As Ben Carson inches closer to him in the polls, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he is ready to take on the retired neurosurgeon in the same way he’s pounced on other candidates.
The outspoken businessman said Wednesday he “can’t really explain” Carson’s recent surge to second place in the GOP field, but thinks it has something to do with the attention Carson received for comments he made about not supporting a Muslim as president of the U.S.
“He’s been getting a lot of ink on the Muslims and other things and I guess people look at that and they probably like it,” Trump told “Good Morning America’s” George Stephanopoulos.
If Carson continues to get “ink,” Trump hinted that he could soon axe his friendship with the fellow outsider candidate, whom he described as a “good guy” earlier in the interview.
“We get along very well – we’ll see if that continues,” the billionaire said, adding that “probably, at some point,” he’ll take off his gloves and go after the former doctor.
“Which I actually look forward to doing … I can’t do it though, he’s been so nice to me, George. I can’t do it,” Trump rambled on, indecisively.
Should the GOP front-runner launch attacks against Carson, they would likely involve criticism of Carson’s “lack of experience.”
“Ben is a doctor … that’s what he’s been doing,” Trump said. “The question is, would he be capable of negotiating with China, Russia and Iran, and all of the things you have to do?”
“There will be a lot of things having to do with capacity, having to do with experience,” he added, referring to the potential subject of his attacks.
A Fox News poll released Tuesday showed Carson closing in on Trump with just 1 percentage point separating the two non-politician candidates. According to the survey, Carson, who earned 23 percent support among Republican voters, is viewed as more ethical than Trump, a savvy businessman with decades of experience in real estate and reality TV.
Whereas 42 percent of respondents described Carson as “more ethical” than President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and others, just 22 percent said the same of Trump.
Trump is first and Carson second in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
