Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson announced Wednesday that he does not see a “political path forward”.
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In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Carson said “I am leaving the campaign trail”, but promised he would remain heavily involved “in saving our nation”. It’s not a problem.
The announcement was expected after Carson released a statement saying he does “not see a political path forward” after this week’s Super Tuesday contests. “And if that was the case, I didn’t want to interfere with the process”.
Even during a year that was fiercely anti-establishment, Carson’s months of prodigious support and popularity from small donors, his $20 million raised during the summer led all candidates and stunned experts. Carson held his election night party in Baltimore on Tuesday – a decision that, in itself, prompted speculation about his future.
In the last Republican presidential debate, Carson’s most memorable moment came when his four rivals squabbled and he asked, “Can somebody attack me please?” He did give us this gem to remember forever.
Carson has said he’ll support the eventual Republican nominee but has demurred on whether he’ll endorse any of the candidates.
“People who think Donald Trump would be the worst thing that ever happened… you make a really big mistake by trying to thwart the will of the people”, Carson said.
Carson had also compared homosexuality with pedophilia and bestiality and considers same-sex marriage and protections for transgender individuals “extra rights” for people who he suggests are ‘abnormal’. Earlier in the day Politico reported that Carson would serve as national chairman of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan organization aimed at getting Christian Americans to vote.
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“It has to be somebody who has demonstrated significant accomplishment in their life”, he said, someone “whose ideas and policies are clear and easy to find”.
