Last Week I expressed surprise that President Elect Donald Trump was thinking of nominating David Petraeus for Secretary of State. He’s been convicted of the same crime that Trump (and others) falsely accused Hillary Clinton of. I suspected he wouldn’t be the last pick that would stun me.

Fast forward to December 5th. Mr. Trump chose Dr. Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD.

I’m not the only one I know who asked about Dr. Carson’s qualifications for the job. And we’re still wondering. He has an impressive resume: He was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised by a single mother (his father abandoned his mother when Ben was eight). He was seen as a promising student and attended Yale University.

From there he graduated medical school at the University of Michigan and eventually became a neurosurgeon (yes, a brain surgeon).

But what qualifies him to develop policies to house poor people and urban centers? Well…nothing. Despite stories to the contrary he didn’t grow up in public housing. It was a poor neighborhood but his mother worked hard enough to keep them in housing without government assistance.

So here’s when I wander into the weeds. I think Mr. Trump nominated Dr. Carson not because he grew up poor, but because he’s black. I think Trump sees poverty as essentially a racial issue and he thinks Carson can best work with “the blacks”.

During the campaign he famously attracted, and even courted, the white supremacist vote. When speaking to minority communities he said this: What do you have to lose?

All this speaks to a latent racism that Mr. Trump denies. But we’re not fooled. He was born to wealth and wants us to believe that his ability to add to this wealth makes him smarter and will make him a better President. We elect a leader for all of us, but our next President makes it clear he cares only for those who look like him.

We all need to pray for those who are in need of affordable housing or who live in urban areas.