Watching and listening to Ben Carson field questions about foreign and domestic policy, I find it hard to believe he is as intelligent as he obviously must be to have become a medical doctor and a neurosurgeon.
I know he's a very religious Christian, so that explains some of the obvious blindspots and willful ignorance, but I don't think it's enough. (Though the Seventh Day Adventists have believed the End Times are upon us since their inception, so you have to be able to suspend a lot of logic to be part of a group that could sustain that lack of reality for 150 years.)
My hypothesis is that Carson is in the early stages of dementia. Looking around the interweb, I haven't found anyone discussing that idea thoroughly. Mostly just some commenters, but one of them had this to say:
At the Baltimore TV station I work at, we had done several interviews with Carson when he was still a surgeon. When I compare the way he is now, with the Ben Carson of the late '80s, there is a big change. Wonder if dementia is setting in. Not sure why he retired, not aware of any issues that received news coverage.That seems like an empirical question. Has anyone posted video of Carson from 20 or 30 years ago? Has his way of speaking and grasp of facts changed in recent years? I would love to know.
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In one of Carson's demented statements, he said that a Muslim shouldn't be become president. He followed up with "reasons" based on Muslims' supposed adherence to a cause that's inconsistent with American values. Personally, I'm more likely to think people who believe we're in the End Times shouldn't be president, because that belief has obvious policy implications.
1 comment:
Interesting. It would explain a lot if he were in the early stages of dementia. I saw something online this morning about his belief in the end times and how, as President, he would have access to "the football," i.e. the nuclear weapon codes. It would not be a smart move for the country to put this guy that close to being able to initiate Armageddon.
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