Ben Carson Sides With Trump Over BLM Mural Controversy: What If Somebody Painted A Confederate Flag On A Public Street?

Dr. Ben Carson offered support for President Trump’s argument that a Black Lives Matter mural is a symbol of hate, asking what the reaction would be if somebody painted a Confederate flag on the streets.

President Trump on Wednesday blasted New York City for plans to have the mural of an anti-police organization plastered along Fifth Avenue, while simultaneously cutting off resources to the NYPD.

“Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates [and] disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street,” he seethed.

Carson, the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, seemingly concurred, explaining that there is a difference between the phrase “black lives matter” and the radical organization “Black Lives Matter.”

 

RELATED: Kayleigh McEnany Flattens Reporter Who Attacked Trump For Saying BLM Mural is ‘Symbol of Hate’

Symbols of Hate

Carson, speaking with Fox News host Martha MacCallum, explained that Black Lives Matter the organization is a “Marxist-driven organization.”

“These are things that are antithetical to the American model and to patriotism in this country,” Carson explained of the group.

The former Republican presidential candidate said the phrase itself means “we should be taking care of our black citizens and making sure they are not discriminated against, and that is noble and laudable.”

But the radical group “is taking advantage of the fact that people don’t really know what’s behind a Marxist-driven organization.”

And what if someone decided to paint a symbol that some view equally as antithetical to the American model, he wondered?

“The larger question is, when you’re in a public forum, a public square, do you have the right to put on there a political statement?” Carson asked. “I wonder what people would say if somebody painted a Confederate flag on a public street?”

 

RELATED: Trump Slams NYC Black Lives Matter Mural As Symbol Of Hate

They Want to Burn Down the System

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany recently drew upon the distinction between the phrase and the organization, pointing out that Hawk Newsome, head of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, told Fox News he wants to “burn down the system” if the country “doesn’t give us what we want” and that he might be speaking literally.

“What the president was noting is that simply when you look at some of the things that have been chanted by a Black Lives Matter like ‘pigs in a blanket fry ’em like bacon,’ that is not an acceptable phrase to paint on our streets,” she explained.

In an op-ed for NBC News, Carson slammed the group for vandalizing the statues of American “heroes” such as George Washington as we approach the Fourth of July.

“We can celebrate Black lives and speak out against mob rule, censorship and anarchy at the same time,” he wrote, adding that we should “shame” people who call for efforts to “defund the police.”

“Insinuating that if you are not for these movements you are not standing up for Black lives is nonsensical and irresponsible,” he added.

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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