Ben Carson is one of the most interesting members of the Trump cabinet in part because of his ethics and the accusations that he has not even been present in many instances. He is also interesting because he was not a person with much of a background in housing before being appointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. His performance has been deficient on a number of levels, as he has been panned by various members of the media who have looked into the situation.
One of the things that media members have suggested is that Carson has just not been present or seemingly interested in doing his job (Terris, 2018). Reports have indicated that he has not spent much time thinking about policy or even filling out the positions needed to do the job at his department. Being called the disappearing man, it is hard to assess his performance because there has not been much performance. He has seemed to regard running a government agency like running a small business and has not truly directed the activities of the department during his time as its lead.
In addition, there have been questions up to this point about his ethics in dealing with that particular role. Some have suggested that he has been unethical in his spending. He spent an incredible amount of money on office furniture, using the public’s cash to make that purchase (Thrush, 2018). On top of that, he has let members of his family who are not appointed to any role in the government hang around and make decisions. This has led to claims of nepotism, claims that he just does not care about the job he is doing, and claims that he is not qualified to be holding down the agency position that Trump has given him (Shapiro, 2018). Carson has been underwhelming as a choice, and it has taught, perhaps, that people should not be appointed to agencies if they have no idea how to direct such a government agency (Pierce, 2018).
- Pierce, C.P. (2018). The Conservative Agenda Is Running Wild in Trump’s IKEA Cabinet. Esquire. Retrieved from https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19631243/trump-cabinet-housing-climate-change-abstinence/
- Shapiro, H. (2018). Elizabeth Warren Tells Ben Carson To His Face: You Should Be Fired. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-tells-ben-carson-to-his-face-you-should-be-fired_us_5ab451e9e4b008c9e5f5c427
- Terris, B. (2018). Ben Carson, or the tale of the disappearing Cabinet secretary. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ben-carson-or-the-tale-of-the-disappearing-cabinet-secretary/2018/02/05/74c46de8-04ff-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html?utm_term=.5c3d28c46be5
- Thrush, G. (2018). Ben Carson Defends Buying $31,000 Dining Set to Congress: ‘I Left It to My Wife’. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/us/ben-carson-hud-dining-room.html
