Consider it the Donald Trump affect: Shout incendiary comments to the press, defend them, receive backlash, say you were taken out of context, then watch your support skyrocket.
Ben Carson is the latest to enjoy this particular advantage of Western politics, being that wealthy donors will unleash hundreds of thousands of dollars when you present yourself as a bigot to the American public.
Doug Watts, Carson's communications director, told MSNBC that $300,000 were poured into his campaign after he sent out an email declaring “I will not back down” after his inflammatory remarks stating he would not back a Muslim president.
Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, hte nation's largest Muslim civil advocacy organization, has called Dr Carson to withdraw from the 2016 presidential race.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper tells The Independent that this type of bigotry is "symptomatic of the out of control Islamophobia we’re seeing in America right now” and that his mosque had even raised the issue during Eid prayer's this morning.
"A lot of Muslim parents and adults are saying that we’ve already been through a lot and we know how to process this hatred," he said. "But how are young people dealing with this and what is the impact of being vilified every day? There’s very little pushback from American leaders on this hate campaign."
Mr Hooper also said that since Dr Carson's remarks on Meet the Press, CAIR has received an influx of hate emails that are "truly disturbing."
Last week, Dr Carson closed in on Mr Trump in the latest New York Times/CBS News national poll.
