Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says 2016 GOP rival and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson isn’t the person to “take us to the promised land,” but that he’s a “good guy.”
“Carson’s a nice guy,” Mr. Trump said at a campaign event in South Carolina Tuesday. “I hit him so hard two weeks ago. My wife said, ’That was too nasty. That was too nasty.’ “
“Remember with the belt? … I said doesn’t happen that way,” he said. “My wife said that’s too nasty.”
At a recent event in Iowa, Mr. Trump went after Mr. Carson and cast doubt on the retired doctor’s story of how he tried to stab someone as a teenager but ended up hitting the person’s belt buckle. Mr. Trump moved his pants around at one point to try to show how unlikely that would be.
But on Tuesday, Mr. Trump largely held his fire against Mr. Carson, who remains near the top of recent polling on the 2016 GOP field but has seen his numbers slip a bit in recent surveys.
“So I’m going to say tonight I like Carson. He’s a nice man, OK?” Mr. Trump said. “Nice guy.”
“He’s not going to be able to take us to the promised land, and China’s dying to negotiate with him, but he’s a good guy,” Mr. Trump said. “He is a good guy.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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