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Ben Carson said on multiple occasions “there is no perfect person.” Whoopi presses Carson on Trump: 'He's a racist'

Ben Carson spent the majority of his time on the set of "The View" on Thursday defending Donald Trump and his endorsement of the Republican presidential front-runner, who at one point compared Carson to a child molester.

“Sir, I hate to ask this question, but you have aligned yourself with the man who has bashed women, made countless racist remarks, and you’re Ben Carson; why would you align yourself with that?” co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked the retired neurosurgeon.

Carson responded, saying on multiple occasions that “there is no perfect person” but that Trump has a history of inclusion, referring specifically to his allowing African-Americans and Jews into his Palm Beach clubs. “He insisted on Jews and blacks and helped to break that open,” Carson said, as Goldberg chuckled incredulously.

“So has he said some things that I wouldn’t say or that you wouldn’t say? Of course,” Carson said.

The panelists then discussed Trump’s run-in with the federal government in the 1970s, when the Justice Department sued him alleging racial discrimination. Trump later settled without acknowledging wrongdoing.

“I will put it this way,” Carson said. “I have met a lot of his employees, including African-Americans, and they have nothing but good things to say. Somebody who’s hired as many people as he has hired, and you can find very few people who have anything negative to say.”

Carson also had nice things to say about Trump’s family, noting that he knows the children of other wealthy people who, he said, have been raised worse.

After more discussion, Goldberg remarked, "you could say that till the cows come home, sir. This guy is, I'm sorry, he's a racist, and he's not good for the country."

"What's the alternative?" Carson asked, as Goldberg mentioned the fact that white supremacists back Trump.

"You're Ben Carson! You're so much better than this," Goldberg implored him.

Co-host Joy Behar then referred to Trump comparing him to a child molester last fall as the two squared off in the primary, and Carson reiterated his recent line that if the endorsement were about him, he would be offended, but it is about the country.

"But he's a liar. Unless you say you're a child molester, then he's a liar. Do you want a liar for the presidency?" Behar asked, to which Carson responded, "Tell me a politician who doesn't tell lies."

In the second part of the interview, Goldberg continued to challenge Carson for his support of Trump. "If he had spoken to your wife the way he had spoken to some of these women, would you take that, sir?" she asked.

“Let me tell you something. When you’re very nice, when you’re very respectful, you talk about the real issues and not get into all of these issues, where does it get you? It gets you where it got me. Nowhere," Carson replied.

"Is that what this is about?" Goldberg asked, adding, "It can't be about that."

Carson then remarked that politicians like Trump "say what people want to hear."

“That’s how Hitler got in, sir. That’s how Hitler got in," Goldberg said. "But you were a voice."

Apparently accepting that premise, Carson said people have to "work with what we have, not necessarily what we ideally would want, and we the people are largely responsible, we have to be willing to stand up for what we believe ... because the politicians of the United States will respond to that."

"This is true, sir," Goldberg concluded, "so, folks, get out and vote for who you think is going to run the country, whoever it is."

Following the interview, Trump himself tweeted, ".@TheView T.V. show, which is failing so badly that it will soon be taken off thr [sic] air, is constantly asking me to go on. I TELL THEM 'NO.'"

He added in another tweet, "Explain how the women on The View, which is a total disaster since the great Barbara Walters left, ever got their jobs. @ABC is wasting time."

For his part, Carson was gracious after his interview. "Thank you@TheViewfor having me on. Though we disagree on politics, only in America do we have platforms to discuss those differences," he tweeted.

