Discussion: How 'The Trump Virus' Weakened Ben Carson's Baltimore Legacy

It wasnā€™t the ā€œTrump virusā€ alone that is doing in Carsonā€™s rep. His erratic behavior during the campaign made him a caricature of the Idiot Savant and left many scratching their heads, speculating about the manā€™s mental health.

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Ben Carson is an idiot savant, with emphasis on the idiot part.

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Sure, you tore down you treasured local legacy and became a national punchline, but you got a really sweet dining room table out of it. Many people would make the same trade!

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You mean ā€œcharacterā€ right? Carson has no character, itā€™s not a virus, itā€™s a character flaw found in all prosperity gospel adherents and it only makes sense that this group of heathens would pick Trump, the Lord and Master of Prosperity Gimmicks, to lead them.

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Completely out of his depth in away that surgeons often are.

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Heā€™s not. Heā€™s a gifted surgeon but nothing more. Heā€™s not in an O.R. anymore and thatā€™s his problem. I spend my days in and OR too but Iā€™d make a shitty government guy and I know it.

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I wonder if Trump would let Carson perform surgery on him?
:smirk:

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ETTD ā€¦ but, Carsonā€™s unhinged words and his corrupt and mean-spirited actions are contributing causes of his demise.

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If you go to work in this administration, statistically speaking, you are probably already damaged (or very damage-prone) goods.

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Thereā€™s a reason he stopped being a surgeon. He spent too much time around anesthesiologists (the ā€œGas Companyā€) and it dulled his senses. I bet any of us could beat him in Operation these days.

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Bean Carson is a real mystery to me. Itā€™s hard for me to put ā€œbrilliant surgeonā€ behind the name of someone who seems barely awake and rarely speaks with any intelligence. Why did he leave medicine at such a young age?

My guess is that he had a brain injury, or some other health issue that made him incapable of practicing medicine. Remember, surgeons donā€™t just cut; they also manage patientsā€™ IV fluids, medications, including antibiotics, steroid, etc, and in his case on children, including babies. They were very complex cases, and he must have been very good at it at one time. My guess is that he really started botching things, and lawsuits came home to Hopkins. They must have let him go. What amazes me is that no other Dr, no OR nurse or OR tech has come out with so much as a hint.

He got on the book-selling and self-improvement bandwagon, and was doing so well at it he thought being president would be fun. He and his wife are simply grifters now, and the ā€˜trump effectā€™ is reciprocal, as it is with all of trumpā€™s lackeys.

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As a black person, this man gives being black a bad name. I grew up in a home where working for what you want was a common theme. You didnā€™t do handouts. But I know for a fact, this man would have been persona non grata in my home. Denigrating your own and then trying to make it seem as if you care is BS.

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Laugh all you want Libtards. But when End Times come only Dr. Ben will know where all that good grain is hidden. Hint: no longer in the pyramids.

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ā€œYou canā€™t take away the fact that heā€™s done outstanding things for people throughout his life, that canā€™t be erased,ā€ said Schmoke, who has been friends with Carson for decades. ā€œBut I do think thereā€™s clearly more people who view him through a political lens and that affects how heā€™s viewed here.ā€

I find the passivity of this statement curious, as if the ā€œpolitical lensā€ is a vague social force that came into focus for incomprehensible reasons.

Itā€™s pretty simple: Perceptions of Carsonā€™s public persona changed because of his public, political actions.

  • He chose to be a candidate for President in the party that is inimical to the interests of African-Americans.
  • He made a spectacle of himself with an array of bizarre statements. Who remembers the one about the pharaohs building the pyramids to store grain? People justifiably have a hard time reconciling this degree of buffoonery with someone who was supposed to be a world-class neurosurgeon.
  • He chose to be a functionary in Trumpā€™s racist regime. Regardless of what racist new depth Trump has sunk to, Carson dutifully keeps his mouth shut.
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What do you expect? Everyone who associates themselves with the Asshole-elect quickly becomes either stupid, venal, or dangerous.

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ā€œYou canā€™t take away the fact that heā€™s done outstanding things for people throughout his life, that canā€™t be erased,ā€ said Schmoke,

Sure it can. Heā€™s easily in a position to eclipse any good heā€™s done with tragic harm. I hope they melt is wax statue.

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Just another Trumpian dignity wraith floating through the ether.

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Exactly ā€“ many of the surgeons I know couldnā€™t manage their way out of a paper bag, and thatā€™s not meant as an insult, only a factual observation. Being a neurosurgeon doesnā€™t dis-qualify him from anything, of course, but likewise it doesnā€™t uniquely qualify him for anything except, well, neurosurgery. :wink:

Carson is close to the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to things like wisdom and empathy, compared to the surgeons I interact with. But heā€™s on the spectrum. Nothing too unusual about where he falls, honestly.

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But I do think thereā€™s clearly more people who view him through a political lens

Itā€™s appalling to watch people try to reduce all this to politics, as though itā€™s just a ā€œopinions varyā€ kind of thing.

Carson was able to succeed, and from the lofty perch he now occupies, heā€™s pulling up the ladder. He and his supporters assume that a young clone of Carson would be able to achieve the same success in the environment that Carson is creating. Carson seems like a classic Randian/Social Darwinist: he sees no problem with implementing a regime in which only the extraordinarily gifted can possibly thrive.

He is making it harder for the poor and disempowered to succeed, and easier for them to fail. Those are facts. There is absolutely no virtue in doing that.

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