Ben Carson told a group of Florida Republican activists that they can help the party reclaim the White House by inspiring non-voters to get to the polls.

In urging conservatives to register more people to vote, Carson assailed a variety of “progressive” programs backed by President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders.

“These kinds of policies are killing us,” Carson said at the Florida GOP’s Sunshine Summit.

Carson said he doesn’t want to end the social safety net, saying suggestions to the contrary are “just a bunch of crap the left wing puts out there.”

His goal, he said, is reform of program to give poor people “ladders of opportunity” to help them break out of poverty.

The retired neurosurgeon did not mention in his speech the sharp criticism leveled at him the night before by Donald Trump. Trump, during an Iowa appearance Thursday, mocked Carson’s claim to have attempted to stab a friend as a youth, among other things.

Later, while speaking to reporters, Carson was asked about another of Trump’s attacks, in which he suggested Carson’s pathological nature was incurable, like that of a child molester’s. Carson said he didn’t want to get into name calling.

“I don’t pay attention to that kind of stuff,” he said.

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