Fiorina to CNN: Trump Is the Media's 'Pied Piper'

Donald Trump is a "Pied Piper" for the media, and he knows how to play it "like a master," and that's being reflected in the polls, rival GOP candidate Carly Fiorina complained Friday morning.

"I think he says things and you all rush to cover it, every single network," the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told CNN's "New Day" host Chris Cuomo in a candid interview. 

"He knows how to dominate the news coverage, [and] I think it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy at the polls."

Cuomo responded that "we've given you lots of attention," to which she retorted, "oh, come on, Chris, you haven't given me or anyone else anywhere near the attention that Donald Trump receives on your network, on every other network. He dominates the news coverage, day after day after day. When he stops dominating the news coverage, he makes an outrageous statement so that he dominates it once again."

Fiorina admitted that Trump resonates with voters, in a reaction to the "unbelievable weakness and delusional nature of national security policy from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton."

"We have terrorist attacks in the homeland in a community center in San Bernardino and President Obama begins talking about gun control, as does Hillary Clinton, and climate change," said Fiorina. "People are utterly frustrated by the ineptitude of this government and the lack of a realistic response. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, he doesn't have a realistic response either."

Trump's proposals "do nothing to solve the problem. Banning all Muslims from entering the U.S., set aside the objectionable nature of that proposal, it does nothing to protect us from those who are already here. It does nothing to deny ISIS territory, both of which have to happen to keep America safe."

Meanwhile, the government has been "feckless" when it comes to national security and the Obama administration withdrew from Iraq in 2011 to "win an election," Fiorina said.

"People are very afraid and they are very frustrated," said Fiorina.

She also told the show that she has more foreign policy exposure than anyone running, even Hillary Clinton, although she was secretary of state.

"She flew around a lot and she met a lot of people and did a lot of photo ops," said Fiorina. "I've met not as many foreign leaders as she has. But a lot. More than anyone else. I didn't do photo ops."

And as for the other candidates, who include governors and senators, "it's one thing to sit in a Senate hearing floor and read a briefing book. It's another thing to know these people. It's another thing to have been in these countries over decades."

She also got into a heated exchange with Cuomo over her statements against Planned Parenthood after a man killed three in a shooting incident at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood center last month, arguing that she based her statements in one of the party debates on videos that are true.

"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 told Cuomo the press will not acknowledge that the left uses "incendiary rhetoric all the time."

"It is not objective to say that the left wing does not try and shut down conversation, that they don't want to have by accusing people of inciting others," she told Cuomo.

"Remember Sarah Palin?  Sarah Palin was somehow responsible for the attack on Gabby Giffords. It turned out that wasn't true either. "

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