--- title: Ben Carson Compares U.S. to a Ship Going Over Niagara Falls description: Ben Carson on Monday compared the United States to an ill-fated cruise ship bound for a waterfall canonical: https://time.com/4351876/ben-carson-cruise-ship-niagara-falls/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-30T20:58:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:07.553Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Compares U.S. to a Cruise Ship Going Over Niagara Falls og:description: He compared the country's political future to "tremendous carnage and death" og:url: https://time.com/4351876/ben-carson-cruise-ship-niagara-falls/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d4f1f636e8c16f1/6988958c524fc00a72df8348/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Attend CPAC Conference In Washington DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Compares U.S. to a Cruise Ship Going Over Niagara Falls twitter:description: He compared the country's political future to "tremendous carnage and death" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d4f1f636e8c16f1/6988958c524fc00a72df8348/ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Compares U.S. to a Cruise Ship Going Over Niagara Falls > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e00ed097-8fb8-4d47-a1bd-d90c6ae54186&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 30, 2016 8:58 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks during CPAC 2016 March 5, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks during CPAC 2016 March 5, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland. Alex Wong/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 30, 2016 8:58 PM UTC Ben Carson voiced a pessimistic vision for the future of the U.S. on Monday, comparing the country to an ill-fated cruise ship bound for a waterfall. “America right now is like a cruise ship that is about to go off of Niagara Falls with tremendous carnage and death,” the former Republican presidential candidate [said during an interview on Fox News](https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/737245582134120448?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) on Monday morning. “What you have to do first is recognize the problem, stop the ship, turn it around and then move in the other direction.” Carson discouraged a third-party candidate from joining the race, arguing that it would give Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton an advantage in the general election. Carson has been a [supporter of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump](http://time.com/4255355/ben-carson-endorses-donald-trump/) since dropping out of the race for president. Many conservatives trying to stop Trump have [mounted a campaign to get a third-party candidate to run](http://time.com/4263396/donald-trump-contested-convention-conservative-activists-third-party/) against him and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but Carson warned that a divided Republican vote would be bad for the country. “I’m hoping that whoever that third-party candidate is will just stop for a moment and think about what the implications are of allowing Hillary Clinton or someone like her to get in there,” Carson said. “They get two to four Supreme Court picks and completely change the nature of this country and destroy the prospects for their children and their grandchildren to have the same opportunities that they had.” > [](https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/737245582134120448) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4351876/ben-carson-cruise-ship-niagara-falls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4351876/ben-carson-cruise-ship-niagara-falls/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Compares U.S. to a Cruise Ship Going Over Niagara Falls","datePublished":"2016-05-30T20:58:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:07.553Z","description":"He compared the country's political future to \"tremendous carnage and death\"","url":"https://time.com/4351876/ben-carson-cruise-ship-niagara-falls/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Dr. Benjamin S. 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