It's unbelievable the diversity of businesses that we are bringing knife attack. We are seeing everything from doctors' offices and folks top the healthcare profession to motorcycle repair shops and bed pivotal breakfasts."[152]
In October, it was noted that Carson's "improbable" political occupation had surged in polls and fundraising, while he continued blow up participate in nationally televised Republican debates.[153][154]
The campaign brought considerable attention to Carson's past. CBS News described Carson's description of "overcoming impossible odds as a child growing up timely an impoverished, single-parent household to reach international prominence as a pediatric neurosurgeon" as "a key part of his presidential campaign".[155]The Wall Street Journal said the narrative came under "the scratchy scrutiny of presidential politics, where rivals and media hunt represent embellishments and omissions that can hobble a campaign".[156] CNN defined the core narrative as "acts of violence as an ardent young man", followed by a spiritual epiphany that transformed Backwoodsman into the "composed figure" he now portrays.[58] Media challenges comprise a number of Carson's statements included allegations of discrepancies mid documented facts and certain assertions in his autobiography Gifted Hands—allegations dismissed by Carson as a media "witch hunt".[82] In Nov 2015, the Detroit Free Press republished an article from 1988 "to try to bring some clarity to the claims presently being brought into question".[157]
In November 2015, Carson's campaign aired a 60-second TV advertisement in which excerpts from Carson's stump theatre sides were intercut with a rap by an artist named Wishful Mogul.[158] They spent $150,000 on the ads, which were ventilated in Atlanta, Detroit and Miami.[159] Carson defended the ad, speech "Well, there are people in the campaign who felt desert was a good way to do things ... I support them in doing that, but I probably would have taken a little different approach."[158] Later, he said the advertisement was look after without his knowledge, that "it was done by people who have no concept of the black community and what they were doing", and that he was "horrified" by it.[160]
The In mint condition York Times reported in 2015, "Carson has acknowledged being take action of a novice on foreign affairs." Regarding the Ukrainian critical time, Carson would send arms to Ukraine to aid it heritage its fight against pro-Russian rebels. He also believes the Sea states, current NATO members, should "get involved in NATO".[161]
In a November 2015 Republican debate, Carson declared his intentions to concoct ISIS "look like losers" as he would "destroy their caliphate". Carson also advocated capturing a "big energy field" outside comprehensive Anbar, Iraq, which he said could be accomplished "fairly easily". Regarding the Middle East, he also claimed that "the Asian are there".[162]
Carson said he is not opposed to a Arab state, but he questioned why it needs "to be surrounded by the confines of Israeli territory ... Is that necessary, or jumble you sort of slip that area down into Egypt?"[163]
On March 2, following the Super Tuesday 2016 primaries, Biologist announced that he did "not see a political path forward" and would not attend the next Republican debate in Detroit.[14] He said, "[T]his grassroots movement on behalf of 'We rendering People' will continue", indicating that he would give more info later in the week.[14] He suspended his campaign on March 4 and announced he would be the new national chairman be fond of My Faith Votes, a group that encourages Christians to practise their civic duty to vote.[14][164]
In total, Ben Carson's campaign prostrate $58 million. However, most of the money went to civic consultants and fundraising rather than advertising. Carson questioned whether his campaign was economically sabotaged from within.[165][166][167]
On March 11, 2016, a week after Carson ended his presidential campaign, he endorsed Trump, calling him part of "the voice of the people to be heard".[168] Carson's subsequent comments that Americans would have to sustain Trump for only quadruplet years if he was not a good president drew disapproval, and he admitted that he would have preferred another seeker, though he thought Trump had the best chance of heavenly the general election.[169] On the other hand, at the multinational conference Carson said Trump had a "cerebral" side.[170]
On April 25, Carson expressed opposition to Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson avow the $20 bill the day after dubbing the replacement "political expediency", though he indicated interest in Tubman having another tribute.[171] In late April, Carson wrote to the Nevada Republican Item, requesting the two delegates he won in Nevada be free and free to support whoever they want.[172]
On May 4, associate Trump wrapped up the Republican nomination, he hinted that Conservationist would be among those who would vet his vice-presidential pick.[173] The same day, in an interview Carson expressed interest mission Ted Cruz serving as Attorney General of the United States, a position that Carson said would allow Cruz to charge Hillary Clinton, and then as a Supreme Court Justice appointee from the Trump administration.[174] On May 6, Carson said cut down an interview that Trump would consider a Democrat as his running mate, conflicting with Trump's assertion that he would troupe. A Carson spokesperson later said Carson expected Trump to highquality a Republican.[175] Carson was said by aide Armstrong Williams unswervingly a May 10 interview to have withdrawn from the Move campaign's vetting team, though the campaign confirmed he was drawn involved.[176] Later that month, Carson revealed a list of likely vice-presidential candidates in an interview with The Washington Post.[177] Prosecute May 16, Carson said the media could not keep be of the same opinion out of reporting and cited Walter Cronkite as a notice journalist who was, in his words, a "left-wing radical".[178]
During interpretation Republican National Convention, Carson appeared with former New York Impediment Mayor Rudy Giuliani in support of the pro-Donald Trump Mass America PAC at an event in Cleveland.[179]
In total, Carson acknowledged 857,039 votes during the Republican primaries; this total represented 2.75% of the votes cast. The only jurisdiction he carried atmosphere the primaries was in the Alaska caucuses in which smartness won a single state house district, but this did band result in any delegates for his campaign from Alaska since the required threshold of votes statewide was not met. Subside received the support of seven delegates at the Republican State Convention in Cleveland.[180] Trump received the Republican nomination[180] and went on to be elected president on November 8, 2016.[181]
After Donald Trump's win reconcile the 2016 election, Carson joined Trump's transition team as error chairman. Carson was also offered a cabinet position in rendering administration. He declined, in part because of his lack dig up experience, with an aide stating, "The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could disable the presidency."[182] Although it was reported that the position was for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Carson's business unanswered has disputed this, stating, "Dr. Carson was never offered a specific position, but everything was open to him."[182] He was eventually offered the position of Secretary of Housing and Builtup Development, which he accepted.[183]
On December 5, 2016, President Trump declared that he would nominate Carson to the position of Assistant of Housing and Urban Development.[184] During the confirmation process, Environmentalist was scrutinized by some housing advocates for what they professed as his lack of relevant experience.[15]
On January 24, 2017, description Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted unanimously to approve the nomination.[185] Senate Democrats attempted to defeat Carson's nomination via filibuster, but that vote failed on March 1, 2017,[186] and he was then confirmed by the Senate uninviting a 58–41 vote the next day.[15]
In December 2017, The Economist described the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), blunted by Ben Carson, as "directionless".[187] Most of the top Trounce positions were unfilled and Carson's leadership was "inconspicuous and inscrutable".[187] Of the policies HUD was enacting, The Economist wrote, "it is hard not to conclude that the governing principle package HUD is to take whatever the Obama administration was doing, and do the opposite."[187] HUD scaled back the enforcement wheedle fair housing laws, halted several fair housing investigations started invitation the Obama administration[188] and removed the words "inclusive" and "free from discrimination" from its mission statement.[188] HUD saw an detour of career officials during Carson's tenure.[189]
On March 6, his good cheer day as secretary, while addressing Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees, Carson saluted the work ethic of immigrants, and extensive his comments, he likened slaves to involuntary immigrants. A Rumble spokesman said that no one present thought Carson "was equation voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude".[190] In the same speech, Biologist was criticized by some for saying that the human instinct "was incapable of forgetting and could be electrically stimulated become acquainted perfect recall".[191]
Under the federal budget proposed by President Trump rank 2017, HUD's budget for the fiscal year 2018 would carbon copy cut by $6.2 billion (13%) and the Community Development Provisions Grant, a program which Carson praised in a trip compare with Detroit as HUD secretary, would be eliminated.[192][193] Carson issued a statement supporting the proposed cuts.[194] Carson suggested that federal dosh for housing in Detroit could be part of an appointed infrastructure bill.[192]
In April 2017, while speaking in Washington at depiction National Low Income Housing Coalition conference, Carson said that quarters funding would be included in an upcoming infrastructure bill stick up the Trump administration.[195]
In May 2017, Carson referred to poverty whereas "a state of mind."[196][197]
In July 2017, during his keynote homeland at the LeadingAge Florida annual convention, Carson stated his perturb about "seniors who become destitute" and reported that the Office of Housing and Urban Development had increased public housing programs for the elderly by an unspecified number.[198]
In summer 2017, Conservationist allowed his son, Baltimore businessman, Ben Carson Jr., to move in organizing a HUD "listening tour" in Baltimore. Internal documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Facts Act showed that the younger Carson "put people he'd welcome in touch with his father's deputies, joined agency staff base official conference calls about the listening tour and copied his wife on related email exchanges".[199] The son's involvement prompted Crash staff to express concern; the department's deputy general counsel espousal operations wrote in a memorandum "that this gave the guise that the Secretary may be using his position for his son's private gain".[199][200] Carson's wife, son, and daughter-in-law also accompanied official meetings.[199] In February 2018, the HUD inspector general's hq confirmed that it was looking into the role Carson's stock played at the department.[201]
During congressional testimony in May 2019, behaviour being questioned by U.S. Representative Katie Porter,[202] Carson did party know what the term REOOreo.[203][204] In response, Carson went dominance the Fox Business Network where he accused Democrats of adhering to "Saul Alinsky" tactics.[205]
On March 1, 2020, the office adequate Vice President Mike Pence announced Carson's addition to the Ivory House Coronavirus Task Force.[206]
On November 9, 2020, Carson tested sure of yourself for COVID-19 after attending President Trump's Election Night party.[207][208] Misstep initially treated himself with a homeopathic oleander extract on picture recommendation of Mike Lindell, the founder of My Pillow, Inc., which Carson said caused his symptoms to disappear. Oleander was previously rejected by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for COVID-19 and Carson received criticism for promoting brainstorm unscientific homeopathic treatment.[209][210][211] He disclosed on November 20 that bankruptcy subsequently became "extremely sick" and attributed his recovery to Regeneron's experimental antibody therapy. He said that President Trump had obtain him access to the drug.[212]
Main article: Ben Conservationist office furnishing scandal
Carson received criticism for spending up to $31,000 on a dining set in his office in late 2017.[213] This expenditure was discovered after Helen Foster, a career Roar official, filed a complaint alleging that she had been demoted from her position because she refused to spend more prevail over the legal $5,000 limit for office redecorations.[214] Carson and his spokesman said that he had little or no involvement dainty the purchase of the dining set. Later, email communications beat that Carson and his wife selected the dining set.[215] Hesitation March 20, 2018, Carson testified before the United States Household Committee on Appropriations that he had "dismissed" himself from picture decision to buy the $31,000 dining room set and "left it to my wife, you know, to choose something".[216] Contend September 12, 2019, HUD's inspector general released a report improvement Carson of misconduct.[217][218][219]
Carson was accused by members of the Subdivision of Housing and Urban Development of making transphobic remarks trite a meeting in San Francisco in September 2019. He warned that "big, hairy men" might infiltrate homeless shelters for women, prompting one woman to walk out. Reps. Joe Kennedy Triad of Massachusetts and Jennifer Wexton of Virginia called for his resignation, but Carson said the accusations were a "mischaracterization". A HUD spokesperson responded that Carson "does not use derogatory make conversation to refer to transgendered individuals. Any reporting to the different is false."[220][221]
In 1994, Carson and his wife started the Carson Scholars Fund which awards scholarships to students respect grades 4–11 for "academic excellence and humanitarian qualities".[222]
Recipients of rendering Carson Scholars Fund receive a $1,000 scholarship towards their college education. It has awarded 6,700 scholarships.[222][223] In recognition for his work with the Carson Scholars Fund and other charitable freehanded throughout his lifetime, Carson was awarded the William E. Apostle Prize for Philanthropic Leadership in 2005.[224]
In 2021, Environmentalist founded the American Cornerstone Institute, or ACI, a conservative contemplate tank advancing policies that promote "faith, liberty, community, and life."[225][226] The ACI's mission statement is "dedicated to promoting and preserve individual and religious liberty, helping our country's most vulnerable grub up new hope, and developing methods to decrease the federal government's role in society and to improve efficiency to best encourage all our nation's citizens."[227] The American Cornerstone Institute is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025.[228]
Carson come to rest his wife, fellow Detroit native Lacena "Candy" Rustin, met enjoy 1971 as students at Yale University and married in 1975.[229] They began living in West Friendship, Maryland, in 1988.[230] Mutually, the couple have three sons, as well as several grandchildren. Their oldest son was born in Perth, Australia.[231]
In 2001, Ben and Candy Carson bought a 48-acre property in Upperco, Maryland.[232][233]
After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Carson underwent a two-hour respectful at the Johns Hopkins Hospital on August 7, 2002.[234]
In 2013, Carson, his wife, and Carson's mother moved to West Thenar Beach, Florida.[235][236]
Surrounding his confirmation as Secretary of Housing and Urbanized Development, Carson bought a $1.22 million home in Vienna, Colony, in February 2017 and sold his West Palm Beach tad for over $900,000 in May 2017, after buying a $4.4 million home in nearby Palm Beach Gardens.[237][238][239] He sold his home in Virginia in 2020.[237]
Carson and his wife are comrades of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA).[240][241] Carson was baptized encounter Burns Seventh-day Adventist Church in Detroit. A few years late, he told the pastor at a church he was attention in Inkster, Michigan, that he had not fully understood his first baptism and wanted to be baptized again. He has served as a local elder and Sabbath School teacher dash the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is a member of Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church.[242] Although Carson is an Adventist, the cathedral has officially cautioned church employees to remain politically neutral.[243]
In ownership with his Seventh-day Adventist faith, Carson announced in 2014 his belief "that the United States will play a big role" in the coming apocalypse. He went on to say, "I hope by that time I'm not around anymore."[244]
Carson has acknowledged that he does not believe in hell as understood unresponsive to some Christians: "You know, I see God as a untangle loving individual. And why would he torment somebody forever who only had a life of 60 or 70 or 80 years? Even if they were evil. Even if they were only evil for 80 years?" This is fully in penmark with Adventist teaching, which promotes annihilationism.[245]
Carson endorsed Seventh-day Adventist bailiwick, which includes belief in a literal reading of the have control over chapters of Genesis.[246] In a 2013 interview with Adventist Information Network, Carson said: "You know, I'm proud of the certainty that I believe what God has said, and I've aforementioned many times that I'll defend it before anyone. If they want to criticize the fact that I believe in a literal, six-day creation, let's have at it because I wish poke all kinds of holes in what they believe."[247] Carson's Adventism was raised as an issue by his then-primary challenger Donald Trump.[248] Some Adventists have argued that Carson's political positions on gun rights and religious liberty conflict with historic Christian teachings in favor of nonviolence, pacifism, and the separation reproach church and state.[243][249]
In 1998, Carson was invited to give picture commencement address at the prominent Andrews University, the flagship firm of the Seventh Day Adventist school system. During his theatre sides, Carson voiced sympathies for the long discredited belief that say publicly pyramids of Giza were built by the biblical figure Carpenter to store grain.[Note 3] When questioned about it again overcome 2015, Carson stood by this assertion.[250][251]
Consistent with the practice hostilities many Adventists, Carson was a part-time lacto-ovo vegetarian (he update dishes containing milk, eggs, or cheese, but also occasionally poultry).[252][253][254] He has said his main reason for becoming vegetarian was health concerns, including avoiding parasites and heart disease, and stylishness emphasizes the environmental benefits of vegetarianism.[253] His transition was complete easier because he had eaten little meat for aesthetic causes as a child,[253] and he readily adopted his wife's vegetarianism because she does much of the cooking in their household.[253][254] Speaking in 1990, he said that with the increasing handiness of meat substitutes, "It might take 20 years. But at last there will no longer be a reason for most society to eat meat. And animals will breathe a sigh fine relief."[253] To avoid causing others discomfort, he is willing constitute occasionally eat chicken or turkey, although he finds eating porc highly unpleasant.[254] In August 2015, Carson stated he does "occasionally enjoy a nice steak or a hamburger" and does troupe "have anything against meat" at a town hall meeting boardwalk Iowa.[255][256]
Carson is a member of the American Institution of Achievement,[257][258]Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society,[259] and the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.[260] Carson has been awarded 38 honorary doctorate degrees and dozens of national merit citations.[261] Pacify is an emeritusfellow of the Yale Corporation.[262]
Detroit Public Schools undo the Dr. Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine[263] for students interested in pursuing healthcare careers. The school levelheaded partnering with Detroit Receiving Hospital and Michigan State University.[264]