CARSON:NEURO SURGEORN TURNED POLITICIAN ROOTS FOR TRUMP

CARSON:NEURO SURGEORN TURNED POLITICIAN ROOTS FOR TRUMP
 
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson returned to Iowa on Thursday to campaign for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying the billionaire businessman will put America back on the right track.
"The message is that America was and is a very special place that many people fought for very hard, and particularly for the freedoms that we enjoy," Carson told The Des Moines Register. "It is supposed to be people-centric and not government-centric. As we move further and further towards the government model, is that really what we want to pass on to our children? Or do we still believe in the creativity, the ingenuity and the can-do attitude that made America great?"
Carson, who is also a best-selling author, placed fourth as a presidential candidate in the 2016 Iowa Republican Party caucuses, attracting 9.3 percent support. He became a conservative folk hero after a widely publicized speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, and he said he plans to continue speaking and writing after next week's presidential election.
Carson talked with Iowa reporters Thursday afternoon, attended the Iowa State-Oklahoma football game in Ames on Thursday night and is scheduled to address the Westside Conservative Breakfast Club at 7 a.m. Friday at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale. He will be joined at the breakfast by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.
Prior to Carson's exit from the presidential campaign,Trump at times described him as having "super-low energy" and as "weak on immigration."  Trump also questioned the authenticity of Carson's faith. Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist.
But Carson dismissed Trump's rhetoric on Thursday, saying he understand's that the eventual Republican nominee panicked as Carson rose quickly in the polls.
"That's politics," Carson explained, adding that the election is not about him, but about the future of the United States.
Carson said he has no plans to become surgeon general if Trump wins the presidency, explaining he was already offered the post by President Barack Obama's administration before they discovered he was a conservative, and by President George W. Bush's administration. He also insisted he has no interest in a Trump cabinet post or in running for the U.S. Senate.
Asked about his message to African-Americans and other minorities, Carson said he recognizes that Trump will not receive the majority of African American votes on Election Day, although he believes the percentage will probably be more than previous Republican presidential candidates have garnered. But if Trump wins and faces re-election in four years, he believes Trump will receive a large number of minority votes "because he has plans to make things actually work rather than the empty promises they have heard for 50 years."
Also, don't be surprised sometime in the future to see Carson in a bus traveling throughout the U.S. on another book tour.
”I am thinking about writing a book about what to expect if you are not a career politician and you decide to serve your country; what you need to know,” he said, chuckling.