PoliticsElections 20162016 electionben carson

Ben Carson Says There Are Two Trumps, Endorses One

The former Republican presidential hopeful said he has seen a version of Donald Trump that is more "cerebral."
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By 

Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, HuffPost

WASHINGTON -- Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson endorsed real estate developer Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination Friday, one week after he ended his own rival campaign and days before another round of important primaries in Florida, Ohio and other states.

Carson claimed there are "two different Donald Trumps," one public and one private, and said he saw the "very cerebral" version as the best bet for the White House.

The doctor's endorsement did not come as a major surprise, given that he said when he ended his campaign that he wanted other Republicans to stop criticizing Trump. "People who think Donald Trump would be the worst thing that ever happened ... you make a really big mistake by trying to thwart the will of the people," Carson said then. 

He echoed that idea Friday, suggesting the Republican Party establishment has sought to "thwart the will of the people." 

Trump said Carson is now a "friend" and said he was impressed by Carson's response to the baiting the front-runner subjected him to in recent months.

Carson is popular among evangelicals, and his endorsement may help Trump win credibility in that segment of Republican voters. The announcement could be a way for the front-runner to steal some support from his major Republican rival, evangelical-friendly Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

But Carson's comments may provide fodder to the other Republicans competing for the nomination because it could undermine what voters appear to prize about him: his apparent authenticity.

BuzzFeed's Ben Smith already called that authenticity into question last month when he suggested that Trump had taken a softer line on immigration in a private meeting with The New York Times than he has in public. 

"So what exactly did Trump say about immigration, about deportations, about the wall? Did he abandon a core promise of his campaign in a private conversation with liberal power brokers in New York?" Smith wrote.

Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

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Before You Go

Celebrities Who Have Endorsed Trump
(01 of08)
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Political pundit Ann Coulter threw her support behind Trump when she was a guest on “The Eric Metaxas Show.” (credit:Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
(02 of08)
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Former WWE pro wrestler Hulk Hogan not only endorses Trump, but he also told TMZ last year he wants to be Trump's running mate.

Asked which presidential candidate he most wanted to fight, Hogan responded, “I don’t want to be in the ring with any candidates. I want to be Trump’s running mate.”

“Did you hear that? Vice President Hogan?” he added.

The WWE cut ties with Hogan last July after a video of him using racial slurs surfaced online. (credit:Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
(03 of08)
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Aissa Wayne, daughter of movie icon John Wayne, has thrown her support behind Trump's presidential bid. She made the endorsement at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Iowa in front of a life-size, gun-toting figurine of The Duke. (credit:Aaron P. Bernstein via Getty Images)
(04 of08)
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Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and the son of late televangelist Jerry Lamon Falwell, endorsed Trump days before the pivotal Iowa caucuses.

“In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment,” Falwell said. “He cannot be bought, he's not a puppet on a string like many other candidates ... who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters.”

When the presidential hopeful visited Liberty University's campus, Falwell effusively compared Trump to his own father.

Other evangelical Christians have since voiced their frustration with Falwell's endorsement, citing Trump's alleged sexual affairs and claims of spousal abuse.

John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, told Politico in a statement that Trump was "the most immoral and ungodly man to ever run for President of the United States." (credit:Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)
(05 of08)
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Tila Tequila, a reality TV star and flat Earth conspiracy theorist who once claimed to be a "robotoid clone," will be voting for Trump this year.

In the middle of a transphobic Twitter rant about Caitlyn Jenner, she tweeted, "I only want @realDonaldTrump to win so to smite some of my enemies, kill the politically correct, and basically make America great again!"

Tequila was recently kicked off "Celebrity Big Brother" for praising Adolf Hitler and posing in Hitler and Nazi-inspired outfits on social media. (credit:Karwai Tang via Getty Images)
(06 of08)
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The self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in America," Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, has endorsed Trump. (credit:Laura Segall / Reuters)
(07 of08)
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Former baseball player John Rocker told The Daily Caller that Trump is "that guy" for America.

“I think [Trump] has really woken America up," Rocker said. "I’m probably as disheartened as everyone else is, as Trump supporters seem to be, with the status quo and the glad-handing politicians and the soundbite politicians always looking for the right comment to make and walking that fine line, trying to make every single faction out there who could be a possible voter, don’t make anybody mad and wear kid gloves.”

Rocker once told Sports Illustrated that New York City was full of “degenerates,” and said he would rather retire than ride the subway with “some queer with AIDS” and “some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time.”

He's also sold shirts that read "Speak English" on his website. (credit:Sporting News Archive via Getty Images)
(08 of08)
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Former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed Trump for president while the two were in Iowa ahead of the caucuses.

"The status quo has got to go, otherwise we're just going to get more of the same. And with their failed agenda, it can't be salvaged. It must be savaged. And Donald Trump is the right one to do that," Palin told a crowd of Trump supporters.

"He builds things, he builds big things. Things that touch the sky. Big infrastructure that puts other people to work. He has spent his life looking up and respecting the hard hats and the steel-toed boots and the work ethic that you all have within you," Palin said. "This self-made success of his, you know that he doesn't get his power, his high, off of opium [OPM] -- other people's money -- like a lot of dopes in Washington do. They're addicted to opium, where they take other people's money and then their high is getting to redistribute it, right?"

While commenters panned Palin's endorsement as "word salad," her support means more tea partiers and evangelicals might join her in the Trump camp. (credit:Aaron P. Bernstein via Getty Images)
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