Republican frontrunner Donald Trump praised Pat Buchanan on Twitter Saturday, a man he once called a neo-Nazi and a dangerous demagogue.
Now, Trump says, Buchanan was ahead of his time.
Pat Buchanan gave a fantastic interview this morning on @CNN - way to go Pat, way ahead of your time!
Flashback to 2000, when Trump briefly flirted with a run for the Reform Party's presidential nomination. In that race, Trump sought to save the Reform Party from the possibility of a Buchanan nomination (Buchanan had also repeatedly sought the Republican nomination previously).
Trump took a parting shot at Buchanan when he declined to seek the presidency in 2000, calling him a neo-Nazi.
"The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani," Trump's 2000 statement read. "This is not company I wish to keep."
Trump wrote in his 2000 campaign book The America We Deserve, "Pat Buchanan has been guilty of many egregious examples of intolerance. He has systematically bashed Blacks, Mexicans, and Gays."
Trump, oddly enough, said Buchanan had said too many outrageous things to be president.
"Simply put, Pat Buchanan has written too many inflammatory, outrageous, and controversial things to ever be elected president," wrote Trump in his book.
As previously noted by BuzzFeed News, Buchanan's 2000 platform was identical to Trump's in a number of ways. Buchanan was a protectionist on trade, used harsh rhetoric on immigration, wanted to limit donor influence in politics, and spoke loudly against Washington corruption.
On CNN on Saturday, Buchanan praised Trump saying, "Trump has raised the very issues I raised in the early nineties.."
In one Los Angeles Times op-ed titled "Buchanan Is Too Wrong to Correct," The Donald said that Buchanan was a very dangerous man" saying on "slow days, he attacks gays, immigrants, welfare recipients, even Zulus."
And, speaking with The Advocate in 1999, Trump called Buchanan's past works "disgusting."
"I used to like Pat," said Trump in the interview. "I was on Crossfire with him. I thought he was a nice guy. Then I read the things he had written about Hitler, Jews, blacks, gays, and Mexicans. I mean, I think it's disgusting. That speech he made at the '92 Republican convention was a disaster. He wants to divide Americans. Clearly, he has a love affair with Adolf Hitler, and that's sick. Buchanan actually said gay people had chosen 'satan[ism] and suicide' Now he says he welcomes gay people into his campaign. The guy is a hypocrite."