In the never-ending wave of a great time that are Trump’s cabinet confirmation hearings (which we’re liveblogging right here), Ben Carson is currently giving testimony about why he should lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, despite (somehow) being a neurosurgeon who seems to think poor people should just suck it up.
It’s going the way most of these hearings are going so far: Republicans make infuriatingly genial jokes about times they’ve hung out with the nominee and then proceed to lob giggly, softball questions at the offensively underqualified subject at hand, leaving Democrats to ask the real stuff. But if there’s ever a Dem who’s going to get real with you, it’s Elizabeth Warren—particularly when her line of inquiry involves the myriad conflicts of interest incurred by Trump, Carson’s soon-to-be boss.
In the clip above, she asks him, simply, a yes or no question: can Carson promise not to delineate any money that would benefit Trump or his family? Carson hedges and demurs, presumably not because he reasonably believes he’ll give HUD money to Trump’s business interests (on the other hand, he really might believe that!) but because he doesn’t wanna piss off his new dad. Warren, of course, doesn’t back down, and when he speaks in the particularly maddening circular motion he tends to, she takes the opportunity to slam Trump for his lack of transparency.
Then they talk about eliminating lead in public housing, which so far is the only topic Carson seems passionate about. Otherwise, for a potential HUD head, he appears pretty ideologically opposed to the whole enterprise! Great times ahead.