# Would you rather have Ben Carson as president right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 4, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867 "2018-01-04T20:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/21 "2018-01-05T00:30:17Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Trump is incompetent, and he is laying bare the problems in the Republican party to hasten their demise. It’s dangerous, but if we make it through this, I’ll be glad we had Trump to show us how bad it can actually get. Yeah. I will never be happy that Trump won, but when I think of the damage that a halfway competent rubber-stamp Republican would have done, I shudder. It’s no small consolation to see Trump so badly damaging the GOP inadvertently (or advertently, who the hell knows). Bannon, Trump, and McConnell deserve each other and I’m enjoying that spectacle. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/22 "2018-01-05T01:10:20Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I have to say I don’t subscribe to this “crucible of hardship that will ultimately forge a better future for America” idea of Trump that you seem to have. Admittedly, it works better in retrospect than it does prospectively. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/23 "2018-01-05T01:48:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ben Carson is on the list of people that I wouldn’t prefer over Donald Trump as president. That puts him in the company of my brother, Vladamir Putin, … Phrasing! ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/24 "2018-01-05T02:26:10Z")
I’d prefer Carson. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/25 "2018-01-05T02:28:59Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > … Plus hopefully Trump’s presidency will be followed by a wave of reforms to strengthen our checks and balances. We wouldn’t get that with Carson. What sort of “reforms to strengthen our checks and balances” would you like to see? Personally, I have a hard time imagining Dems mving to curtail the power of the presidency if one of their own holds the office, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/26 "2018-01-05T03:24:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Your brother isn’t Drunk Uncle by any chance, is he? Drunk Uncle excuses himself and leaves early if my brother is there. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/27 "2018-01-05T03:28:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It’s remarkable how little baggage Carson carries. No, he lost it for a while but it [just showed up](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mFyWqAaWSyE&t=38s). Carson may not be as openly malicious as Trump, but he is easily just as ignorant, and would readily be manipulated by the Seventh Day Adventist church that did everything short of ordering its members to boost and vote for him in the primary. This is a man who, despite being a presumably highly educated neurosurgeon, that [homosexuality is a choice](https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=15s&v=PwVSQ5kGXMA) (and believes marriage to be a ‘states rights’ issue), believes that [evolution is a liberal conspiracy](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqtgKSlW1o), and that [the Egyption pyramids are grain silos](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhol3WdB4QU). Trump is at least blatantly a self-serving huckster and the rest of the world realizes it. Carson is a fucking nutter of the first order, and who knows what cracktastic idea he is going to come up with next. Trump has at least done the service of actively alienating much of the country (record low net approval ratings of any US President in the modern era) and has also fragmented not only ‘his’ party but his own Cabinet and advisors. With luck, he’ll self-destruct or get taken down by the Mueller investigation before he starts a war with North Korea, and go off in a huff insisting he can pardon himself for the crimes he didn’t commit (leaving us with Mike Pence, which, ugh, but still) and maybe we can have an election between sensible candidates in 2020, provided Clinton can stop herself from insisting that it’s “her time” this round. Carson is so far off the bug it isn’t clear who would be in control or what nonsense decision he’d come up with next based upon fraudulent pseudoscience and a belief system which is bizarre even by Christian evangelical standards. “I’ll take ‘narcissist politicians’ for $800, Alex.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/28 "2018-01-05T03:29:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Personally, I have a hard time imagining Dems mving to curtail the power of the presidency if one of their own holds the office, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised to be wrong. And I just in the past few years witnessed Obama refusing attempts by the Republicans to give him huge amounts of additional power. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/29 "2018-01-05T03:44:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I just in the past few years witnessed Obama refusing attempts by the Republicans to give him huge amounts of additional power. What are you referring to here? I remember Republicans being upset about the DACA executice order and quite a few other things they felt were executive overreach. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/30 "2018-01-05T03:51:25Z")
No, those were all powers that the President has always had, since 1789. I’m referring to things like the debt ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/31 "2018-01-05T05:57:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, those were all powers that the President has always had, since 1789… That’s kind of funny, because ConLaw professor Obama said several times that the president did NOT have that power. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/32 "2018-01-05T12:35:09Z")
Tough choice, they’re both idiots, though Carson is an idiot savant and was at one time adept in brain surgery while being completely at sea with regard to every other field of knowledge. Right now, Carson would be infinitely better if we take the short term view. If we look at the highly desirable goal of the complete destruction of the Republican Party, then Donald is the better choice. So if we survive however long Putin’s puppet stays in power, then we’re better off with Donald. If we don’t, then we’ll regret not having Carson. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/33 "2018-01-05T12:42:24Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > That’s kind of funny, because ConLaw professor Obama said several times that the president did NOT have that power. Actual quote? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/34 "2018-01-05T14:51:37Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I have to say I don’t subscribe to this “crucible of hardship that will ultimately forge a better future for America” idea of Trump that you seem to have. Fair enough. It could just make things worse by moving the overton window and making authoritarianism, criminality, corruption and gross incompetence acceptable behavior among politicians. My hope is that Trump forces us to face who we truly are as a nation and start addressing it. But it may empower those forces instead. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/35 "2018-01-05T14:57:50Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Actual quote? You can read a couple of them here: [source](http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/apr/25/bob-goodlatte/goodlatte-obama-said-22-times-he-lacks-power-chang/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/36 "2018-01-05T15:29:59Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > You can read a couple of them here: > > [source](http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/apr/25/bob-goodlatte/goodlatte-obama-said-22-times-he-lacks-power-chang/) What does immigration law have to do with the debt ceiling? Obama was referring to _changing_ immigration law, not whether he had the power to enforce immigration law. ETA: There’s no mention of the debt ceiling in your “cite”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/37 "2018-01-05T16:15:31Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > What does immigration law have to do with the debt ceiling? > Obama was referring to _changing_ immigration law, not whether he had the power to enforce immigration law. Correct. In fact, in every instance noted in that factcheck, Obama explicitly says that he has the authority to determine how the law is enforced, especially since Congress only authorized enough money to deport a fraction of the folks here illegally. That alone requires prioritization. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/38 "2018-01-05T17:35:45Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > What does immigration law have to do with the debt ceiling? > Obama was referring to _changing_ immigration law, not whether he had the power to enforce immigration law. > > ETA: There’s no mention of the debt ceiling in your “cite”. I think we were talking past each other. When I said “Obama said several times that the president did NOT have that power”, the “that power” I was referring to was the power to enact the DREAM Act via executive order. > [@Obama](#): > > I strongly believe we should fix our broken immigration system. (Applause.) Fix it so that it meets our 21st-century economic and security needs. And I want to work with Democrats and Republicans, yes, to protect our borders, and enforce our laws, and address the status of millions of undocumented workers. (Applause.) And I will keep fighting alongside many of you to make the DREAM Act the law of the land. (Applause.) > > Like all of this country’s movements towards justice, it will be difficult and it will take time. **I know some here wish that I could just bypass Congress and change the law myself. (Applause.) But that’s not how democracy works. See, democracy is hard. But it’s right.** > > Changing our laws means doing the hard work of changing minds and changing votes, one by one. And I am convinced we can change the laws, because we should all be able to agree that it makes no sense to expel talented young people from our country. They grew up as Americans. [source](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/29/remarks-president-miami-dade-college-commencement) > [@Obama](#): > > And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of **getting the Dream Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true**.” [source](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-daca-dreamers_us_58593f7ce4b0b3ddfd8ea15b) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/39 "2018-01-05T17:46:05Z")
He said that he couldn’t change the law himself, and he didn’t change the law himself. What’s the contradiction? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867/40 "2018-01-05T17:49:02Z")
Wasn’t he always making up the laws himself, ignoring Congress, acting as a dictator? Or was that a different Obama the Pubs were always harping about? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-ben-carson-as-president-right-now/805867.md?page=3)