Carly Fiorina: In the Trump Republican party it's all about loyalty to Trump

Former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina: "we are not asked to pledge allegiance to a party or to a president."

Video Transcript

CARLY FIORINA: Well, that's a really good question. And I think a lot of people who believe as you just suggested, and I certainly do right now, are in the Biden camp. And you've seen long lists of those people come out. I think that question can't totally be answered until after this election.

If Trump wins this election, he will win this election with an even more fervent base of people than he went into. I mean, it's very clear that Trump's political strategy has been to re-energize his base and to bring more like-minded people to his base. And so if that's the future of the Republican Party, I don't know. I think there are a lot of us who are going to consider another option. On the other hand, if Trump were to lose, then I think there is, perhaps, an interesting conversation in the Republican Party by people who did not support Trump or his policies or his personality or character or leadership-- is what I would call it-- and who will begin a conversation about the future of the Republican Party after Trump.

RICK NEWMAN: Well, I'm wondering-- I mean, people are having these conversations now. I mean, it seems quite plausible Trump could lose. Although, like everybody, I don't know if the polls are right, and I think we all are-- learned not to get ahead of ourselves from 2016. I mean, what are-- what's the chatter you hear? I mean, you're a prominent Republican by virtue of having run for president and been on the stage in 2016. Are people saying, we need to somehow-- if Trump loses, we need to somehow excommunicate the Trump wing and reclaim the Republican Party, or is it more like start a new party or try to go back to some kind of big tent or what?

CARLY FIORINA: Well, you know, the conversations, honestly, are kind of all over the map. And every single one of the alternatives that you just laid out is being discussed by various people in the party. I also think, however, that that conversation hasn't really happened to the extent it needs to because in the Trump Republican Party, it's all about loyalty to Trump. That is the definition of a loyal Republican now is loyalty to Trump.

And in fact, one of the things that I have said publicly and said to many of my colleagues is, we are not asked, as citizens of this country, to pledge allegiance to a party, and we're certainly not asked to pledge allegiance to a president-- any president. We're asked instead, as citizens, to pledge allegiance to a flag-- one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all-- and to pledge loyalty to a Constitution.

And so I say all that to say this, one of the things that I think we would be well-advised to get rid of a little bit is this feeling that we either have to be always loyal to one team or another. George Washington many, many years ago-- 1789, to be exact-- said the trouble with political parties is they will come to care only about winning. And I think we've seen that. And so I just start from the point of view that becoming a loyal party member is not necessarily our highest-order objective as citizens or as business people in this country.