Ben Carson hopes Americans pray for Donald Trump after his GOP presidential rival compared him with child molesters.
“When I spoke with Dr. Carson about this yesterday [about] how we should respond, you know, he was so sad about it,” Armstrong Williams, Carson’s friend and business partner, told CNN Friday.
{mosads}“He said: ‘Pray for him,’ ” he said of Carson’s response. “He feels sorry because he really likes Mr. Trump. To see him just imploding before our very eyes — it’s sad to watch.”
Williams argued that Trump feels threatened by Carson’s close proximity with him in the race for next year’s Republican presidential nomination.
“Obviously, he only wants to be on the stage by himself, crowned the nominee and running against the eventual Democratic nominee,” he said.
“It is so immature; it is so embarrassing,” Williams added, noting Trump “cannot fathom” losing the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
Trump shocked listeners by linking Carson’s past struggles with violence and the tendencies of child molesters Thursday evening.
“It’s in the book that he’s got a pathological temper,” he said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” referencing Carson’s memoir, “Gifted Hands.”
“That’s a big problem because you don’t cure that,” Trump continued. “As an example: child molesting. You don’t cure these people. You don’t cure a child molester. There’s no cure for it. Pathological, there’s no cure for that.
“I’m not saying anything that’s not in his book. I’m not saying anything other than pathological is a very serious disease.”
Carson has frequently described his impoverished youth in Detroit as marked by multiple violent incidents. He has recounted incidents in which he attempted to stab a friend and attempted to hit his mother with a hammer.
Trump also expressed skepticism of Carson’s recollections during campaign rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa Thursday evening.
“Give me a break, give me a break, give me a break,” he said, referencing Carson’s claim that his friend emerged unscathed during their fight when a knife broke on their belt buckle.
“How stupid are the people of Iowa?” Trump asked. “How stupid are the people of this country to believe this crap?”
Carson has touted his religious faith as a Christian for resolving his past aggression and making him a better citizen. Trump is now striking a harsher tone against the retired neurosurgeon following their formerly warm public relationship.