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GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson. (AP)
Donald Trump stressed his business experience Sunday in drawing contrasts with his latest fast-rising challenger, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
“I’m a deal maker, I’ll make great deals for this country,”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump said on CBS’ Face The Nation. “Ben can’t do that. Ben’s a doctor, and he’s not a deal maker.”
Also appearing on CBS, Carson declined to engage Trump, instead trumpeting his experience in the medical and corporate worlds. Carson said he would be humble enough as president to bring together the finest minds in the country to address problems.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“What we need to do is put our talents together,” Carson said on Face The Nation.
Asked if Trump is “humble enough” to be president, Carson said: “That will be a decision that the voters will make.”
Trump and Carson appeared on CBS as the network’s “Battleground Tracker” polls<span style="color: Red;">*</span>show them in first and second places, respectively,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the states holding the first nominating contests of 2016. They are far ahead of other Republicans in the crowded race for the GOP nomination.
Trump, Carson and other “outsider” candidates, such as businesswoman Carly Fiorina, are stressing their credentials as non-politicians, and arguing that the nation’s current political leaders have failed the voters.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Carson’s recent rise in a series of Republican polls<span style="color: Red;">*</span>earns him a spot next to Trump in Wednesday’s Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., the second debate of this election cycle.
Trump, who has led GOP polls for months, will again be in the center spot, just as he was for last month’s debate in Cleveland.
Recognizing Carson’s rise, Trump has also said that the low-key neurosurgeon lacks the “energy” needed to be president.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Ben Carson’s a very, very nice man, but this will not be a good situation because of the fact that he’s not a dealer, he’s not a negotiator and the President has to be,” Trump said on CBS.
In a separate appearance on ABC’s This Week, Carson said Trump’s criticism<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“doesn’t bother me, because I recognize that I have plenty of energy.”
Carson, who last week apologized to Trump for questioning his faith, said he isn’t going after the businessman’s voters in any event.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I’m going after everybody in America, because, you know, we live in very perilous times,” Carson said. “Our country is in grave danger.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> And if we don’t begin to change our direction and change our attitude, I think we may not survive into the future.”
With the Iowa caucuses more than four months away, Carson also noted that the race is not a sprint but a marathon.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“And that’s why we have this elongated process,” Carson said. “I think it will serve us well in the end.”
Meanwhile, another candidate — former New York Gov. George Pataki — has announced that he will not support Trump should he become the Republican nominee in 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Pataki, who will appear in a preliminary debate Wednesday with other low-polling<span style="color: Red;">*</span>candidates, used a series of tweets to assail Trump’s business record and insulting comments about female critics and Mexican migrants.
“I would hope that every one of my fellow candidates will stand up and say our party cannot nominate @RealDonaldTrump,” Pataki said in one tweet.
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