Carson’s Own Adviser Says He Needs To Clarify His Foreign Policy Positions

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Ben Carson’s adviser and business manager Armstrong Williams said in a Friday CNN interview that the Republican presidential candidate’s policy ideas could be clearer.

Asked by “New Day” host Chris Cuomo how the campaign could expand its base, Williams said that Carson needed to “get into the details” on key issues.

“Dr. Carson really has to get into the details of his policies, whether its immigration, whether its taxes, whether its Medicaid, whether its how we deal with ISIS and ISIS and our foreign policy,” Williams said. “He really has to get into the real detail because he has to convince people who like him, who trust him—they have to believe that he has the capacity to lead from a policy position, from a substantive position. They have to believe he can learn these issues and articulate them in a way that they find they’re willing to trust him to become their next President of the United States.”

Though the retired neurosurgeon is ahead of the field in several national and state primary polls, he’s been accused of lacking the policy expertise to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. military.

During Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox Business, Carson gave a rambling, confusing answer to a question about the Middle East, making the claim that the Chinese were present in Syria. Prominent officials including National Security Adviser Susan Rice dismissed this claim as unfounded.

Carson also proposed that the U.S. could “fairly easily” defeat the Islamic State terrorist group by bombing their oil fields.

In a Thursday ABC interview, President Obama said Carson “doesn’t know much about” American counter-terror efforts.

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Notable Replies

  1. When you’ve even lost the chief fairy-tale generator of the RWNJ’s…

  2. asking this facetiously but how can the ‘smartest man in the room’ possibly need to study details like foreign policy or economic theory or immigration?

    like st ronald… all that’s needed is ‘common sense’ to deal with the problem because the solution is simple and obvious…

  3. Clearer? What part of “better than the White House” don’t you understand?

  4. “… by bombing their oil fields.”

    That’s a Goldfinger solution for increasing the value of your own oil.
    But regardless, ISIS doesn’t own any oil, so why would they care?

  5. Carson also proposed that the U.S. could “fairly easily” defeat the Islamic State terrorist group by bombing their oil fields.

    Also, petting a hungry wolverine will get him to leave those ducks alone.

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