Seriously. Ben Carson is on the president of the United States’ cabinet. I mean, we all knew his presidential run was a joke…but couldn’t it have stopped there? Of course not because Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency are as much of a joke and one of the proofs of that is the fact Ben Freaking Carson is on his cabinet.
It’s a huge mystery how someone like Ben Carson is a brain surgeon because when you hear the guy talk, you would rather have Charlie Sheen cracking open your head and poking around with a scalpel than Dr. Carson. But from all accounts, he’s a brilliant brain surgeon, which means he’s either the rain man of brain surgery or he got so confident in his ability, that he performed brain surgery on himself.
When not spending his time as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ordering expensive furniture and an $8,000 dishwasher for his office…yes, a dishwasher…Carson is busy not familiarizing himself with the duties of the HUD director. This was fully evident during his congressional testimony Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee.
When questioned about the implications of HUD’s proposed budget cuts by Representative Ayanna Pressley, Carson refused to answer. He even got frustrated that Pressley was asking questions from notes and said, “ask me some questions yourself and stop reading.” As you know, Trump cultists are very suspicious of people who read.
When a witness is being difficult and stalling for time, a representative will often “reclaim” their time, as each is only given a few minutes. At one point during the exchange, Carson said he was “reclaiming my time.” What time was Carson reclaiming? Witnesses don’t reclaim time because they don’t have time to reclaim. It’s small wonder he didn’t ask for a lifeline to call a friend. From the portrait in his home that was broadcast through social media, that friend would have been Jesus.
But, the most mind-boggling and disturbing exchange occurred with Representative Katie Porter when she was asking him about foreclosed real estate properties.
Porter asked Carson to explain the disparity in REO rates. As Carson looked confused, well more confused than usual, Porter asked him if he knew what an “REO” was. Carson responded with, “An Oreo?” Yes, Dr. Carson. Because Congress wants you to stand before a committee and talk about cookies.
Porter informed him that an “REO” is an acronym for “Real Estate Owned.” It’s not a cookie or a crappy rock band from the 1980s that specialized in sentimental cheesy pop (Best or worst lyric in rock and roll history, “you laid still in the grass all coiled up and hissing”).
Carson offered to get Porter in touch with “people who do that” (deal with foreclosed properties) at HUD, oblivious to the fact that Porter, before she ran for Congress, was California’s independent monitor of banks in a nationwide $25 billion mortgage settlement.
Carson later tweeted that he was sending some Oreo cookies to Porter, which she confirmed she had received. As to any answers she had requested, those were still in limbo.
Donald Trump proved he doesn’t take the job of president seriously by putting someone like Ben Carson on his cabinet. Granted, Carson is just one of several unqualified and corrupt people on the president’s cabinet, but he’s probably the dumbest.
Granted, you and I probably wouldn’t have known what an “REO” was, but we’re not the HUD director. I’m also pretty sure we wouldn’t have thought it was a cookie.
As for Carson and his Oreos, I do hope he has supervision if he’s dunking in milk. We don’t want him to make a mess or hurt himself.
Be Complicit
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