Name: Benjamin Solomon "Ben" Carson
Party: Republican
Date of Birth: September 18, 1951
What He Does Now: Carson is a vice chairman on the Trump transition team. He's also the national chairman of "My Faith Votes." Along with his wife, Carson is the co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, a philanthropic organization that awards $1,000 college scholarships to fourth- through eleventh-graders and builds "reading rooms" nationwide.
What He Used to Do: Carson ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, declaring his candidacy May 4, 2015. As chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Carson was the first doctor to successfully separate conjoined twins fused at the head during a 22-hour marathon operation in 1987. He was also a pioneer in hemispherectomy, a procedure that removes half the brain to treat intractable seizures.
How He Grew Up: Carson grew up in "dire poverty" with an illiterate single mother in Detroit. Sonya Carson (née Copeland) worked two or three jobs at a time rather than "give up" and accept welfare, Carson said, instilling a tremendous work ethic in him and his older brother, Curtis.
Key Life and Career Moments: Carson burst on the political scene at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, where he condemned political correctness, saying it "muffles people – it puts a muzzle on them." In front of President Obama, Carson blasted the tax code and criticized the president’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
One Thing You Need to Know to Understand Him: Frustrated by his family’s tough circumstances, a young Carson once tried to stab a classmate in the gut with a camping knife after a minor disagreement. Luckily, a large metal belt buckle blocked the blade. "I was more terrified as I recognized that I was trying to kill somebody over nothing," he later explained. "I just locked myself up in the bathroom and started praying, ‘Lord, I can’t deal with this temper.’ And I picked up my Bible."
Family tree: Carson met his wife, Candy, at Yale, where he earned his undergraduate degree. He earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan. They have three sons: Ben Jr. ("B.J."), Rhoeyce, and Murray.
Star turn: Carson is the subject of a made-for-TV movie, "Gifted Hands," starring Cuba Gooding Jr.
Relationship with Donald Trump:
Carson had a contentious relationship with Trump during the primary when he was still a candidate. At one point he led the Republican presidential field in national polls -- even topping Trump -- but his numbers sagged and he never regained the top spot.
At the height of their rivalry, Trump compared Carson to a child molester in an interview with CNN last November saying “It’s in the book that he’s got a pathological temper. That’s a big problem because you don’t cure that ... as an example: child molesting. You don’t cure these people.”
Trump often called Carson “pathological” during their rivalry, asking the crowd of 1,500 Iowans before the caucus last year: “how stupid are the people of Iowa to believe this crap?,” focusing on a story from Carson’s book where discusses his rough upbringing and his attempt to stab someone and the knife blade breaking.
However, the two have mended their relationship since then and have remained close. Carson has since been a loyal supporter and senior adviser to Trump, and endorsed him one week after dropping out of the race.
from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2gcbL5C
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