Fiorina: Democrats can’t dismiss intelligence of Trump voters

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and one-time Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina on Monday said Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should avoid alienating Trump voters with rhetoric if he wants to court them before the November election.

“I think Democrats are going to make a very serious mistake if they dismiss or diminish the intelligence or character of Trump voters,” Fiorina, one of several high-profile Republicans who have thrown their support behind Biden, said on MSNBC.

Fiorina said that in 2016 the Democratic Party alienated potential swing voters when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described a portion of Trump’s supporters as belonging to a “basket of deplorables.”

“It was one of the mistakes they made in 2016, Hillary Clinton calling Trump voters deplorable,” Fiorina said. “It’s a mistake I hope Democrats won’t make again by saying every Trump voter is stupid or racist.”

Fiorina said distrust of the federal government, the media and politicians are “longstanding American traditions” that Trump capitalizes on. 

“Trump didn’t invent those things, he plays on those things,” she said.

The former CEO said that “the most substantive argument that was made last night was Mike Pence saying the economy was at stake.”

“That is an argument that Joe Biden is going to have to take on and he is also going to have to reach out with respect, and empathy and humility — all of which he is capable of — to those voters who voted for Obama and then voted for Trump,” said Fiorina.