Presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina on Friday joined the chorus of Republicans lambasting how much attention Donald Trump gets from the media — saying he “plays” them like a pro.
Speaking with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” the former technology executive criticized how much Trump “dominates” television across the board.
“Here’s what’s going on: I think Donald Trump knows how to play the media like a master,” Fiorina said. “I think he’s a Pied Piper. … When he stops dominating the news coverage, he makes an outrageous statement so that he dominates it once again.”
When Cuomo protested that the news covers all the candidates, including Fiorina, she was incredulous.
“Come on Chris, you haven’t given me or anyone else anywhere near the attention that Donald Trump receives,” Fiorina said. “(Trump) knows how to dominate the news coverage and I think it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in the polls.”
Fiorina is just the latest Republican candidate to blame the media for Trump’s success in the polls, where in most cases he is leading by a wide margin.
On Thursday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich also told CNN that he’d be doing much better in the polls with as much coverage as Trump, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Trump plays the press “like a fiddle.”
Fiorina did say, though, that she recognizes the mogul does “resonate with voters.”
“In a way, Donald Trump is a reaction to the unbelievable weakness and delusional nature of national security policy from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina said. “People are utterly frustrated by the ineptitude of this government.”
The back-and-forth came during a contentious interview between Cuomo and Fiorina, during which the two repeatedly clashed.
A heated exchange came as Cuomo asked Fiorina if she had rethought her rhetoric against Planned Parenthood at all after a man killed three people in a shooting rampage at a Colorado Planned Parenthood last month — which he apparently did out of an anti-abortion sentiment.
“Oh please, really Chris?” an exasperated Fiorina responded. “You don’t like my answer, but I do not (feel differently). I stand by my statement, I stand by the facts.”
She also accused the press of failing to “acknowledge the left uses incendiary rhetoric all the time.”