*Scores of folks are confused this morning after news broke that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated neurosurgeon-turned-presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to lead U.S. housing and urban policy.
“I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Trump said in a statement released early Monday (Dec 5).
The secretary of housing and urban development oversees federal public housing programs and helps formulate policy on homelessness and housing discrimination. As is the case with all cabinet secretaries, Carson will need to be confirmed by the Senate.
Carson dropped a hint about his selection on Wednesday afternoon, posting on Facebook: “After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone. We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical infrastructure and our spiritual infrastructure is solid.”
With Carson in tow, Trump toured inner cities during his campaign and made headlines for using inflammatory rhetoric that painted minority communities as violent-prone lost causes, and for telling African Americans they had “nothing to lose” in voting for him.
Carson’s name had been mentioned for multiple cabinet-level positions throughout the transition process, most significantly the position of Health and Human Services secretary. But, Carson aide Armstrong Williams famously said the former Republican candidate turned down an offer of that position due to his lack of experience running a federal agency.
“He’s never run an agency and it’s a lot to ask. He’s a neophyte and that’s not his strength,” Williams said at the time.
Twitter not only recalled that statement in expressing concern over the pic, but pointed out other Carson quotes and moments that made headlines – including the time he didn’t hear his name called before a debate in New Hampshire and was standing awkwardly in the wings, the time he said that Joseph built the pyramids in Egypt to store grain, and more:
After expressing concern for a cabinet spot due to lack of experience, Ben Carson is now Trump’s HUD secretary pick. https://t.co/p2XKxRbojf
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) December 5, 2016
#MondayMorning Thank GOD #BenCarson won’t have anything having 2 do w/Health care! B4 u bitch at me about respect I am #BrainSurgerySurvivor
— Jedi4StandingRock ⚡️ (@ChiariGirl357) December 5, 2016
This merits another watch today. #BenCarson https://t.co/DJZRReuSQo
— Mike Gibbs (@Mikeggibbs) December 5, 2016
I’ll say it. WTF does #BenCarson know about housing and urban development? I. Literally. Can’t. ?
— James Simmons – NP (@AskTheNP) December 5, 2016
#bencarson #HUD pic.twitter.com/Jbjr6UkUfn
— MetricMaps (@MetricMaps) December 5, 2016
Wait. Didn’t #BenCarson say he wldnt take a job bc he wasn’t qualified? Maybe he realized no one in the cabinet is so he might as well join https://t.co/DuFsOQYZ3Y
— Katie Gell (@katiegell) December 5, 2016
Things #BenCarson believes:
-Obamacare is worse than slavery
-The holocaust wouldn’t have happened if Jews had guns
-Prison turns people gay— Robin Thede (@robinthede) December 5, 2016
#bencarson HUD@pick is DJT saying “I’ll get my black friend to run all the houses for the blacks!” #MLKwouldbesoproud @SMShow @pattonoswalt
— Dirk Langford (@stoneboxdirk) December 5, 2016
“Trump’s Agents of Idiocracy” so true. What does #BenCarson know about HUD? Carson’s only experience is that he owns a house
— Coach Lizzy (@SaucyVegan) December 5, 2016
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