Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, whose low-key demeanor has been prominent during the first three debates, will hit back hard on any attacks from moderators or rivals in the fourth debate Tuesday in Milwaukee, a campaign aide said.
"Dr. Carson is a man who believes in civility and respect," Ying Ma, deputy communications director, told
Tamron Hall on MSNBC. "But at the same time, people should not mistake that attitude for weakness.
"If someone were to attack him — and particularly were to do so in an unfair manner — Dr. Carson will respond," Ma said.
The debate, hosted by Fox Business News and The Wall Street Journal, is scheduled to focus on business and economic issues.
The retired pediatric neurosurgeon heads into the Tuesday's event at the Milwaukee Theatre after a week of stinging attacks on the media for raising questions about key points in his 1996 autobiography and heavy slamming by front-runner Donald Trump.
The developer has slammed Carson for wanting to attack his mother with a hammer because of his "pathological temper" as a youth; questions surrounding whether he received a full scholarship to West Point; and his comment that the pyramids of Egypt were built to store grain and not tombs.
"When you have pathological disease, that's a very serious problem because that's not something that's cured," Trump said Sunday on "This Week" on ABC.
He was suggesting that Carson may have a mental illness because of the earlier anger issues. "That's something that you have to live with, and that's a very serious thing to have to live with."
However, Carson will be ready for any criticism, Ma told MSNBC.
"We will respond to all attacks that are not fair," she said. "And we've repeatedly said that Dr. Carson has told the truth — and if Donald Trump feels that somehow Dr. Carson's temperament from 50 years ago makes him unfit for office, we believe that to be inaccurate."
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