Donald “The Donald” Trump and Dr. Ben Carson are currently the two leading candidates to get the Republican nomination. These two candidates combined currently control more than 50% of all the votes for the nomination. After these two the next two closest candidates are Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, both of which are hovering around 7%. The Donald and The Doctor have a lot of similarities and a lot of differences.

I asked Mr. Flaherty, a teacher here at Elder, and Ross Kern, a sophomore at St. Xavier high school, who they prefer out of Trump or Carson. Flaherty responded with “Carson” while Kern responded with “Trump.” Kern also added to his answer saying, “Trump has experience in dealing with many different countries and political leaders because of his international corporations he has owned throughout his life.”

I agree with some of the things Kern stated, but I do not know whether I would Carson or Trump. These two candidates are my two personal favorites, and I cannot decide between them. I believe they both have a lot of upsides with very few downsides.

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“Trump has experience in dealing with many different countries and political leaders because of his international corporations he has owned throughout his life.”

— Ross Kern

I asked both Flaherty and Kern “Who is your favorite Republican Candidate?” Flaherty told me “John Kasich.” For those of you that do not know John Kasich was the governor of the great state of Ohio. Kern told me that his favorite was “Donald Trump.” Kern gave me some reasons as to why he likes Trump, but they were mostly the same reasons he gave in the second paragraph. It is extremely hard for me to say on who my favorite Republican candidate is, but if I was forced I would choose the retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Even though Carson is my favorite I would not have any complaints about Trump, and I would approve of Kasich.

I also asked whether they prefer Trump’s loud and outlandish behavior or Carson’s calm and collective behavior. Mr. Flaherty aid “People are going to take Carson’s behavior more seriously and Trump’s behavior is going to wear on people as it gets closer to the election.” I prefer Trump’s outlandish behavior over Carson’s calm behavior because our country lacks a leader who will do the right thing no matter what it takes.” Kern also added something’s about how Trump is going to fix the Obama administration, and I agree with him on Trump is would fix that. I also believe Carson; Bush; Rubio; and every other American, except for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, would try to fix Obama’s mess of a government. I agree with both Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Kern on their statements because they both made very well thought and educated points.

I asked these men, “What do you like or dislike about Trump or Carson?” Mr. Flaherty said good things about both Trump and Carson saying, “Both Trump and Carson could get the country out of debt and get the economy fixed.” However he also added, “I don’t like Carson taking flexible spending and making it into healthcare.” I don’t have a definite opinion on Carson’s health care policy, but because he is a retired doctor I do trust his opinion on what health care is best for our country. Kern had more praise for The Donald saying, “I support and like Trump’s will power to do what is right… Trump is the man that will go into the white house and do the things necessary for our country to thrive on.”

Next I asked the most important question of them all “Do you believe either Trump or Carson will get the Republican Nomination?” Mr. Flaherty told me that Carson has a better chance than trump because he is the favorite and more people will take him seriously. He also told me that he believes they will both be hurt by their lack of government experience. Kern told me that will Trump will get it because he will look for the common good of our nation while Carson won’t be able to make the big decisions.

This race is still very close with Carson just edging ahead in a majority of polls. At this point in the race I believe the only candidates who should be getting serious consideration for the nomination are Ben Carson and Donald Trump. Kern also added that because these politicians have compelling arguments and differing views it is ultimately up to the American people for who they want to lead their country. This is going to be close for who gets the Republican nomination. I believe whoever gets the Republican nomination will win the presidency because Obama can’t run again, Clinton has broken too many laws, Sanders is a Communist, and I can’t even name another democratic candidate. Now all we do is wait. We wait to see who gets the nominations for their respective parties and who takes the oath of the presidency.