Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson went to Baltimore today to play spokesman for Donald Trump. The former Baltimore resident defended his boss’ controversial comments on the city saying, “there are problems and we can’t sweep them under the rug.” He then made this bizarre analogy comparing the city’s issues to a deadly disease:

“It’s sort of like if you have a patient who has cancer, and you can dress them up and put a nice suit on it and you can try to ignore it, but that cancer is going to have a devastating effect. You have to be willing to address that issue if you’re ever going to solve it.”

Carson’s presence wasn’t exactly a welcome one, no city or state official appeared with him and The Washington Post says it didn’t seem very well organized either.

“Carson aides hastily moved the event to an alley behind the housing complex after Gregory Evans, a member of Morning Star Baptist Church, said no one asked permission to hold an event on the church property. “This is our property,” Evans told the aides.”

“Evans said the HUD secretary was trespassing, and if the federal government wanted to hold the event there, it should have asked the church. “There was no permission granted,” he said.

Evans said he did not want to address Trump’s tweets but said it is ‘obvious’ the federal government has not done enough to help the city. “You can see the dilapidated housing,” he said.”

As for why Trump didn’t come to the city himself, CBS Baltimore reports:

Carson said he wants Trump to “express his heart” to the people of Baltimore like it’s been expressed to him, but that Trump feels if he were to visit, “he’d be treated so hostile.”

“That he says, well, maybe I don’t even want to go there,” Carson said of Trump.

Watch what else Carson said above.