MSNBC

It’s still a little shocking to me how extreme and irrational the Republican Party has become, and folksy soft-spoken creationist Ben Carson is a great example. He’s not a bomb-throwing insult-spewing loon like Donald Trump, but Carson is possibly even more extreme in his opinions and positions — and in Iowa this week, he actually pulled ahead of Trump in the polls for the first time.

His rise in the polls is a direct result of his expressions of extremism; the Republican voting base responds to craziness like Pavlov’s dogs to a bell.

Here’s his full interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, to show what I’m talking about. Carson defends his continual use of Nazi comparisons, wants Roe v. Wade overturned and says he would not allow abortions for victims of rape or incest, wants the Department of Education to “police” propaganda on campuses (and by “propaganda” he means liberal concepts and ideas), thinks Americans should be able to own any weapons the federal government owns, and has an absolutely bizarre idea for health insurance.

But at least he no longer tries to attack people with knives, rocks, hammers or baseball bats.