--- title: Ben Carson Says 'Pray' for Donald Trump description: To see him imploding before our very eyes is ... just sad to watch," a Carson aide said on CNN canonical: https://time.com/4111828/ben-carson-donald-trump-pray/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-13T18:10:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:54.609Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Says 'Pray' for Donald Trump og:description: "To see him imploding before our very eyes is ... just sad to watch," a Carson aide said on CNN og:url: https://time.com/4111828/ben-carson-donald-trump-pray/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4edd255a672c7a18/698870f40a4a2271129c7062/ben-carson6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3750 og:image:height: 2109 og:image:alt: Ben Carson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Says 'Pray' for Donald Trump twitter:description: "To see him imploding before our very eyes is ... just sad to watch," a Carson aide said on CNN twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4edd255a672c7a18/698870f40a4a2271129c7062/ben-carson6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Says 'Pray' for Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 13, 2015 6:10 PM UTC  Ben Carson talks to reporters after the Republican presidential debate at the Milwaukee Theatre on Nov. 10, 2015. Ben Carson talks to reporters after the Republican presidential debate at the Milwaukee Theatre on Nov. 10, 2015. Jeffrey Phelps—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 13, 2015 6:10 PM UTC Ben Carson attempted to de-escalate the rhetorical war between him and Donald Trump Friday, reportedly calling for his staff to “pray” for his Republican rival instead of launching an attack in kind. At a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump said the retired neurosurgeon had a “pathological temper” and compared its seriousness to that of a child molester. He doubled down on his remarks Friday with a video on Instagram poking fun at Carson: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/665199220136222720) An adviser who appeared on [CNN on Friday](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/13/politics/ben-carson-donald-trump-armstrong-williams/) said Carson would attempt to take the high road. “When I spoke with Dr. Carson about this yesterday how we should respond, you know he was so sad about it. He said: ‘Pray for him.’ He feels sorry for him because he really likes Mr. Trump,” Armstrong Williams said. Several candidates have come out in defense of Carson, who is currently leading the presidential race in many polls, including Carly Fiorina, who said in a [Facebook post](http://time.com/4111493/carly-fiorina-slams-trumps-comments-on-ben-carson/) that “all the money in the world won’t make you as smart as Ben Carson.” Williams said Friday he feels “sorry” for Trump. “To see him imploding before our very eyes is … just sad to watch,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4111828/ben-carson-donald-trump-pray/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4111828/ben-carson-donald-trump-pray/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Says 'Pray' for Donald Trump","datePublished":"2015-11-13T18:10:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:54.609Z","description":"\"To see him imploding before our very eyes is ... just sad to watch,\" a Carson aide said on CNN","url":"https://time.com/4111828/ben-carson-donald-trump-pray/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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