Ben Carson Thinks Cribbing Shows Shared Values

If you woke up this morning in America, chances are you woke up to news that First Lady hopeful Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention sounded a little bit (or a lot a bit) like a current First Lady Michelle Obama speech from 2008. While the Trump campaign likely wanted you to remember presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's fog and backlighting entrance to Queen's "We are the Champions" — though I defy you to play The Imperial March under the entrance and tell me it doesn't get 1,000 times better — the news cycle has become fixated on Mrs. Trump's speech. But the fixation isn't just because it sounds like Trump cribbed some parts from Obama. The real problem is how the campaign has responded to the issue. Not to worry, though, because Trump surrogate Ben Carson is here to do some damage control. Sort of.

So far, Trump Senior Communications Advisor, Jason Miller, issued a statement, which essentially amounts to "nuh-uh." Donald Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort denied the allegations of plagiarism and insinuated that the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was behind the whole thing. As Americans everywhere are scratching their heads, enter Carson — former Donald Trump rival turned advocate.

In an interview with reporters Tuesday following a breakfast with Florida GOP delegates, Carson addressed Melania Trump's speech. His first step was right in line with the Trump campaign — deny, deny, deny. Then Carson went a step further to say that if Trump plagiarized Obama, that was actually a good thing. Because you can't make this stuff up, just read it for yourself:

If Melania’s speech is similar to Michelle Obama’s speech, that should make us all very happy because we should be saying, whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, we share the same values.

Carson didn't stop there. He continued by saying, “If we happen to share values, we should celebrate that, not try to make it into a controversy.” Then he started to sort of walk it back by reiterating that he doesn't think the statements were plagiarized, instead they were "general principles" and that in order to express said principles you're going to use similar language. He gave a strong finish by saying that he doesn't want to keep the controversy going and would rather "talk about positive things" because, well I guess he just hasn't learned anything about the Trump campaign.

The thing is, Carson's statement is a wonderful sentiment. The idea that in such a polarized world Republicans and Democrats can share ideals is a beautiful thing. But just like the animatronic dolls on the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland are not going to spring to life and sprinkle tolerance around the world, the Republican majority is not going to rise up and admit to sharing a steak sandwich with the Democrats, let alone values and beliefs.

This entire election has become "us vs them" on both sides. At the rate the election is going, at no point will there be a meeting of minds. During a convention where hate and vitriol is spewed at Clinton and Obama in almost every speech, Carson's comments have me wondering what election he has been watching.