Campaign

Carson: Trump ‘intelligent man who cares deeply about America’

by Ben Kamisar - 03/11/16 9:28 AM ET

Ben Carson on Donald Trump: "He's actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America." pic.twitter.com/lUJ6ZfkbY8

— Mashable News (@MashableNews) March 11, 2016

Ben Carson lauded Donald Trump as an “intelligent man who cares deeply about America” as he officially endorsed his former GOP presidential rival Friday.

“There are two different Donald Trumps. There’s the one you see on the stage, and there’s the one who is very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully, you can have a very good conversation with him,” Carson said at a joint press conference with Trump in Miami.

{mosads}”That’s the Donald Trump you are going to start seeing more and more of right now.”

The retired neurosurgeon warned Republicans against the “Never Trump” movement, casting it as dangerous to party unity.

“What I’ve seen recently is political operatives and parties trying to assert themselves and thwart the will of the people. I find that an extraordinarily dangerous place to be right now,” Carson said.

“I want the voice of the people to be heard, I want the political process to play out in the way that it should play out. And I don’t think the Republican Party would be very wise to adopt a ‘let’s stop this guy’ policy and ‘let’s promote this guy’ policy.”

Carson added that he’s forgiven Trump for his controversial insults on the campaign trail last year.

When Carson began to cut into Trump’s polling lead in November, Trump called him “pathological” and compared him to a child molester.

“We buried the hatchet. That was political stuff and that happens in American politics,” Carson said.

“Theres a lot more alignment philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought that there was.”

Trump acknowledged those controversial comments when asked whether he regrets anything he said about Carson on the trail, but did not repudiate them.

“We had one poll when Ben went ahead, it was the biggest story worldwide. I said, ‘This guy was unbelievable,’ so I started going after Ben,” he said.

“It’s politics. Ben understands that. I was really impressed with the way that he fought back, because he fought back with silence and strength.”

Trump praised Carson as a “friend” as well as a “special person [and] special man.”

While he said Carson will have a “big part” in the campaign, specifically with heathcare and education, the GOP front-runner said he did not promise him any specific role in a Trump administration.

Updated at 9:36 a.m.

Tags Donald Trump