Donald Trump latest's close-up is coming from the unlikeliest of magazines: Rolling Stone. 
 
 When the magazine's cover story came out on Wednesday, the most-talked-about passage was a Trump comment about rival Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. 
 
 According to writer Paul Solotaroff, he was sitting with Trump watching a newscast when a video clip zoomed in on Fiorina. 
 
 "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?" Trump said to Solotaroff. "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president." 
 
 Trump added, "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" 
 
 Solotaroff continued his cover story (headlined "Taking Trump Seriously") by saying: 
 
 "And there, in a nutshell, is Trump's blessing and his curse: He can't seem to quit while he's ahead. The instincts that carried him out to a lead and have kept him far above the captious field are the same ones that landed him in ugly stews with ex-wives, business partners, networks, supermodels and many, many other famous women." 
 
 The quotes stirred controversy on Twitter Wednesday evening. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign declined to comment. 
 
 But Trump said on CNN's "New Day" Thursday morning that he was talking about Fiorina's persona, not her physical traits. 
 
 "The fact is that Carly Fiorina has had a terrible past," he said, citing criticisms of her time as a CEO. 
 
 For her part, Fiorina sidestepped questions about Trump during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday night. "I think those comments speak for themselves," she told Megyn Kelly. 
 
 Fiorina said "I have no idea" what Trump meant, but "maybe, just maybe, I'm getting under his skin a little bit, because I am climbing in the polls." 
 
 On CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Republican strategist Ana Navarro predicted that at next week's primary debate, "she's going to look Donald Trump right into his face and say to him, 'Really, Donald? Really? You think you can criticize my looks?'" 
 
 Republican commentator Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general, said Trump's barb directed at Fiorina is "going to cause him problems, as it probably should." 
 
 That said, Trump has proven uniquely able to withstand periods of outrage over controversial comments in the past. 
 
 The Trump interview and cover shoot with Rolling Stone was arranged back in August. It came as something of a surprise because the magazine is well known for its progressive bent. Its publisher Jann Wenner is a staunch supporter of Democrats. 
 
 A spokeswoman for the magazine said the issue -- dated September 24 -- will hit newsstands on Friday. 
 
 Solotaroff's cover story also reveals that Trump has not totally moved on from his well-documented feud last month with the Fox News Channel. 
 
 Most recently, he was absent from the network for two weeks after criticizing prime time host Megyn Kelly. 
 
 While spending time with Solotaroff, Trump handed the writer a copy of a New York magazine article titled "How Roger Ailes Picked Trump, and Fox News' Audience, Over Megyn Kelly." 
 
 It was the same article he handed to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd when she visited him a couple of weeks ago. 
 
 "I don't start these fights, but I sure as hell win them," Trump told Solotaroff. ||||| Getty Trump on Fiorina's face: I made those comments as an entertainer 
 
 Donald Trump didn’t mean any harm when he criticized fellow GOP 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s face. He says he was just being the showman he is. 
 
 “Many of those comments are made as an entertainer because I did The Apprentice and it was one of the top shows on television,” he told Greta Van Susteren on Thursday night. “Some comments are made as an entertainer and as everybody said, as an entertainer is a much different ball game.” 
 
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 Trump who is leading in Republican polls has said comments that would have buried many other candidates. 
 
 A Rolling Stone story Wednesday illustrates a scene where Trump watches Fiorina come onto the TV screen. 
 
 “’Look at that face!' he cries. 'Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!' The laughter grows halting and faint behind him. 'I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posed ta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?'” 
 
 On Thursday night, he reiterated what he told CNN earlier — that the face comments were actually about her persona. 
 
 “We’re really talking about not a physical thing, we’re talking about the persona. This is a women that gets tremendous publicity,” he said. “I don’t know why…her past doesn’t go along with the publicity she’s getting.” 
 
 But it didn’t take long before he was back on his favorite punching bag: Jeb Bush. “When somebody knocks me like Jeb Bush or anybody else, I at least decide that I think it’s appropriate to fight back.” 
 
 Van Susteren pointed out this wasn’t his first time saying controversial comments about women. 
 
 Trump responded that he was leading with women, and many other groups. 
 
 “I’d like to say that nobody understands and nobody wants to do more for women,” Trump said, a favorite line of his. “My wife was talking to me and she said you cherish women you really have to talk about it a little bit more.” 
 
 Trump also addressed his spat with Dr. Ben Carson. Earlier Thursday he said Carson, who is the first person to successfully separate twins conjoined at the back of the head, was an “OK doctor.” 
 
 Trump backtracked a bit, saying he’s sure some people will disagree with his views. 
 
 “I’m sure he’s a good doctor, I think that he’s overrated as a doctor,” Trump said. 
 
 CLARIFICATION: CLARIFICATION: This post has been updated to clarify the type of surgery Carson was first in successfully completing.
– In a Rolling Stone cover story on Donald Trump and his campaign, one particularly crass comment is getting the most attention: Writer Paul Solotaroff says Trump made fun of GOP rival Carly Fiorina's looks when she appeared on TV news, saying, "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president." Solotaroff says Trump added, "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" Trump's derogatory remarks about women led to his feud with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, and on Kelly's show last night, Fiorina said his remarks about her suggest she may be "getting under his skin a little bit," the AP reports. Analysts tell CNN that the Fiorina remarks could cause Trump problems at next week's GOP debate, although similar episodes haven't done him much harm. "If you're waiting for Trump to blow himself up in a Hindenburg of gaffes or hate speech, you're in for a long, cold fall and winter," Solotaroff concluded after 10 days with the Trump campaign. "Donald Trump is here for the duration—and gaining strength and traction by the hour." (Stephen Colbert targeted Trump on his Late Show debut.)