Rick Perry compared Donald Trump to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Thursday evening in the first of two Republican presidential debates, saying that Giuliani only led in the polls in 2007 because of his celebrity.
"Well, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it," Perry said. "One thing I like to remind people is back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I would suggest a part of that was his celebrity."
But that year, Perry, who was governor of Texas at the time, endorsed Giuliani's presidential campaign.
"Rudy Giuliani is the most prepared individual of either party to be the next president," he said, according to a New York Daily News article from that October.
"I'm not talkin' about any mayor," Perry added, as quoted in the Daily News. "I'm talkin' about America's Mayor."