Dr. Ben Carson told
Newsmax TV on Monday that he is getting closer to declaring himself a candidate for president in 2016.
"It is a step closer. I have to consider what's going on, and I have to consider the enormous crowds that I encounter every place I go, and the level of enthusiasm, and what I'm hearing,'' Carson told "The Steve Malzberg Show.''
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"But I also have to see what happens in November. Is our nation going to indicate that they in fact are waking up and that they are ready to move forward again?
Special: Ben Carson For President? See His Vision
"Or are we going to continue this long, downward slide into a fundamental change? Depending on what they indicate, it will inform me a lot.''
Carson, former chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and an outspoken conservative, said a GOP victory in the midterm elections will "absolutely'' be a factor in his decision.
If the renowned medical man, who is also a Newsmax contributor, throws his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination, it would be a dramatic about face from his stance in January.
It was then that Carson, asked by Malzberg whether he would seek the White House, answered: "Don't hold your breath … I have never intended to run."
Carson, a vocal critic of President Barack Obama, said he is weighing whether to support the calls of some GOP lawmakers for impeachment proceedings against the commander in chief.
"Certainly, it's a discussion that's worth having. It needs to be discussed in a very serious way with people on both sides of the argument,'' he said. "It's not something that should be [decided] in an emotional way, but we should ask ourselves has the Constitution been violated?"
If it "can be laid out in an unmistakable way, then absolutely it'll be appropriate to proceed.''
Carson said the nation has the ability to "put the cuffs'' on the Obama administration in November.
It would be with "an overwhelming showing and switching to a Senate majority leader who might, in fact, be willing to bring up the hundreds of bills that have been passed for the purpose of reinvigorating the economy,'' he said.
Carson believes that Obama's proposal to use executive action to grant additional rights to undocumented immigrants, without input from Congress,'' is "exactly why we have a divided government.''
And he believes Congress must take strong action to halt further alleged abuses.
"At some point, people are going to have to step up to the plate and say, you know, we are not going to take this and stop being worried about people are going to blame us. People are going to blame us if they don't do something,'' he said.
Obama "pretty much is doing whatever he wants to do because he's not meeting a great deal of resistance."
It's "kind of funny because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's playing the same game with him. Putin's not getting a lot of resistance from him, so he's pretty much doing what he wants to do.''
Special: Ben Carson For President? See His Vision