HPE's Whitman Blasts Trump As 'Unfit To Be President,' Calls Christie Endorsement 'Astonishing Display Of Political Opportunism'

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman is doing her best to take the wind out of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's sails.

Whitman, the former national finance co-chair for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's campaign, is even taking the governor to task for endorsing Trump.

"Chris Christie’s endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism," said Whitman in a prepared statement. "Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey. Christie knows all that and indicated as much many times publicly. The governor is mistaken if he believes he can now count on my support, and I call on Christie’s donors and supporters to reject the governor and Donald Trump outright. I believe they will. For some of us, principle and country still matter."

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An email to the Trump campaign for comment was not returned at press time.

Whitman is no stranger to hardball politics. She made an unsuccessful run for governor of California in 2010 and faced a number of personal attacks.

Tim Shea, president and senior consultant of Alpha NetSolutions, a Millbury, Mass., solution provider, praised Whitman for taking on Trump.

"Trump is like the emperor's new clothes for the Republicans," said Shea. "There are guys jumping on the bandwagon and they are blinded to the political reality. Trump has this reputation as a big businessman, but he is like the P.T. Barnum of our era. He has lost more money than I'll ever make. If he wants to do that with his own money, that is OK. I don’t want him doing it with the U.S. Treasury."

Shea, who has run a solution provider business for 25 years, bemoaned the lack of substantive debate among all the presidential candidates with regard to the challenges facing small businesses like his own.

"None of the candidates care about small businesses even though we employ 50 percent of all Americans," said Shea. "I can tell you why: It's because I don't have a lobbyist. There are millions of small businesses but we don't have the money to buy lobbyists in Washington."

Shea, whose company employs 12 people, said only 1 percent of technology consultants starting their own business move to three employees.

"The nature of our business is challenging," he said. "It's a monstrous challenge to keep up with the technology. People drop off because they can't keep up with the sea change that is happening in our industry continually. That's on top of a government that makes changes to laws and taxes without regard to the impact on small businesses."

Shea said he has tried not to watch the debates because of the rancor and personal attacks that are part and parcel of the campaign.

"I try not to watch the debates, but some of it sneaks in no matter how hard you try to protect yourself from it," he said. "Watching Trump speak is like watching a WWE match with the wrestlers trash-talking each other between matches."