In his speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson highlighted the relationship between Hillary Clinton and Saul Alinsky, a community organizer who wrote that Lucifer was the first radical in his book Rules for Radicals. He asked, "Are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model someone who acknowledges Lucifer?"
Carson told CNN on Wednesday that he chose to point out this connection to explain what type of leader he believes Clinton would be if she were our next president. Carson explained that in the book, "on the dedication page, you acknowledge Lucifer in an admirable way saying he's the original radical who gained his own kingdom... What I am saying is that we are talking about electing to the presidency an individual who embraces someone who obviously is not someone who is consistent."
As a Wellesley undergraduate, Hillary wrote her undergraduate thesis on Alinsky in 1969. However, in her own book she explained that there are many ideas of his that she does not agree with.
While many people believe Alinsky dedicated Rules for Radicals to Lucifer, it was actually dedicated to his wife. Alinsky's quote about Lucifer was simply presented at the beginning of the book. Soon after Carson's speech, author Salman Rushdie pointed out on twitter that Alinsky's comment about Lucifer was meant as "irony or humor" in a tweet, not as a true dedication to Satan or the "fallen angle" that Carson believes it to be.
The Satanic Acknowledgment: This is Saul Alinsky on Lucifer. Can't expect Ben Carson to recognize irony or humor. pic.twitter.com/FYNY4gcgy7
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) July 20, 2016
Vox explains that the reason so many Republicans see Alinsky as a villain is because of his self proclaimed title as a radical. Because his ideas were far to the left of the Democratic party, Clinton's support of some of his ideas makes it easy for Republicans to believe that she too has radically leftist ideas.