Fiorina Trump Fight: Ann Coulter Defends The Donald On Immigration, Calls Fiorina Campaign 'Affirmative Action'

Carly Fiorina may have pulled off a debate performance that thrust her into the top tier of the Republican presidential candidates, but Ann Coulter is not impressed. In a radio interview Tuesday, Coulter left no room for doubt when asked about the rising former Hewlett-Packard executive.

"I have turned against her as of yesterday with the hot, hot hate of one thousand suns," Coulter said to radio host Mike Gallagher. Her comment served as the start of a defense of recently announced Donald Trump immigration plans that would eliminate birthright citizenship, which Fiorina has opposed in the past.

Trump released his first policy paper this week, focusing on immigration. In the paper, Trump called for the removal of birthright citizenship. Trump argued that the 14th amendment of the Constitution, which establishes birthright citizenship, was intended to declare newly free slaves as citizens of the United States. The amendment, Trump said, did not apply to the children of undocumented immigrants who are born here while their parents live in the country illegally.

Coulter, a conservative commentator and columnist, later called the Republican support of Fiorina "affirmative action" and described undocumented immigrants having children in the United States as something akin to running across the border dropping a baby and saying: "Haha, you missed me. I'm a citizen now."

Reaction to Trump's policy paper hasn't all been as supportive.

"It's not good policy, and it's not good politics," said Katie Packer Gage, a GOP strategist with Burning Glass Consulting in Washington, of the political viability of the policy. "It might get you the Laura Ingraham or the Ann Coulter award, but it's not going to win you a primary, and it's not going to win a general election."

Fiorina told a reporter in Iowa Tuesday that she agreed with some of what Trump has proposed to combat the immigration problem; however, she seemed to paint herself as someone who has been talking about immigration for years (Trump has repeatedly stated that he is the reason why immigration is being discussed by Republicans right now). As for Trump's recent attacks on her -- ranging from her career as an Hewlett-Packard executive to immigration -- she was nonplussed. "Donald Trump's gone after just about everybody. He's entitled to, obviously," she said.

Following a strong showing in the lower tier first Republican debate, Fiorina has seen her political capital skyrocket. Though she was unable to make it into the top 10 group to debate during prime time, she stood out among the bottom candidates and has shot up since then. She has become, by some polls, a top-five contender in the early nominating states Iowa and New Hampshire. In an average of polls by Real Clear Politics, Fiorina is currently in seventh place, while Trump is in first.