To Ben Carson, the release of the 2005 video in which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump uses vulgar terms to describe pursuing women is part of the smear campaign America’s political class will continue to wage against Trump to keep him from the White House.
“I’m not seeing anything that I didn’t totally expect,” Carson said Saturday during an interview with Newsmax. “The political class and the media has to make this about Donald Trump. They cannot make this about the issues.”
Carson said the fact the tape was leaked at the same time WikiLeaks exposed damaging comments made by Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton in closed-door speeches is more than a coincidence.
“They’re getting desperate because they’re seeing the crowds that Trump is attracting. They see the enthusiasm gap between the candidates and they know how that’s going to translate on Election Day. Their goal is now is to dribble out all of these things like this tape,” said Carson, who added, “This won’t be the last thing, by the way.”
He said the flood of Republican denunciations since the tape came out shows the success of the tactic.
“They’ve been waiting to drop these things out periodically because for one thing, this Hillary open borders thing came out. This is obscuring that.
“Why aren’t we talking about what the implications of that are?” he said, referring to comments Clinton made about expanding free trade.
“It will change the nature of everything in this nation. They were very clever, and because they have the arm of the media it makes it very easy for them to get across what they’re doing. Unless people understand what’s going on,” he said.
Carson said the election is not a referendum on Trump or Clinton, but about the “direction of the country.”
“It’s about the elites and the status quo being desperate to maintain their position and this direction versus a change in direction that’s desperately needed,” he said.
“Their (Democrats) strategy will have some impact. Some people will always capitulate instead of fight. But by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans think we’re on the wrong track. That’s what you need to be talking about,” he said.
Carson, who throughout the campaign has distinguished between his opinion of Trump’s private style and the country’s need for change, said there is no argument that Trump “made some mistakes.”
“He concedes that,” Carson said. “Those are not good things to say, what he said in that tape. He’s not going to try to defend that. And he’s not going to allow this to become about him. The issues are too important.”
Carson characterized Trump Saturday as “resolute.”
“I think Donald has a very good understanding what’s going and why it’s imperative that he carry the torch for the people in terms of the issues and not allow him to be sidetracked by any of this,” Carson added.
(via: Western Journalism)
