Sacha Baron Cohen addresses his support for ‘underestimated’ Donald Trump

Sacha Baron Cohen believes that Donald Trump possesses "elements of brilliance" arguing that critics have routinely "underestimated" the US president.

The 55-year-old actor sat down with the politician in character as Ali G for Da Ali G Show in 2003, and maintains that the public failed to judge him accurately.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Baron Cohen said, "I mean, how has he survived a second term? People underestimated him. 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,” he expressed.

Recalling their TV interview, Baron Cohen said that Trump was initially impressed by director James Bobin, before his mood "immediately" changed upon discovering he would be speaking with Ali G.

"I actually met a woman who was in the car with him after that interview, and he was apparently furious," the comedian recalled. "He actually went out publicly a couple of times to criticise me. And in the end, we used all those clips and used them to advertise another show that I did."

The Borat actor, who brings back his persona for the feature film Ali G: Who Iz I?, previously called Trump "amusing" and said there was "a huge amount of comedy in the way he speaks."

On the Pivot podcast, he said: "He's intentionally being funny. And if you have a look on the far right, they use comedy and sarcasm as an engaging way to dismiss criticisms."

The Bruno star also recently outlined why he chose to revive Ali G telling Time magazine, "The fact that Ali G is outdated and problematic is the very reason I resurrected him.”

"The world he’s returned to is, in many ways, worse than the one he left 20 years ago. All the prejudices my characters are designed to expose haven’t just lingered - they’ve metastasised. They’re fuelled by the greatest propaganda machine in history - social media - and now by its monstrous child, AI,” he stated.

Sacha Baron Cohen also added that prejudice has "gone mainstream" in the years since Ali G's height. "Back when I first created Borat, it took a few minutes – or a few drinks – to get people to reveal the racism that often simmered below the surface.”