Trump hammers Ben Carson on 'natural ability' in Sunday interview but gets no push-back after Carson apologized last week for questioning the billionaire's Christian faith

  • The Donald slapped Carson as a weak leader without the capacity to bring wealth back to America
  • Carson refused to take a swing at a softball question about whether Trump is 'humble enough' to be president
  • Four days ago Carson publicly called Trump's Christian faith into question but quickly apologized on CNN
  • Trump hasn't let up, asking 'Who is he to question my faith? ... He doesn't even know me'
  • With Carson on the defensive, Trump had free rein to pummel the man who is now his main competition in New Hampshire and Iowa 

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:17 EST, 13 September 2015 | Updated: 19:15 EST, 13 September 2015

Billionaire Donald Trump got a free pass on Sunday to denounce Ben Carson without fear of push-back, following the doctor's public apology days earlier for questioning his Christian faith.

The turn of events put Trump, the Republican front-runner, in position for an uncontested swing at man polling in second place, and he took full advantage.

'I'll make great deals for this country,' he said on the CBS 'Face the Nation' program. 'Ben can't do that. Ben's a doctor and he's not a deal maker.'

'I don't think [he] would be a very good – I don't think that's his natural ability at all.'

Minutes later on the same program, host John Dickerson asked Carson if he thought Trump is 'humble enough to be president.'

'That would be a decision that the voters will make,' Carson replied without a hint of emotion.

'What's your thought on that?' Dickerson pressed.

'As I said,' he answered, 'I think I'm going to leave that up to the voters. That's the appropriate way to do it.'

'BEN CAN'T DO THAT': Donald Trump took a swing at a deefnseless Ben Carson on Sunday, secure in the knowledge that he had free rein since Carson had apologized to him for previously questioning his faith

'BEN CAN'T DO THAT': Donald Trump took a swing at a deefnseless Ben Carson on Sunday, secure in the knowledge that he had free rein since Carson had apologized to him for previously questioning his faith

LET THE VOTERS DECIDE: Carson whiffed on a softball question about whether Donald Trump is 'humble enough' to be President of the United States

Carson focused on his own view of humility. 'You have to be humble enough to be able to listen to other people,' he said, 'and recognize that, sometimes, they might actually know more than you do, and be able to integrate that.'

But his slow-on-the-draw approach to counter-punching marked a U-turn from his appearance Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center in suburban Los Angeles.

Asked to describe what separates him from the Republicans' front-runner, Carson said that 'the biggest thing is that I realize where my success has come from, and I don't in any way deny my faith in God.'

Trump shoved back a day later on CNN, saying that 'I don't know about Ben Carson's faith. All of a sudden he becomes this great religious figure. I don't think he's a great religious figure.'

'You look at his faith,' The Donald said, 'and I think you're not going to find so much. ... Who is he to question my faith? ... He doesn't even know me.' 

Hours later, Carson appeared to back down from the fight on the same network. 

'I would like to say to him that the intention was not to talk to him, but about what motivates me,' he explained.

'If he took that as a personal attack on him, I apologize. It was certainly not the intent.'

On Friday during a Fox News Channel interview with host Greta Van Susteren, Carson put on his sackcloth a second time.

'I think I did slip,' he said, referring to a break from his own practice of not getting into political gladiator fights. 'And that’s why I apologized.'

'There is no reason ever to question anybody’s faith,' he acknowledged. 'That's something between them and God.'

STATE OF PLAY: Ben Carson is creeping up behind Donald Trump in Iowa but can barely see him from far behind in New Hampshire

Carson's quibble with Trump's religion was not the first the billionaire has heard, and he has brought some of it on himself.

He raised eyebrows at a July gathering in Iowa by punting on a question, as an evangelical-heavy audience tut-tutted, about whether he had ever asked the Almighty for forgiveness.

'I am not sure I have,' he said. 'I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so.'

'I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture.'

Trump was playing offense on Sunday, however, bashing Carson as a weak leader who doesn't fit with his vision of an America led by 'really competent – super competent – people.'

A CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday morning showed that while Trump is lapping the Republican field in New Hampshire with a 40-12 lead over Carson and everyone else in single digits, the African-American doctor is breathing down his neck in Iowa – on the bottom half of a 29-25 margin.

'I'm surprised,' Trump said. 'Because frankly Ben Carson is a very, very nice man. But we will – this will not be a good situation [if he's president] because of the fact that he's not a dealer. He's not a negotiator. And the president has to be able – we have to bring wealth back into our country.'

'We're a country with 19 trillion [dollars] in debt,' Trump emphasized. 'We have 19 trillion. We have to get rid of that. We have to bring wealth back into our country. Ben can't do that.'

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