What a difference a year can make. On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped the man he criticized in November 2015 for "wanting to hit his mother on the head with a hammer" to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development:
Trump's criticism of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson wasn't confined to a single tweet either. Shortly after that, Trump claimed Carson, then a competitor in the Republican presidential primary, had a "pathological temper" that could not be cured. "You don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester. There's no cure for it. Pathological, there's no cure for that," Trump said, likening Carson to a pedophile.
While Trump apparently thought Carson's self-reported attempt to stab a friend when he was a teenager and theory that the Egyptian pyramids were actually built to store grain made him a questionable pick for GOP presidential candidate, he seems to be letting bygones be bygones.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Carson, who previously expressed concerns he wasn't experienced enough to run a government agency, will be tasked with enforcing fair housing laws, overseeing federal public housing programs, and assisting with financing for homeownership.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
