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Carson: 'Why do we need the Electoral College anymore?'

Ben Carson questioned the point of the Electoral College during an exchange about the delegate selection process Thursday and briefly likened the process to the Jim Crow laws of the South before clarifying that he didn't mean to make that analogy.

The former presidential candidate and Trump surrogate was speaking to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Friday about what he argued was a poorly run process for choosing his party’s nominee. The Republican National Committee has politely, but firmly defended the process from the Trump camp's attacks, most recently in a memo issued by Communications Director Sean Spicer that said it was up to the candidates themselves to know the rules.

"During the Jim Crow era, those were the rules too," Carson said. "Didn't make them right. And I'm not saying this is the same. But, you know, I think you get the point. Just because rules are there, just because they're written by somebody, doesn't mean that they're right. It doesn't mean you can't re-review the system."

"There's some things we need to look at from a historical perspective," he continued. "Why do we need the electoral college anymore? Stop and ask yourself, why was that put in place and do those same circumstances apply? Actually, they do not. We need to look at a lot of different things."

Later, host Andrea Mitchell gave Carson a chance to clarify his remarks.

“Earlier, you said to me that there have been, you know, Jim Crow rules. You're not suggesting that the Republican party selection delegate selection process is comparable to the Jim Crow South, are you?” Mitchell asked.

“Well, you did hear me say that I am not saying that it's comparable," Carson said. "Because I know that that's the next headline: Carson says Republican Party is — I don't know why the news media does that. They’re so dishonest and so ridiculous."