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Ben Carson just got slammed by his own adviser on foreign policy

Carson was responding to a question about his business manager Armstrong Williams, who stated in an earlier interview that Carson was “still on a learning curve” when it comes to foreign policy.

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Mr. Clarridge, who contacted Mr. Carson almost two years ago to offer his services without pay, has helped the candidate prepare for debates.

In surprisingly candid remarks to the NY Times, aides to Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson admitted that the retired neurosurgeon is having trouble grasping foreign policy issues. Clarridge added that Carson needs weekly conference calls to brief him on foreign policy, so “we can make him smart”.

Williams, meanwhile, told AP that Clarridge is entitled to his view, but rejected the notion that Carson is less qualified or capable than any of his rivals.

“Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and state department officials”, he said in a statement.

“He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country”. Mr. Clarridge’s input to Dr. Carson is appreciated but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson’s top advisors. Carson’s campaign pushed back on that description of Clarridge, and suggested the paper was taking “advantage of an elderly gentleman”.

“He’s not my adviser”, Carson said.

The Republican candidate’s campaign fell silent when it was asked by the Examiner to explain where the Times may have gotten the idea that Clarridge is a “top adviser” to Carson.

Charlie Black, who has advised many GOP presidents and their campaigns, said calmly, “I’m not too anxious about it. Trump’s been losing a little steam since Labor Day, when he was up around 30, now he’s in the low 20s”. “Mr. Clarridge was the only adviser whose name was given to us by Armstrong Williams”.

“I know they’re frustrated”, Williams said of the team advising Carson. “We also must recognize that it’s a very complex place”.

Williams estimates Carson has been spending “40 percent of his time” in foreign policy briefings in recent weeks. “I could tell, talking to him, it was a bummer for him”.

“You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there”, Carson said.

On “Fox News Sunday”, Carson made headlines by stumbling over a question about how he’d go about assembling a coalition to fight ISIS.

Ben Carson is in no danger of being mistaken for a foreign policy expert.

All this came after Carson said his intelligence sources in the Middle East were better than the White House’s, a comment he has since said was tongue-in-cheek and that at the time left Press Secretary Josh Earnest speechless.

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Robert F. Dees, a retired Army general, said, “He has the right stuff to be commander in chief”.

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson speaks at a news conference Monday Nov. 16 2015 in Henderson Nev