Giuliani: Trump Has Been "Underestimated" Like Ronald Reagan

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani appears on Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe and takes questions from host Joe Scarborough and the panelists.





RUDY GIULIANI: I was laughed at two months ago, three months ago when I said he's a serious candidate and could get the nomination.



JOE SCARBOROUGH: And why do you say that?



GIULIANI: Because I know him. He is an extraordinarily smart guy. He learns on the fly. He picks things up very, very quickly. Very quickly. And we have always known him kind of as a showman. But we don't -- We have never seen his intellect. It is a very big - it's a big intellect, it's a strong intellect. So you combine his showmanship with his intellect --



SCARBOROUGH: But wait -- Let me stop you right there. You say that there are a lot of people, a lot of elites that roll their eyes.



MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Just like a record just went (INAUDIBLE) like that -



SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, can you explain that? Because you don't come from Queens, even if your dad was a big developer, come and dominate Manhattan real estate, have to fight all of the crazy nonsense you have to fight in New York City, zonings, restrictions, counsel, mayors of all stripes, without being pretty brilliant and they known him because they think he is only worth $4 billion instead of $10 billion. Talk about that intellect. What does he get? Why do you think --



GIULIANI: That's why I think they understatement him. I compared him and got really criticized in one way and I mean this in one way, to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan always had one great advantage. He was always underestimated. He was always the dumb actor. Brown made that mistake when he ran for governor. Oh yeah, I want to run against Reagan. Reagan is the dumb actor.



Carter made that mistake. Carter wanted to run against Reagan instead of Bush. Oh, that dumb actor. Well, it wasn't a dumb actor. It was a very, very smart actor. If you read Reagan's books and his letters to Mrs. Reagan, you will see what a great writer Ronald Reagan was. Ronald Reagan was a fabulous writer .



SCARBOROUGH: I actually even heard Keith Olbermann in 2003 or 2004, around the time Reagan died, saying he never knew Reagan's intellect until he started reading the letters.



GIULIANI: Donald has been underestimated from the beginning. So here is the estimation of him and here he is. But it's going to get real close. There are a couple of other really good candidates on the Republican side.