Ben Carson spent a Christmas party talking about how the world is going to become like 'The Purge all the time'

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 6 February 2018

Ben Carson is a little preoccupied. Who can blame him? Atomic scientists say we're the closest to nuclear annihilation since 1953, the number of displaced people worldwide has hit a record high, and the White House apparently finds it worth its time to prepare for the possibility of a death comet. These are dark times.

It seems only natural, then, that the end of the world is Carson's new favorite topic of casual conversation, as The Washington Post reports:

It was Christmastime in Washington, and Ben Carson couldn't stop talking about the apocalypse."Did you know," the secretary of housing and urban development asked his acting chief of staff, Deana Bass, at a Capitol Hill holiday party, "that if North Korea detonated a nuclear weapon into our exosphere, it could take out our entire electrical grid?"Bass shook her head."What's that movie where there’s complete lawlessness and anarchy for one night a year?" Carson said, calmly resting his right hand over his left. "The Purge! It will be like The Purge all the time." [The Washington Post]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.