The 2016 Blast The latest POLITICO scoops and coverage of the 2016 elections. Email Sign Up

Tweets from https://twitter.com/politico/lists/team-politico



"If there are shenanigans, if it’s not straightforward, all of those millions of people that Donald Trump has brought into the arena are not going to stay there," retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson said Monday. | AP Photo Carson warns GOP of 'absolute destruction' if Trump is denied nomination

If Republican establishment forces conspire to deny Donald Trump the party's nomination, they will risk "absolute destruction" in November, Ben Carson said Monday.

"If there are shenanigans, if it’s not straightforward, all of those millions of people that Donald Trump has brought into the arena are not going to stay there, and the Republicans are going to lose and it’s going to be not only the presidency but it’s gonna be the Senate and it could even be the House," the retired neurosurgeon who endorsed his former opponent earlier this month told "Fox and Friends," adding, "It’s going to be absolute destruction."

Carson then proceeded to mock "the established Republicans, who they say they don’t exist, they say there’s no such thing—yeah, right," suggesting that how they act would demonstrate whether they are "more concerned about maintaining control and their positions, or are they more concerned about America."

"And if they’re more concerned about America, they will not blow up a straightforward process, they will let the will of the people prevail," said Carson, who defended Trump's policies at other points in the interview as well.

Regarding Trump's criticism of the United States' involvement in NATO, Carson remarked, “I think what he says makes perfectly good sense," echoing Trump's comments that the U.S. is "paying the lion's share," disproportionate to other countries' commitment.

He also echoed Trump in discussing what he suggested as the U.S.' failure to use "leverage" to effect change in Cuba at the right time after President Barack Obama's visit last week.

"It doesn’t make any sense because Raúl Castro is 83 or 84 years old," Carson said of the Cuban president, who is 84. "He’s not going to be around for a long time. There’s going to be a regime change. That’s the time when you go in there and you do your negotiations. Then you have some leverage. We’re giving away all of our leverage. We have nothing. It doesn’t make any sense."