Perry would support Trump if he’s GOP nominee

Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) said on Thursday he would support Donald Trump if he is the Republican nominee.

{mosads}“Whoever comes out of the Republican field, I’m going to be supportive,” Perry told hosts Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle and Katty Kay on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked about Trump’s candidacy. 

During his own campaign for the presidency, Perry called Trump’s candidacy “a cancer on conservatism” and said the GOP front-runner was “toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense.” 

But on Thursday, he was critical of Democrats. 

“When you look at the other side and you see the alternatives, whether it’s Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or some other candidate out there — we’re going to be heads and shoulders above them,” he said, referencing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Vice President Biden. 

“They want more government, bigger government [and] more taxes,” Perry added of the Democrats. “We’ve tried that — well, it’ll be eight years — and it’s been an absolute disaster.” 

Perry also said he admires GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s poise on the 2016 campaign trail. 

“Well, I’ve been impressed with Carly for a long time,” he said. 

“Back in the mid-2000s, she was the head of Hewlett-Packard when Compaq in Houston was absorbing [with it], part of that HP process,” Perry said.

“We negotiated with each other and we’ve become very, very good friends and I’m a great fan of hers,” the former Texas governor added. “Carly is an impressive leader.”

Perry praised Fiorina’s breakout performance in last week’s second televised main-stage GOP presidential debate. 

“She is solid, she is steady,” he said of the ex-technology executive who has surged in the polls following two GOP debates. “I have not heard a better closing debate statement maybe in my lifetime than what we saw in that last debate.” 

“She’s obviously a very, very capable debater, and an individual that, you know, Americans are looking at right now and they’re liking what they’re seeing,” Perry added. 

Perry’s remarks follow his exit from the hunt for next year’s Republican presidential nomination earlier this month.