Trump is sorting out his cabinet positions right now, and there are some reports out there that Dr Ben Carson could be the new Secretary of Education. Before you begin to repeatedly facepalm to the point of injury, let’s just take a moment to think about that bombshell.

Ben Carson has a movie made about his life, largely focusing around his career as a pediatric neurosurgeon. He was the first to successfully separate two dangerously-conjoined twins way back in 1987, although the aftermath of this was decidedly complicated.

Somehow, despite being a clearly highly qualified medical professional, he is an ardent young Earth creationist. Respect for the right to worship religion aside, this extreme view of the universe – one which adheres to the idea that the Earth is somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years old, and that evolutionary biology is essentially hocus-pocus – is incredibly anti-scientific.

In fact, he has claimed that anyone that accepts the theory of evolution will have ethical difficulties.

This potential future Secretary of Education is someone who will almost certainly advocate for teaching creationism alongside science in schools across America. We’d argue that this type of outlook on life is where a complete lack of ethics is to be found.

He also really doesn’t buy that the Big Bang kickstarted the universe. “You have all these highfalutin scientists, and they’re saying that there was this gigantic explosion and everything came into perfect order,” he said back in 2012 to a crowd of evangelicals.

Talking about what he feels is the unlikelihood of pockets of matter coming together to form planets and people, he ended his diatribe with a dramatic misrepresentation. “What you’re telling me is, if I blow a hurricane through a junkyard enough times, over billions and billions of years, eventually, after one of those hurricanes, there will be a 747 fully loaded and ready to fly.”

No, that’s not what scientists are saying at all. This was one of many attempts by Carson to use jargon to make himself sound like he’s scientifically literate, but all the evidence strongly suggests that he isn’t.

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Blimey. You are absolutely right there, Dr Carson

Ben Carson is clearly a man who isn’t interested in educating himself, or even making it more easily accessible to the public. Not only has he previously spoken out against free college education, but he also once claimed that the Biblical figure Joseph built Egypt’s Great Pyramids in order to store grain and is under the impression that scientists believe that aliens built them.

If he is given this significant political post, he will govern America alongside Mike “smoking doesn’t kill you” Pence and Donald “I believe there’s weather” Trump in what will be the most anti-scientific cabinet in modern American history.

Right. You may now proceed with your facepalm.