Ben Carson is ending his campaign after a run of fourth and fifth-place showings in the Super Tuesday primaries — but even now, he’s doing it in a somewhat rambling, passive-aggressive tone aimed at the fact that he’s not been taken seriously as a candidate.
“I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit,” Carson said in a statement Wednesday. “Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America. I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results.”
Carson also explained that he “will discuss more about the future of this movement during my speech on Friday at CPAC in Washington, D.C.”
After briefly shooting up in the polls last year with a campaign based around his life story of coming from a poor and troubled upbringing to being a celebrated neurosurgeon, Carson quickly declined — and then the candidate himself began phoning it in, officially switching from a campaign to a book tour.
Perhaps the biggest news to actually come out regarding the Carson campaign was a dirty trick that Ted Cruz’s campaign did against him in Iowa, sending out word as the caucuses began that the good doctor was dropping out and that his supporters should over to Cruz. (Carson was flying home to Florida — to get some clean clothes, he said, a move that sure seemed odd to a lot of people.)
As things went on and on, over time a lot of people speculated that his campaign might have really been functioning more as a fundraising scam for his consultants.
Eventually, Carson himself began to wonder. “We had people who didn’t really seem to understand finances,” Carson told CNN last week, regarding a campaign shake-up. “Or maybe they did — maybe they were doing it on purpose.”
Here is the complete statement:
I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit. Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America. I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results. However, this grassroots movement on behalf of “We the People” will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for President, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation.
I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America. Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.
I will discuss more about the future of this movement during my speech on Friday at CPAC in Washington, D.C.
– Ben
