Carson: 'There are two different Donald Trumps' The real estate mogul agrees with Carson, before quickly reversing himself.

Ben Carson cracked open an awkward conversation for Donald Trump as he threw his backing behind his former rival and justified the move by saying, “There are two different Donald Trumps.”

The real estate mogul, speaking at a news conference on Friday morning, conceded the point — “perhaps there are two Donald Trumps” — before reversing himself after reporters seized on the comment. “I don’t think there are two Donald Trumps.”


The surreal, extraordinary moment revealed Trump’s struggle as he gets closer to sewing up the Republican nomination and shifts to the general election — trying to broaden his appeal without alienating devoted supporters drawn to his theatrical style and hard-line views.

Right off the bat, the retired neurosurgeon addressed the elephant in the room: the history of past insults and bad blood between himself and Trump.

“Well, first of all, we buried the hatchet," Carson said, referring to Trump’s accusation of Carson being a pathological liar who showed the same destructive tendencies as a child molester. "That was political stuff. And, you know, that happens in American politics, the politics of personal destruction. All that is not something that I particularly believe in or anything that I get involved in. But I do recognize that it is a part of the process. We move on because it’s not about me, it’s not about Mr. Trump. It’s about America.”

Then Carson gave voice to what many have suspected — Trump the presidential candidate has so far largely been an act.

Breaking down his logic for endorsing Trump, Carson remarked that there was "a lot more alignment philosophically and spiritually than I ever thought there was" between him and Trump.

"First of all, I’ve come to know Donald Trump over the last few years. He’s actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America," Carson said. "There are two different Donald Trumps. There’s the one you see on the stage and there’s the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully.

And Carson previewed Trump, the general election candidate, one who will be able to go toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton, the policy wonk.

“You can have a very good conversation with him, and that’s the Donald Trump that you’re going to see more and more of right now,” he said.

Although the retired neurosurgeon had previewed the double Trump claim during a radio interview on Thursday, bringing up the split before a room full of reporters set off a chain reaction as the media nudged Trump to drop the mask, if there really is one.

"Perhaps there are two Donald Trumps," the real estate mogul said, when asked about Carson’s comment. "I’m somebody who is a thinker. I’m a big thinker. I have my ideas, and they’re strong, and typically they’ve worked out.”

But when pressed further about why there are, in fact, "two Donald Trumps," Trump abruptly reversed himself.

"I don't think there's two Donald Trumps. I think there's one Donald Trump, but certainly, you have, look, all of this, and you have somebody else that sits and reads and thinks and I'm a thinker, and I have been a thinker. And perhaps people don't think of me that way because you don't see me in that forum, but I am a thinker," he said. "I'm a very deep thinker. I know what's happening."

Trump, who was widely dismissed as an amusing sideshow when he made his rambling announcement speech in June, has evolved as he closes in on the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination.

He has started moderating his views on torture, saying he would seek to change the laws instead of flouting international conventions, and has opened the door to negotiating on his far-right immigration stances. He’s also started staking out some new positions, saying at Thursday night’s debate that he would deploy as many as 30,000 American soldiers in the Middle East to defeat the Islamic State, and that he won’t rule out accepting outside contributions in the general election.

But even as he shifts his gaze to the general election, he’s not dialed down the bombast that has lured millions of angry Americans he used to fondly call “the silent majority.” He’s under fresh fire for appearing to encourage violent clashes between his supporters and protesters at his rallies. And his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is fielding calls for him to resign after allegedly almost throwing a Breitbart reporter to the ground as she tried to ask Trump a question.

Speaking at the news conference on Friday, Trump was eager to move past the armchair psychology.

"I don't like to over-analyze myself, but I try to be who I am. Certain questions are asked to me, and I give a straight answer as opposed to a politically correct answer. I know the politically correct business better than anybody," Trump said, then talking about his latest inflammatory comment that “Islam hates America.”

And he focused on extolling the virtues of Carson, even as he reveled in how he ended up crushing him.

Trump said he "actually gained a lot of respect" for the retired neurosurgeon through his "silence and strength" in facing off with his rhetorical broadsides. “I could not lose that guy," Trump said, in discussing his respect for Carson as a candidate in the polls.

"And I was doing well and you know, Trump would be at 28 at that time, and I remember when it was 28 and Ben was 18, and then he was 19, and the next week it was like 22, and I was like, 'Whoa, whoa, what's this happening here? I don't like this.' Right?" Trump said, turning to Carson.

Carson flashed a quick, congenial grin.

Referring to an early November poll that showed Carson with a 6-point lead on him, Trump declared, "It was the biggest story worldwide. I said, this guy is unbelievable. And so, I started going after Ben. It's politics, and Ben understands that."

He went on to brag about a list of unscientific online polls, showing him as the winner of Thursday night’s debate, before saying it’s time to move on. "We've had enough debates, in my opinion. These debates have been like, Vince McMahon should have put them on, because they were like WWE," said Trump, who himself appeared at WWE's WrestleMania in 2007.

Carson also laid out his argument for the party and country to unify around Trump as the nominee and president — warning Trump's opponents not to try to mess with him.

"I want the voice of the people to be heard. I want the political process to play out in the way that it should play out, and I think the Republican Party particularly would be very wise not to adopt, let’s stop this guy and let’s promote this guy's policy, but rather start thinking about what are the things that are going to be helpful in America," Carson said.