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.”
Don’t worry about construction. Trump knows something about construction
I always liked ‘Gentle Ben.’ A good man. Accomplished surgeon, etc. Will be fine is this position. Although surprised he was not named Surgeon General.
Yes, but Trump will be too busy. Carson is too sweet a person for this job.
They fund construction, using our tax dollars, but HUD is not in the construction business.
The first really questionable cabinet pick Trump has made so far. In my not-so-humble opinion.
“So HUD is now in the role of psychologist/social worker?”
Well, yeah, they always were. The social reformers had no idea how to warehouse all those relative unemployables that swarmed to the big cities, so HUD was the response in trying to keep what would otherwise be homeless people in one place so they could at least be counted. When cities found out they were also a potential voter base, the symbiosis became complete.
Ben Carson is the primary outreach man...the point man in this effort.
He will have a executive officer to serve as COO and run day-to-day operations.
“So your argument is that unqualified people have held the position before?”
No the argument is that leadership skills are transferable regardless of the job.
Jack Kemp used the leadership he developed as a quarterback and the research skills he developed as a congressman to perform a different job well because those skills transferred to his new job.
There is no reason to think that the abilty to make decisions under pressure, to trust one’s judgement, the attention to detail, the ability to trust one’s team, to delegate parts of a task to others, and the ability to break complex problems down to manageable steps-all attributes of good surgeons -are not things that Ben Carson couldn’t transfer to his new job.
Details can be delegated leadership cannot.
I’m not saying he will be great but there is no reason to automatically believe that Ben Carson could not perform adequately in the job. HUD also not a real high profile department
If he had experience the he would be part of the system.
Surgeon General seems a largely ceremonial post.
“Please don’t smoke. Please don’t eat too much.”
Way beneath his potential.
Which of course places you in jeparody of ridicule
Let me repeat that.....
“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.”
Were we separated at birth?
Dr. Ben Carson is a bad choice for what HUD has been doing but an excellent choice for what HUD ought to do. Once again, a good choice by President Trump.
Your misunderstanding is near total. Actually probably just gross ignorance.
Dr Carson will take the lead on the Trump effort to bring change to the rotten inner cities. He is one of the very few high profile Americans with honest to God experience in the inner cities. That is his heritage
Housing and urban development would be better run by taking things away. Like a surgeon might do.
The False Choice Fallacy is a favorite leftist trick. Don’t be a leftist.
Trump will set the policy and direction and Carson will carry it out. Too many lived the Clinton years and fell for their BS that cabinet secretaries were out there doing all the bad stuff on their own.
This is an outstanding pick of someone who will embody the hopes and aspirations of many on the fringe of society. It also represents DJT making food on his promises to re-invigorate the inner city.
Carson is a talented and insightful genius, one of the best our country has to offer. He hinted that his greatest impact in the administration could be in an area like this rather than in something related to his specialty, medicine.
Thought he would make a great surgeon general. Probably wouldn’t try to teach kids how to masturbate.
If he had urban, inner city experience then judging by most urban areas he would likely be the wrong man. Trump can provide him with builders. He is there to see clearly and chase out corruption.
Ha ha!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.