President Donald Trump said Monday that during the 2016 Republican primary campaign Dr. Ben Carson privately told him that God wanted him to win the election, a remark the president recounted at a meeting of the White House Religious Liberty Commission.
Speaking at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, Trump said Carson approached him after the first GOP debate and told him, "You know you're going to win, don't you?" Trump said he replied that he thought he might win but did not know for certain, and quoted Carson as saying, "No, you're going to win it, because God wants you to win it." Trump said Carson remained in the primary through Super Tuesday before exiting the race and later endorsed Trump, then served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Trump's first term.
Trump used the appearance to press for a broader public role for religion, saying "America was founded on faith" and that weakening faith made the country weaker. "We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before," he said, adding that his administration was "defending our rights and restoring our identity as a nation under God."
The remarks came at the second meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission, a panel created earlier this year by executive order as part of a newly established White House Faith Office. The commission’s stated mission is to safeguard Americans' ability to practice religion freely, with an emphasis on public education, and to identify what the administration describes as "emerging threats" to First Amendment protections.
Trump acknowledged the competitive nature of the 2016 primary, saying there were many candidates with experience as governors and senators. He joked about Carson's persistence in the race, recounting that the former neurosurgeon continued campaigning despite urging that he would win, and the audience laughed as Trump asked, "When is this guy going to quit?" Carson led in some early national GOP polling in 2015 and early 2016 but did not win any primaries or caucuses and suspended his campaign on March 4, 2016.
The episode underscores the longstanding ties between Trump and faith-based conservative figures who have been central to his political coalition. Carson, who became one of the higher-profile cabinet members in the Trump administration, has remained a prominent voice in conservative and evangelical circles.
The White House Faith Office and the Religious Liberty Commission have drawn attention from advocates, legal scholars and civil liberties organizations who watch for how the administration balances religious freedom claims with other constitutional protections. The commission's agenda, as outlined by the administration, prioritizes challenges in public schools and other public institutions where questions of religious expression and governmental neutrality can arise.
Trump's comments at the Museum of the Bible came as the administration seeks to mobilize religious voters and to frame policy debates around cultural and constitutional themes of faith and free exercise. The meeting on Monday marked a continuation of the administration's effort to elevate religious liberty as a central element of its domestic agenda.
Photographs from the event showed Trump speaking at the museum and greeting supporters in Washington. The president's remarks revisited a private exchange from nearly a decade earlier while placing that recollection in the context of his current push to strengthen the public role of religion.
The account provided by the president echoes Carson's later alignment with Trump and his role in the administration, and it underscores the continued intersection of faith and politics within the Republican coalition.