Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Sunday criticized Donald Trump’s leadership style, saying, “I think it is very difficult to lead if you don’t have the requisite knowledge.”
Fiorina’s comments on “Face the Nation” come after Trump said he would delegate tasks in his administration. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO also criticized the “professional political class,” telling CBS host John Dickerson that “we’ve come to a place, though, where people realize that running for political office all your life isn’t necessarily the most qualifying set of experiences either.”
In an interview Thursday with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump struggled to answer basic questions about foreign policy. (RELATED: Donald Trump Has No Idea Who America’s Greatest Enemies Are, But Carly Fiorina Does)
“Donald Trump said that this kind of specific knowledge didn’t matter, he would delegate, he’d get up to speed in 24 hours–that’s what people in business do,” Dickerson said, referring to Trump’s interview with Hewitt. “You were a CEO, is he right about that?”
“I disagree with him on that,” Fiorina responded. “I think it is very difficult to lead if you don’t have the requisite knowledge.” (RELATED: Rubio: Presidential Candidates Need To Take National Security ‘Seriously’)
“And I think it’s perfectly acceptable that you don’t know the name of every terrorist leader. I don’t always either. I do think it’s important to know who our enemies are. I think it’s important to know the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah. And to know as well that both of them, for example, are proxies of Iran,” she said.
The former CEO also criticized Washington’s political establishment.
“I do think we’ve come to a place, though, where people realize that running for political office all your life isn’t necessarily the most qualifying set of experiences either,” Fiorina said. “I mean we have a professional political class, 80 percent of the American people now think we have a professional political class that is either unwilling or unable to challenge the status quo of Washington and get anything done. And we have festering problems in Washington. Not to mention a lack of leadership around the world.”
“I understand how the economy works, I understand how the world works and who’s in it, who are our friends and who are our enemies,” she continued. “I understand how big bureaucracies work, which is what Washington, D.C. has come become. I understand technology and I understand leadership. And I think those are the necessary experiences and qualifications to become President of the United States.”
