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Former 'Apprentice' contestants to America: Don't hire Trump

Former contestants of “The Apprentice” on Friday repudiated Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, warning Americans of the danger of a country run by the former reality-show star.

“Because our allegiance to our country supersedes our relationship with Donald, we see today as an act of patriotism and not disloyalty,” said Randal Pinkett, who won Season 4 of NBC's “The Apprentice.”

The group of former contestants said they came together to speak out against Trump, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans, insisting that their collective remarks were not a partisan statement. The news conference in New York comes four days before the state's primary, where Trump leads by significant double-digit margins in recent polls.

“Today, we denounce Donald’s campaign of sexism, xenophobia, racism, violence and hate as a unified team, “ said Pinkett, who personally invited former contestants Kevin Allen, Tara Dowdell, Marshawn Evans Daniels, James Sun and Kwame Jackson to condemn Trump’s candidacy for the first time as a group.

Jackson, a first-season contestant, blamed Trump for creating a “toxic ecosystem” by appealing to fear, racism and divisiveness and questioned his disposition to be commander in chief.

Trump has suggested he would be more presidential in the White House, but throughout his campaign, he has called for controversial interrogation tactics defense officials have condemned and during a Republican debate appeared to have no understanding of what the nuclear triad is.

“Trump does not have the temperament to deal with the sensitivities and diplomacy required on the world stage with volatile regimes in Iran, North Korea and the threat of ISIS,” he said. “You don’t get into a fist-for-fist boxing match in 2016 global politics.”

Jackson blasted Trump for his bombastic policy proposals — which include building a wall along the southern border that he says Mexico will pay for, and temporarily banning Muslims from traveling to the U.S. — adding that the real estate mogul has corrupted the GOP to its own demise by depriving substantive candidates of the airtime necessary to sustain successful campaigns and forcing others to join his “race to the bottom.”

Candidates like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, once thought to win the nomination, struggled to gain traction as Trump dominated the media. Yet some of his rivals, like Chris Christie and Ben Carson, have endorsed his campaign.

“Trump is not the candidate for America. Words matter, and you incite violence when you cajole, tacitly and implicitly, encourage the next Dylann Roof or the next Timothy McVeigh,” Jackson said, suggesting that Trump’s rhetoric could inspire another domestic killing spree like the attacks Roof and McVeigh carried out, last year in Charleston, South Carolina, and in 1995 in Oklahoma City, respectively. “They are listening. In some tragic cases, they are acting.”

Jackson said he remembered a different Trump than what he’s seeing on the trail, remarking that if he had known this Trump, he would not have participated in “The Apprentice.” In endorsing Trump last month, Carson remarked that there are "two different Donald Trumps," a notion with which Trump initially agreed but then reversed himself within moments.

But this Trump wants to rewind America, Jackson said, recalling some of the Republican front-runner’s controversial comments.

“Trump is playing the old Dixiecrat southern strategy of yesteryear by playing to small-tent politics, assuming you can win an election with an all-white, male electorate that is shrinking, angry and tricked into voting against their own economic self-interest by a beguiling and shiny billionaire,” he said.

Dowdell, a contestant from Season 3, said Trump has been so divisive that it would be irresponsible not to condemn him. Citing violence at his rallies, she accused the New York businessman of validating hate and bigotry she said could tear apart America and mocked his ubiquitous campaign slogan.

“You don’t make America great by rejecting the very promise of America. America has always been a place where we welcomed immigrants, where we welcomed people coming here seeking a better life or escaping extreme violence and totalitarianism,” she said. “That is what has made America great. You don’t make America great by dividing people. You don’t make America great by creating an environment where people think it’s acceptable to physically harm someone exercising their constitutional rights.”

In March, Trump encouraged his supporters to “knock the crap out” of protesters carrying tomatoes and offered to pay legal bills for supporters who are charged at his rallies. He later denied saying that.

“I am truly concerned about what will happen if Donald Trump becomes the Republican presidential nominee, and I am deeply afraid of what could happen if he becomes president of the United States of America,” Dowdell said.

Trump, who has the support of former contestant Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, fired off a statement lambasting the “six failing wannabes.”

“Ask how successful they’ve been since they left,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “Six failing wannabes out of hundreds of contestants — so sad!”

Trump argued that no one would know who they were if not for him. “They just want to get back into the limelight like they had when they were with Trump. Total dishonesty and disloyalty,” he added. “They should be careful, or I’ll play hours of footage of them individually praising me.”