Donald Trump unloads on surging Carly Fiorina: "There is no way" that she can win

The Donald promises not to "panic" over Fiorina's rise -- but he sure looks to be in a mini meltdown

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published September 21, 2015 2:01PM (EDT)

  (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)
(Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

Donald Trump is still the leader of the Republican presidential pack, but his position at the top looks to be in peril thanks to the rise of rival Carly Fiorina.

According to a couple of new polls out over the weekend, the former Hewlett-Packard executive has seen her popularity rise following last week's CNN GOP debate, with a NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll showing higher marks than The Donald for debate performance and a CNN/ORC national poll showing her cutting into his lead with Republican voters and shooting up to second place.

“It’s obviously a very important moment, because now more people know who I am and we know, based on what’s happened before this debate, that as people come to know me and they understand who I am and what I’ve done and most importantly, what I will do, they tend to support me,” Fiorina said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Fiorina's debate performance, much like her first showing at the Fox News "kiddie table" in Cleveland, was widely praised as a success and it appears as though The Donald has had it with the Fiorina fawning. Trump took to Twitter last night to slam the rising candidate as a failed politician (all three top performing Republican candidates are non-office holders) and to knock her tenures as a Silicon Vallery CEO:

Despite his turn of focus to Fiorina, Trump assured Politico that her rise was no sweat to his campaign. "Well I don't think panic is a word that I'd use," Trump offered, "but you know, sure, I'd like to stay on top. I have stayed on top. I've been very strong with that."

"You develop a tremendous headache," if you listen to Fiorina for more than five minutes Trump cracked this morning on "Fox & Friends."


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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2016 Republican Primary Carly Fiorina Donald Trump Gop Civil War