WND VIDEO
CARSON ENDORSES TRUMP: 'A VERY INTELLIGENT, CARING MAN'
Ex-neurosurgeon says GOP effort to thwart 'will of the people' influenced decision
Cheryl Chumley
Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who dropped his presidential bid a week ago, stood on a Palm Beach, Florida, stage Friday morning and suggested voters cast ballots for his one-time competitor, Donald Trump.
Appearing just shortly after 9 a.m., Trump spoke first, saying: "Dr. Ben Carson was respected by everybody. Everybody wanted his endorsement."
He then said: "Having his support, really, is just total credence to what I am trying to do."
And then Carson spoke.
"This whole process getting involved in the political process is something I never intended to do. But I listened to the people," he said. "It's not about the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. It's about the people of America. ... What I have been seeing ... is political operatives or political parties trying to exert themselves and [wipe out] the voice of the people."
And he said: "We can't allow this attempt to disrupt the will of the people."
Carson said he wanted "the political process to play out the way it should be" and cautioned the Republican Party to "start thinking about what are the things that are going to be helpful to America?"
Carson then said American was falling off the fiscal cliff, failing to lead on the world stage, and Trump is someone who could fix that.
"He is actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America. There are two Donald Trumps, the one you see on the stage and the one who sits there, who is very cerebral," Carson said. "And that's the Donald Trump you are going to start seeing more of."
Carson also addressed the heated rhetoric and barbs that marked his interactions with Trump at points on the campaign trail.
"We buried the hatchet," he said. "That was political stuff. And that happens in American politics, the politics of personal destruction ... I do recognize it is a part of the process. We move on. Because I do recognize it is not about me. ... It is about America."
He also told voters to expect to see a "lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought" possible, saying in the weeks to come, voters will experience a new side of Trump.
"As they begin to see the real individual there, and those who are helping the individual, I think they're going to be comforted as a nation," Carson said.
Carson then spoke of the need for the nation to unify.
During the question-answer session with the press, Trump was asked if he regretted anything he said about Carson during the campaign.
He said: "The one person who kept sneaking up on me [in early polls] was Ben Carson. I couldn't do anything about him ... And then we had one poll when Ben went ahead ... and I said to myself, this guy is unbelievable. So I started going after him."
Trump went on: "I was really impressed with the way he fought back ... with silence and strength," Trump said. "I fought back and I hit him hard, it was just politics and Ben understood that."
Trump also said Carson was going to have a very large role to come in his political career, particularly in education and health care. In response to a reporter's question, he said he hasn't discussed any Cabinet or administration positions with Carson, but that he would have a "very" big role to play in both policy and politics.
At another point in the press conference, Carson was asked point-blank: Why Trump, and not Sen. Ted Cruz?
"One of the real factors for me is what will happen if we allow the political operatives if they succeed in their endeavor to stop Donald Trump. I think it would fracture the party," he said. "I feel that Mr. Trump is willing to do what needs to be done to break the strangle-hold of special interest groups."
He also said of the campaign controversy that generated when Cruz's campaign furthered CNN reports that Carson was dropping from the race in Iowa – reports that were shown to be false – that he's forgiven Cruz.
"I've completely forgiven him," Carson said. "That's the duty one has as a Christian."
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/ben-carson-endorses-donald-trump/#GQff0JT85PhqWTTG.99
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