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During an interview with MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' on Monday, Ben Carson predicts 'disaster' if Trump or Cruz is not the nominee. Carson predicts 'disaster' if Trump or Cruz is not the nominee

If no Republican candidate arrives in Cleveland with the requisite number of delegates to clinch the nomination, putting forth a candidate other than Donald Trump or Ted Cruz would be an "absolute disaster" for the Republican Party, Ben Carson said Monday.

During an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the former candidate and current Trump supporter was asked about a series of recent comments he has made that have given the impression to many that he might not be totally sold on the Manhattan real-estate magnate.

“Well you know, I tend to be a plainspoken, honest person, which is great for you guys in the media, because you guys can say, ‘Oh, Carson said this, Carson said that, and this is what he really meant.’ But basically what I’m saying is that of the people who are running, I believe that he is the best one to be able to resolve the issues," Carson said. "Now if we end up with a contested convention and things work out in a different way and it seems fair, then of course you’re gonna support whoever the nominee is. But again, things must be open, they must be fair and they must be apparent.”

If, given those conditions, no candidate reaches 1,237 delegates at the convention and someone else is thrown into the fray, Carson appeared to reject the idea that he would support a candidate who is not currently in the race.

“I would not be enthusiastic about whoever it was, if it wasn’t one of the people who spent all this time, all this effort, all this resource in order to get there and then we toss them out," Carson said. "Because basically what that’s saying is the people don’t mean anything, and that the process is more important than the people and I don’t think that’s true.”

When it was pointed out that other candidates who had subsequently dropped out, including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Carson himself had poured tremendous time and resources into their own campaigns, the retired neurosurgeon said there would be "major problems brewing" if someone other than Trump or Cruz emerged as the nominee.

"You’re going to create so much friction, and of course that would be a wonderful thing for the Democrats. There’s no question about it. They would absolutely love that, be dancing in the streets," Carson said. "But it would be an absolute disaster for Republicans.”

Carson has of late made several not-so-complimentary remarks of Trump, including in a radio interview Sunday in which he remarked that the front-runner "has some major defects, there’s no question about it — just like the rest of us." In the past, Carson has brushed off Trump's past personal insults of him on the campaign trail as "political stuff."

And on Monday, when questioned about those and other statements, he reiterated that he is standing by his candidate.

“I don’t think I’ve said anything that would indicate that I’m not sticking with him," Carson said.