In the last few weeks, News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch has made it pretty clear who he’s backing in the race to be the Republican candidate in the 2016 US presidential election – and it’s not Donald Trump.
The former Australian has been praising Ben Carson, 64, a retired paediatric neurosurgeon who announced his run to be the Republican Party candidate for President back in May. Carson was the first surgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head in 1987.
The Detroit-born African-American and son of a Seventh-day Adventist minister is widely admired, has been a popular conservative commentator in recent years and has been gaining ground on Trump in recent polling. He’s also ahead of Democrat rival Hillary Clinton in several US states.
Everywhere pundits keep underestimating Ben Carson. But public understand humility as admirable, listen to the multi-faceted strong message
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 3, 2015Carson is also a paid contributor to Fox News, the pay TV channel owned by Murdoch, and was back on Fox overnight, speaking on Sean Hannity’s evening show.
And that’s when Rupert Murdoch intervened in a manner that Carson didn’t need, seeming to imply that the country’s first African-American president, Barack Obama, isn’t a “real black.”
Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 8, 2015Race is a big issue in America, and with Donald Trump’s fondness for conspiracy theories about Obama not being US-born, Murdoch’s intervention was a “with friends like this…” Carson’s race for the White House didn’t need.
Carson himself has yet to respond to Murdoch’s tweet.