i do think Carson was taken advantage of:
by CNN— that hates conservatives—and this of course includes Carson
by Trump— who called him pathological again and again and mocked his religious conversion following his violent youth
Trumps original ad hominem attacks against Carson that were so absurd and drove his original high numbers down should be the more reasonable focus of his problems— not the odd logistics of his peculiar travel revelations.
Carson was taken advantage of by team Cruz. To be fair, they saw it on CNN, but Cruz should know how much, in your words, that CNN hates conservatives. I guess the smartest guy in the room is not that smart, not that Christian, and sorry to say, not that conservative.