Ben Carson has been named as Donald J. Trump’s new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In a public statement, President-elect Trump says his former rival has a brilliant mind and is passionate.
Carson’s appointment as housing secretary doesn’t come as much of a surprise. When he conceded as one of the 16 Republican nominees, he quickly lent his support to Trump.
Trump also says he’s “thrilled to nominate” Carson, saying he “has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.”
Carson is a retired neurosurgeon with no political experience and prior to the election, Trump called Carson a “pathological liar.” When Trump was elected, a spokesman for Carson said that he would not be taking a position in the Trump administration because he doesn’t know how to run a governmental agency.
“Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans,” Trump adds.
Carson, who grew up in Detroit’s inner city, penned his autobiography in 1996, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. In the book, he shares that his poverty-stricken mother was dependent on government food stamps, which he felt humiliated about having to use to purchase food. And he pointed out that he only excelled in school after he received his first pair of glasses.
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015, Carson said, “I’m interested in getting rid of dependency, and I want us to find a way to allow people to excel in our society, and as more and more people hear that message, they will recognize who is truly on their side and who is trying to keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes.”
