GREENVILLE, South Carolina — Calling Donald Trump’s recent attacks on his character “completely gratuitous,” Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson told reporters Friday he hopes to move on from the nasty dialogue that has, in part, made his closest rival so popular among primary voters.
“It’s not the kind of dialogue that I would ever engage in,” Carson said ahead of a town hall at Bob Jones University that’s expected to draw over 5,000 people. “I’m hopeful that maybe [Trump’s] advisers will help him understand the word ‘pathological,’ and recognize that it does not denote ‘incurable.’”
“Pathological,” Carson continued, “describes something that is highly abnormal — something that fortunately, I’ve been able to be delivered from for over half a century.”
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Carson’s remarks come less than one day after Trump gave a candid interview with CNN, during which the real estate mogul likened Carson’s self-professed “pathological temper” to an incurable disease, namely child molestation. In a 90-plus minute speech Thursday, Trump also jumped on recent scrutiny surrounding Carson’s personal biography, suggesting Carson fabricated stories such as his account of attempting to stab a childhood friend.
Never one to back down, Trump released an Instagram video on Friday about Carson that stated: “Violent criminal or pathological liar? We don’t need either as president.”
Asked about Trump’s remarks, Carson said Friday that he didn’t believe Trump called him a child molester and accused the media of twisting the story. “I always find it a little amusing what people in the press like to say,” Carson said.
Emma Margolin
Emma Margolin is a reporter at MSNBC.com.