Posted on 12/05/2016 3:53:06 AM PST by usafa92
Dr. Ben Carson will be Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the president-elect’s transition team confirmed Monday morning.
“Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released by his team.”We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities. Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a Presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”
Carson heavily hinted at the HUD position in a Facebook post days earlier, writing, “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.”
“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration,” Carson was quoted as saying in the statement released Monday. “I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need. We have much work to do in enhancing every aspect of our nation and ensuring that our nation’s housing needs are met.”
Carson, who has never held elected office and failed earlier this year in a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, speculated to Fox News before Thanksgiving that Mr. Trump’s consideration for the HUD position was in part due to Carson’s upbringing.
“I grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there, and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities,” he said Tuesday.
The 65-year-old has no previous policy experience in the field of urban development.
Carson, who was raised in an impoverished area of Detroit, later rose to prominence as a renowned neurosurgeon who drew national political attention this year when he ran in the Republican primary race earlier this year.
While his presidential campaign was short-lived, Carson has continued to make headlines with his early endorsement of Mr. Trump, and his advisory role with the president-elect.
In September, Mr. Trump toured Carson’s boyhood neighborhood in Detroit with the retired doctor by his side. During that trip, the then-GOP nominee pitched African Americans on his plans for inner cities and promised a “civil rights agenda for our time.”
Carson’s role in the coming administration was unclear as late as last week. Even the neurosurgeon’s longtime friend and adviser, Armstrong Williams, told The Hill that Carson wasn’t interested in running a government agency because he’d never served in a federal capacity.
“Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency,” Armstrong said Tuesday. “The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”
Ok, his bona fides are that he grew up in the projects? This dude has no construction experience, he’s a hoity toity surgeon for God’s sake.
Jack Kemp was HUD Secretary with zero construction experience. He was a congressman and retired NFL quarterback.
I seem to recall that Carson was interested in running the Executive branch.
So your argument is that unqualified people have held the position before?
HUD is not in the construction business.
HUD is not in the construction business.
We don’t need to be constructing more public housing, we need to get people off the dole and into apartments or other cheap housing they can pay for.
He’s a Trump loyalist who checks the “black” box as a member of the cabinet.
And he won’t be out constructing anything. Trump may well have some good underlings to send his way if he really wants to shake up the agency.
I am glad that Ben is taking the post.
Au contraire mon frere, “housing” “development”.....
What is your characterization of the point of the agency?
So you voted for Hillary? She had lots of government experience. Much more than Trump.
ROFL!!!
I’ve revived no such tweet,
“Housing and Urban Development” has nothing to do with actual construction. Mostly, their mission (subject to creep, which has gotten us to where we now are) is to provide “safe, sound and sanitary” housing for the persons who cannot provide for the planning and development necessary in their lives to become highly productive citizens, and undertake the burden of actual home ownership. It is a mindset that has been encouraged and even forced in urban regions, contributing to the rot and corruption of municipalities, and general decline of neighborhoods most affected by this source of largesse.
Dr Carson’s mission would be to educate and encourage the reversal of this trend, showing people they CAN leave the projects and find a true upward trajectory in life.
Lefties won’t be happy
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/23/ben-carson-obamas-housing-rules-try-to-accomplish-/
eff no, I wouldn’t vote for that jackass, she was unqualified. Trump was far more qualified, he had actually held a real job in business, knows how to make a dollar. Don’t be daft.
It’s an executive position. Certainly someone with a doctorate can handle that.
Having grown up in the failed projects, he already knows from experience what doesn’t work.
It’s a corrupt agency, from what I’ve seen,seemingly a way for poorly-maintained properties to be supported by the Feds with rules favoring their total decline while the owner gets paid as long as he dances to the Federal tune.
Carson is honest. That in itself may go a long ways. The people living in HUD housing in rural areas, from what I’ve observed, are vulnerable, unprepared for the most part to take responsibility. Carson may or may not be capable of turning the Agency around. Good staff will help a lot.
So HUD is now in the role of psychologist/social worker?
Well, that’s it. Trump is showing his true colors now as a racist/misogynist. No blacks and no women appointees. Wait a minute...
He’s a good person, but he is too peaceable.
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