Ben Carson as Secretary of HUD Should Reflect How Much Republicans Care about the Nation’s Poor

As much as I might dislike Ben Carson, I can’t call him stupid. Isn’t he like a brain surgeon? If he isn’t stupid, it is much worse. Like President Trump. Say what you want about him, but he isn’t stupid. Every malicious and racist word to come from his big fat orange face, is out of greed. He only cares about himself.

If Ben Carson was stupid then we could blame his flagrant disregard for the nation’s poor and homeless, the people he is supposed to be fighting for, on his ineptitude. But we can’t. You can’t blame someone for their lack of knowledge. Ben Carson, has all of the knowledge. Like Trump, he just uses that knowledge to fatten his wallet. Kind of like the republican mantra, all they care about is themselves and their wealthy fat cat buddies.

This was why Trump nominated him. Do you think Trump really asked himself what person would be the best crusader for the nation’s poor? Or, do you think the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development was just a little bean bag that he tossed to Carson? He probably didn’t even know what the position was.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development was created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The department’s mission is “to increase home ownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination.”

As the rich get richer and the poor are left to squander breadcrumbs, that mission has become one of the most important goals in our country. However, Ben Carson’s time on the job has seen a disgusting ignorance of the needs of our nation’s poor. In February, the White House cut BILLIONS from HUD.

The budget outline also zeroes out the Public Housing Capital Fund, dedicated to rehabilitating and modernizing public housing developments, and eliminates the Community Development Block Grant which local governments can use at their discretion to address a variety of community and infrastructure needs. NPR

Hold on, it gets better!

Ben Carson’s justification of the cut, which will inevitably lead to children starving and families freezing huddled around a fire, exemplifies the evil in republicans.

In other words, Ben Carson is certain that in the long run, people living in public housing, will thank him when they get kicked out and they land a phat job and buy a mansion. “Thank you, Mr. Carson.”

That is how republicans justify pillaging coffers used to fund welfare and public housing. According to republicans, when people rely on “handouts” they are less likely to feel compelled to get a real job. This logic is such horse shit. Republican politicians spread these disgusting lies to justify taking that money away from people who really need it and then using that money to give themselves and their wealthy family members huge tax breaks.

A bible quote commonly featured in staunch conservative websites is:

“If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Of course, using a biblical quote to justify refusing a starving woman a loaf of bread, is entirely ridiculous.

Republicans shun hand outs. Unless of course, it is a trillion dollar corporate tax break. Those hand outs are fine.

Anyway, the same month that Ben Carson kicked thousands of families out into the cold, he bought a fancy dining room set for his office for more than $31,000!

Let’s not jump down his back just yet. In 2017, Carson touted his EnVisions Centers Project, which was supposed to be this awesome structure for low-income families where they could get job training, medical services and education.

Two years ago, Ben was so excited with his vision. He threw it out in every interview, he mentioned it to congress and even cabinet meetings.

“There’s a verse in the Bible that says, without a vision people perish,” he said in a TV interview in June. “There have been a lot of people who have really lost a vision of the promise of America.”

But then something happened.

“No one actually knows what they are supposed to do,” said Chad Williams, executive director of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, which includes Las Vegas where the affordable housing crisis is severe. “I was approached to run one, and I said: ‘What does it do? Where’s the funding?’”

Williams says he declined to participate after finding out there was no money attached. “EnVision Centers are a failed policy perception,” Williams said. “I guess they give the image that HUD is doing something.” Vanity Fair

repeat: “…they give the image that HUD is doing something.”

Isn’t it odd that Trump would give Secretary of HUD to Ben Carson, probably the last person in the country to sympathize with the nation’s homeless? Or maybe it isn’t so odd. Maybe, that was Trump’s plan all along.

Betsy Devos, who had devoted her entire life to dismantling public education, would be another dead last choice of mine to head the nation’s Department of Education.

Any person who literally FLUNKED chemistry in high school, should be prohibited from being the Secretary of Energy department, but Rick Perry persevered!

Or how about Scott Pruitt, climate denier, to head the Environmental Protection Agency!

The most shocking part about Ben Carson’s crusade against America’s safety net programs like welfare and food stamps and public housing, is that as a kid, he used such programs.

In his 1996 autobiography “Gifted Hands,” Carson wrote of the humiliation he felt using food stamps from his mom to pay for bread and milk, and said he began to excel at school only after receiving a free pair of glasses that allowed him to see the lessons written on chalk boards. TheOaklandPress

Reminds me of former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was arguably, the biggest opponent of welfare programs. Turned out, HE TOO, used them growing up. When his father passed away, those same safety net programs, he devoted his career to abolishing, paid his way through college.

Ben Carson is a terrible choice to run HUD. But what if you were trying to destroy the country instead of protect it? What if a foreign country, a foreign adversary of ours, stole the election for Trump, and wanted him to make choices to hurt us? In that case, Trump is doing a great job!