The stage for tonight’s prime-time Republican presidential debate will be occupied by businesspersons, U.S. senators, current and former governors, and, in Jeet Heer’s words, a “genial fanatic,” whom you probably know better as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
The New Republic’s Heer opined in a Wednesday article that Carson “combines extreme ideas with a comforting, trust-inducing persona” and explained that those ideas are tailor-made for the GOP base: “For those who aren’t on the far right, the dog-whistle references Carson made in the [Cleveland] debate to Hillary Clinton following the ‘Alinksy [sic] model’ and ‘taking advantage of the useful idiots’ might seem like gibberish, for instance, but they are part of a familiar litany on the hard right, where Obama and the Clintons are seen as thinly disguised socialist revolutionaries.”
From Heer’s piece (bolding added):
As the [first prime-time] debate unfolded, I frankly thought Carson did a terrible job. His speech was often halting and uncertain, lacking the polish of the more professional politicians and the confidence of [Donald] Trump, whose veteran skills as a reality show star were amply displayed by how quickly and assuredly he fielded hostile questions. Carson, to my eyes, seemed like the odd man out on stage, an undeniably gifted surgeon who was out of [h]is depth in matters of public policy.
As we all now know, I was wrong. The first debate wasn’t a disaster for Carson but the beginning of his ascent…
What I neglected to consider was the possibility that the same electorate that would forgive Trump’s boorish and often false statements—would be equally indulgent of Carson’s lack of policy expertise…Carson has been hurt no more than Trump by his record of clueless and mistaken comments.
Stylistically, of course, Trump and Carson couldn’t be farther apart…Yet despite these surface differences, the two men have much in common as anti-politicians…
But they are appealing to different sets of Republican voters...While Trump has managed to gain traction with Republicans who identify themselves as moderate, Carson is making a more traditional pitch to the party’s hardline conservative base. For those who aren’t on the far right, the dog-whistle references Carson made in the debate to Hillary Clinton following the “Alinksy [sic] model” and “taking advantage of the useful idiots” might seem like gibberish, for instance, but they are part of a familiar litany on the hard right, where Obama and the Clintons are seen as thinly disguised socialist revolutionaries. The same goes for Carson’s argument that the tax code should be based on the Biblical ideal of tithing (conflating religion with secular policy making)—and his waving aside of concerns about torture as “political correctness.”
The key to Carson’s rise if that he’s finding a niche for himself as both an anti-Trump and an anti-Obama. For Republicans who see Obama and social movements like Black Lives Matter as encouraging social breakdown and divisiveness, Carson presents himself as a reassuring model of racial reconciliation, a black man who eschews bitterness and can succeed without raising his voice about racism…
Carson is a paradoxical figure: a genial fanatic who combines extreme ideas with a comforting, trust-inducing persona. On a personal level he’s much more winning tha[n] Trump, but in policy terms no less frightening…
…As we learned last month, onstage antics that might look outlandish or amateur-hour could be the key to winning. The Republican audience is as much a part of the drama as the candidates on stage, and we have to understand them as well as those aspiring to the White House. Carson, it seems, understands them very well.
