Former presidential candidate Ben Carson said Wednesday his fellow Republicans who could share the ballot with presidential front-runner Donald Trump this fall need to consider how to handle the real estate mogul.
“With such a polarizing figure at the top of the ticket, the political ramifications are not as easy to decipher,” the retired neurosurgeon wrote a Washington Post op-ed, before breaking down the GOP downballot hopefuls’ options on how to handle the mogul’s candidacy. Carson laid out the options: “Dump Trump,” “Cuddle Trump,” “Lone Wolf,” “Prius Trump” and “the Ryan test.”
“Taking a cue from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), they will not condone and, instead, will aggressively attack any Trump policy that directly harms the Republican brand,” Carson wrote.
The “Lone Wolf” approach involves “not truly repudiating or embracing Trump,” and the “Prius approach” is a hybrid of pointing out the good in Trump as well as the bad.
Carson, who ended his presidential campaign on March 4, also weighed in on his fellow former competitors’ chances in confronting the eventual Democratic nominee.
“Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) is faring a bit better, yet everywhere I go, Cruz is the ‘yeah, but . . .’ candidate. Even when GOP faithful are walked through his conservative credentials or attack-dog approach to the Democratic front-runner, I often see a ‘yeah, but . . .’ shrug of the shoulders,” Carson wrote.
He had sharper words for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
“By most accounts, all that’s keeping Sen. Marco Rubio from getting drummed out of the race is one date and one state: March 15 and Florida. That’s not much of a firewall for the establishment’s last great hope,” Carson wrote.
Carson didn’t mention Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the op-ed.