Carson: If Trump attacks me, I won’t respond
Ben Carson doesn’t intend to let Donald Trump break his stride.
Carson, who has surged past Trump in Iowa in recent polls, says that if the talkative billionaire attacks him, he will not take the bait.
{mosads}“If he does attack me, I’ll continue to talk about issues,” Carson said Friday on Bloomberg Television’s “With All Due Respect.”
“I just really don’t buy into the attack-your-fellow-Republicans thing,” added Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and Republican candidate for president. “I’m just not going to do that.”
Carson said he’s never had issues with Trump when the two have crossed paths, adding that he believes the real estate mogul can act differently when he’s in the spotlight.
“My personal interactions with him have shown him to be a gentleman,” the former doctor said. “I think there’s another element sometimes when he’s on camera.”
Trump said last week that he anticipates attacking Carson at some point.
“Probably. At some point, yes, which I actually look forward to doing,” Trump said when asked.
He said if Carson weren’t “so nice to me,” he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself.
Carson topped an Iowa Republican primary poll released Friday by Bloomberg Politics and the Des Moines Register. He got 28 percent support, with Trump in second at 19 percent.
Trump had consistently led all Hawkeye State polls for several months until this week.
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