Ben Carson: Black on the Outside, Trump on the Inside
One of the most jarring behaviors of this presidency is the way in which people who were previously thought to take pride in their intelligence and expertise — William Barr, for example — have revealed their inner Donald Trumps. They don’t so much imitate their president as seek to emulate the traits that have brought him to the Oval Office. What are those, precisely?
Trump’s boorish bullying, for one. The manner in which he spits his opponent’s lines back at them as if a stinger were attached to each syllable. And in those moments when he is challenged, Trump often cloaks his ignorance with sophomoric humor, deployed as retaliation for the eggheads who dared to test his knowledge in the first place.
Ben Carson may be the worst at this. That much was clear on Tuesday when his appalling attempt to go full Trump during his House Financial Services hearing ended up with him sharing a photo of himself poking fun at his own stupidity. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), an expert in the field Carson is supposed to know as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, stumped him with a basic question about foreclosure. “Do you know what an REO is?” she asked. “An Oreo?” he responded. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. She had to spell it out for him twice, all three letters. He still didn’t know what it stood for (real estate-owned).
Link to tweet
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In the photo he tweeted afterward, Carson grinned while holding a box of Double Stuf Oreos. To see the former world-renowned neurosurgeon delighting in his idiocy was sad enough, but for anyone familiar with the etymology of “Oreo” as an insult and not a cookie, well, let’s just say that image swelled with meaning.
It is because we have such an estimation of Carson’s intellectual capabilities that his lackadaisical, sophomoric responses were so outrageous. Throughout the hearing, he was willing to debase himself to a level heretofore unseen. Labeling Carson an “Oreo” is imprecise: It’s more that he is black on the outside, Trump on the inside.
Carson’s minstrelsy, though, was not nearly as significant as the incompetence and outright wickedness that he displayed. Carson doubled down when pressed about the new rule his department recently filed, which tightens previous restrictions on undocumented immigrants in public housing, now making anyone living in a unit with someone who is undocumented — even if they themselves are citizens — ineligible for benefits, a clear problem for families with members of mixed legal status. “It’s not that we’re cruel, mean-hearted,” he said. “It’s that we are logical. This is common sense. You take care of your own first.” He told the committee members that the rule was his way of triggering them to do their jobs.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/ben-carson-katie-porter-oreo-hearing-838829/
= new reply since forum marked as read
That hadn't occurred to me.
