Ben Carson appeared to access a shard of reason on Tuesday during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN when he agreed that Donald Trump should apologize for being the major driving force behind the birther movement. Carson has been acting as a surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail and agreed with Tapper when he suggested that Trump apologizing for his involvement with birtherism would be a "good idea."
During the interview on CNN's The Lead, Tapper and Carson discussed several topics pertaining to the campaign, including Trump's recent outreach to African-American voters. While asking Carson about Trump's birtherism, Tapper noted that many African-American voters are resistant to Trump because he repeatedly claimed that President Obama was born in Africa as opposed to the United States.
"Obviously, as a factual matter," Tapper said, "President Obama was born in the United States. Is it time for him [Trump] to acknowledge that was all a mistake so that African-American voters to whom he is reaching out may be able to better reason to his message?"
"I think that would be a good idea, absolutely," Carson replied. "I suggest that on all sides. Let's get all of the hate and the rancor out of the way so that we can actually discuss the issues."
Tapper and Carson also talked about Trump's immigration policy. Carson commented that the GOP nominee needs to offer "rational and workable plans." Carson also said that campaign promises were "relatively irrelevant," noting that all presidents refine their platform and policies once in office.
