Donald Trump likens rival Ben Carson to child molester

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, dropping recent claims of civility, has equated Ben Carson’s childhood “pathological temper” to being a child molester, questioned his religious awakening, and berated voters who support him.

“How stupid are the people of Iowa?” declared Trump during a rally at Iowa Community College. “How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?”

The billionaire real estate mogul harshly criticised not only Carson, but many of his other competitors in the race for the presidential nomination. In his free-wheeling appearance, Trump also said Florida senator Marco Rubio, who is rising in the polls, was “weak like a baby, like a baby” and “not a good poker player because every time he’s under pressure he starts to just profusely sweat”. And he said former Florida governor Jeb Bush did not deserve his attention because his campaign is doing so poorly.

Trump accused Democratic front-runner Hilary Clinton, who is campaigning to be the first female president, of “playing the woman’s card, big league”.

However, his strongest words by far were aimed at Carson, whose powerful life story and soft-spoken demeanour have captured the attention of many voters.

Trump, once the undisputed poll leader, is now neck-and-neck with Carson in many opinion surveys. The businessman pointed to Carson’s own descriptions of his “pathological temper” as a young man.

“That’s a big problem because you don’t cure that,” Trump said. “That’s like, you know, I could say, they say you don’t cure, as an example, child molester. You don’t cure these people. You don’t cure the child molester.”

Trump also said “pathological is a very serious disease”.

In his book Gifted Hands, Carson described the uncontrollable anger he felt as a youth in inner-city Detroit. He wrote that on one occasion he nearly punched his mother and on another he tried to stab a friend.

“I had what I only can label a pathological temper — a disease — and this sickness controlled me, making me totally irrational,” Carson said, describing the incident with his mother. Carson’s ability to overcome his anger as well as an impoverished childhood to become a world-renowned neurosurgeon has been a central chapter in his story.