Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is doing a bit of an about face on Donald Trump, giving the president praise as a man of “brilliance” while noting that the left too quickly dismissed Trump as a “nincompoop.”

On the eve of the opening of his latest movie based on his satirical rapper character, Ali G, Cohen sat down with Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Wednesday and delivered some uncharacteristically complimentary words about Trump.

Cohen recalls having interviewed Trump for 40 minutes more than two decades ago when he was producing his Da Ali G Show TV series. Trump was then a New York real estate mogul and had not yet run for president when the interview was arranged. Cohen noted that unlike some of the other important persons he interviewed during the show, Trump was not punctual for the interview.

“As Ali G, I had the privilege of sitting with some of the smartest and most powerful people in the world, and all of them were punctual,” Cohen said. “Donald Trump kept us waiting for about 40 minutes.”

It wasn’t just out of disorganization on Trump’s part, either. “It really was a power move,” Cohen said, adding that he felt entirely “intimidated” when Trump entered the room for the interview. That is because as Trump entered the room, he was delivering an expletive-laden rant at his staffers. But it was all a “power move” meant to put people interviewing him off their game.

Upon reflection at his early encounter with Trump, Cohen added that he fully understands how Trump was able to win a second term despite the setback in 2020.

“I mean, how has he survived a second term? People underestimated him,” Cohen told the podcast host. “We were too easy to dismiss him as a nincompoop. There are elements of brilliance to him, otherwise. And that explains his appeal with the fact that he’s there for a second term, the fact that he’s transforming this country. I won’t say positively or negatively.”

Despite his outpouring of kind words, Cohen has been a bitter enemy of the president.

Back in 2021, for instance, the actor – who claims to be a big supporter of free speech — celebrated the fact that Facebook and the pre-Elon Musk Twitter had banned Trump from their social media platforms. Cohen called Trump a “purveyor of hate” at the time.

Back in 2016, Cohen joked that Trump was set to pick comedian Bill Cosby as his vice-presidential running mate, hinting that Cosby was a perfect fit for Trump because the once famed comedian was convicted of sexual assault and was serving a long prison term at the time.

Also, in 2021, Cohen said he purposefully released his second Borat film just ahead of the 2022 elections in hopes that he could help lead to the destruction of Trump and the MAGA movement.

In the end, Cohen’s sudden decision to say some kind words about Trump appears calculated to ease the anger of Republicans and conservatives and supporters of the president to fool them into paying good money to see his latest film at the theater.

His new Ali G film, Ali G: Who Iz I?, opened this weekend in theaters across the nation, but not without controversy. In September, screenings of the censorship advocate’s new film were canceled after Cohen came under fire for being a “racist” as critics claimed his Ali G character promulgates racist stereotypes about blacks. It is widely expected to be a box office bomb.

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