Ben Carson On His Critics: 'People Are So Stupid'

Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, said people are just "stupid" when they say he's not qualified to lead the nation's housing agency. (Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, said people are just "stupid" when they say he's not qualified to lead the nation's housing agency. (Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON ― Ben Carson said Wednesday that people who doubt his qualifications to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs are just a bunch of dumb-dumbs.

“You know, people are so stupid,” Carson said at an event hosted by The Hill.

The neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate said when President Donald Trump tapped him earlier this year to run the nation’s housing programs, a lot of people wondered why he got the job since he has no experience in housing policy. He said that’s not the point; it’s about being able to lead.

“I guarantee the CEO of Massachusetts General or Johns Hopkins … probably don’t know a lot about infectious diseases,” said Carson. “But they have a lot of people who do know about those things. By coordinating and creating a vision and creating an atmosphere where the synergies work, they create a very successful organization.”

(In fact, the CEO of Massachusetts General did his residency at that hospital and trained in internal medicine. Meanwhile, the CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine is a molecular immunologist.)

Carson also said Wednesday he thinks the media has been too harsh on Trump, and defended the president’s recent phone call to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger this month. Carson said it’s not fair that people are criticizing Trump for telling Myeshia that her husband knew “what he was getting into” by joining the military.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who was with Johnson’s family for the call, said Trump’s words upset them. The president and the White House have publicly attacked Wilson over it, but family members have confirmed Wilson’s account.

“I think there were people who were just looking for something to complain about,” said Carson, who did not clarify if he was talking about Wilson or the Johnson family. “If [Trump] had said, you know, ‘Sorry, this is sure a dark day for you,’ they would have said, ‘He’s a racist. He said a dark day.’”

He added, “To say ‘he knew what he was getting into,’ you know, that makes me admire [Sgt. La David T. Johnson] even more, that he was willing to sacrifice for his fellow Americans.”

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Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, Ben Carson, Ralph Abernathy and Levy Watkins at Johns Hopkins University during a celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, Baltimore, Maryland, 1980. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)
Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, Ben Carson, Ralph Abernathy and Levy Watkins at Johns Hopkins University during a celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, Baltimore, Maryland, 1980. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)
SINGAPORE - JULY 6:  In this handout photo from Raffles Hospital, Dr. Keith Goh (left) adjusts the frame on conjoined twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani as Dr. Ben Carson observes the start of neurosurgery proceedings at the Raffles Hospital July 6, 2003 in Singapore. Doctors reported positive early progress in the operation to separate the 29 year old twins, who are joined at the head. (Photo by Raffles Hopsital/Getty Images)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL - NOVEMBER 06:  Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks to the media before speaking at a gala for the Black Republican Caucus of South Florida at PGA National Resort on November 6, 2015 in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Carson has come under media scrutiny for possibly exaggerating his background and other statements he has made recently.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
US neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson addresses a press conference at the Indraprashtra Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, 04 October 2005. Carson is ready to separate ten-year-old Indian twins Sabah and Farah joined at the head as soon as their parents give permission, an Indian hospital official said. Carson and a team of 20 specialists approved the procedure after studying an angiogram of the brains of the twins at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in the Indian capital, said medical director Anupam Sibal. But the final decision rests with the parents of the twins, who were to return to Patna, capital of the impoverished eastern Indian state of Bihar, to consult with friends and family, Sibal told a media conference at the hospital.
Dr. Ben Carson is interviewed during a live streaming Web-A-Thon with Wake Up America September 5, 2014 at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who would run in the 2016 Presidential campaign as a conservative for the Tea Party.
Dr. Ben Carson is interviewed during a live streaming Web-A-Thon with Wake Up America September 5, 2014 at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who would run in the 2016 Presidential campaign as a conservative for the Tea Party.
Ben Carson, possible 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. The 42nd annual CPAC, which runs until Feb. 28, features most of the potential Republican candidates for president, from Carson and Carly Fiorina to Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. 
Dr. Ben Carson (C) chats with guests after a live streaming Web-A-Thon with Wake Up America September 5, 2014 at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who would run in the 2016 Presidential campaign as a conservative for the Tea Party. 
Dr. Ben Carson (C) chats with guests after a live streaming Web-A-Thon with Wake Up America September 5, 2014 at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who would run in the 2016 Presidential campaign as a conservative for the Tea Party. 
Johns Hopkins Children's Center Neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson (C) holds a model of the conjoined twins Lea and Tabea Block during a press conference, 16 September, 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland. Surgeons completed the separation of the twins from Lemgo, Germany, who had been joined at the head, but Tabea died of major complications associated with the surgery. 
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) presents a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. M.D (L), for his work withneurological disorders during an East Room ceremony June 19, 2008 at the White House in Washington, DC. The medal is the nation's highest civilian award.
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) presents a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. M.D (L), for his work withneurological disorders during an East Room ceremony June 19, 2008 at the White House in Washington, DC. The medal is the nation's highest civilian award.

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