Name:   copperline - Subject:   Ben Carson's moral flexibility Date:   3/12/2016 10:12:49 AM

Watched with some interest this week as Carson dropped out of the race and then endorsed Trump.  I would have thought that Carson would throw his support to the other evangelical candidate (Cruz) as this would have been a natural pivot.  But Trump?   How do you explain that?

This suggests to me that Carson isn’t as devoted to his religious beliefs as previously thought, since endorsing Trump means endorsing distinctly un-christian actions, beliefs, and rhetoric… not just over the period of this campaign… but his whole life.

Carson’s weak statement that “there are two Donald Trumps” is also something of a puzzle since he is saying that the fellow on the stage isn’t the real guy at all.   Isn’t that what these ‘outsider’ candidates have been accusing career politicians of all along?   And what are we to make of his endorsement of a candidate that isn’t who he appears to be?   Carson is supporting an important new narrative in the Trump mythology.

There is an interesting shift going on in the Trump campaign with the newly floated notion that The Donald isn’t really the shape-shifting demagogue that he appears to be.  Instead, the new idea goes, he has consciously crafted his persona to look aggressive but this is really a negotiating technique.   By appearing tough, the theory goes, he has put his opponents on the defensive and can pressure them to conform to his wishes.   So it’s all for show.    I guess that makes it just like professional wrestling after all. 

Carson is simply giving cover to Trump apologists by embracing this guy.   The pious notion that he comes to his endorsement with christian forgiveness is bogus & deliberately ignores that Trump's hostility continues undiminished by either moral conviction or decency when it comes to inciting public violence.   I wonder what the ladies at church think about Ben endorsing the candidate who disrespects so many of the things they consider to be decent and moral.

Many of them will simply morph into Trump supporters and ignore the elephant in the room, I suppose.   Too bad for us as a nation.