Donald Trump's odds of winning the GOP nomination are as "good as anybody else's," Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday, but Trump's biggest strengths may prove to be "his biggest liabilities."
"People are sick and tired of professional politicians, and Donald is not a professional politician," the former New York City mayor told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
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"He's a self-made man. Got a head start, but made billions out of what was really not that big a business. And he's a tremendous, tremendous communicator, like [Barack] Obama, like [Ronald] Reagan, like [Bill] Clinton."
But those strengths could work against him as well. Giuliani was running in first place for the GOP presidential nomination, the same post Trump now holds, in the summer before the 2008 primary, but eventually lost that bid to Arizona Sen. John McCain.
"There are many more candidates this time," Giuliani pointed out. "Last time, it was sort of McCain, me, [Mike] Huckabee, and [Mitt] Romney. That was it."
And since there are so many more candidates for the nomination, Giuliani said he would advise Trump to "communicate his positions like a sensible, normal person, which he can do very, very well. Donald is a tremendous salesman; a tremendous entertainer."
At the same time, Trump suffers from "a lack of experience in politicians," said Giuliani.
He also has "a lack of experience in debating," Giuliani said. "It will be interesting to see if he can convert that style he has to the 60-second answer, the 30-second rebuttal. If he can do that, he could be a really, really very serious contender."
Trump's place at the top of the polls will likely keep carrying him onward, said Giuliani, who believes the "top five, six in the polls" will be the ones in real contention for the nomination.
However, there could be a few breakthroughs, said Giuliani, such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, "because of his talent," and Ohio Gov. John Kasich "because of his background experience ... He's a guy who is ready to be president."
Giuliani said he also likes Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, pointing out that he was the second Republican, after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to endorse Rubio's Senate race.
"Makes it funny for me, because Donald has been a friend for 25 years, Jeb for 22 years," said Giuliani, who noted that he was a "sort of" mentor to Christie.
Giuliani also Tuesday discussed the nuclear deal with Iran, calling it "catastrophic."
"I do not understand putting a nuclear weapons and hundreds of billions of dollars in the hands of a president who wants to wipe out the greatest ally and wants to wipe you out," said Giuliani, who was in office at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City.
Instead of the agreement that was reached, "much more hard-nosed diplomacy was needed," said Giuliani.
"We know that Obama caved for five months," said the former mayor. "I know Obama caved over the people that have promises of protection from the United States government. Already about 200 of them have been killed. They have promises of protection from the American government. The State Department refused to listen to the promise that was made because the government of Iran has such influence over them.
"They gave away everything. It's like I got your house for nothing, and basically, they took Obama's house for nothing."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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