Sarah Palin supports Trump
Former Governor of Alaska and ex-vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has openly demonstrated her support for Donald J. Trump in her speech delivered at Trump’s campaign in Iowa State University. With Trump by her side, Palin criticized the other presidential candidates and commended Trump for his actions in the race.
Palin’s support and loyalties were clear throughout her dialogue, praising Trump for “going rouge left and right” and proclaiming him as “the next president of the United States.” Palin openly complimented Trump’s supporters, stating that they were helping Trump “make America great again.”
“So those of us who’ve kind of gone through the ringer as Mr. Trump has, makes me respect you even more,” Palin said. “That you’re here, and you’re putting your efforts and you’re putting reputations, you’re putting relationships on the line to do the right thing for this country. Because you are ready to make America great again. Well, I am here because like you, I know that it is now or never.”
Due to the timing of her speech—which was delivered on the same day Iowa’s governor released a statement saying that he hoped Ted Cruz would lose in Iowa—and her ample amount of supporters in Iowa, some were led to believe that her endorsement of Trump could have an impact on his success in the state.
“It is not clear that Mrs. Palin’s blessing will have a major impact on Mr. Trump’s long-term prospects,” stated The New York Times. “But in Iowa, where Mrs. Palin spent years developing a network of supporters, it could be helpful.”
Even before her appearance in Iowa, Palin had demonstrated her support for Trump, applauding him for upsetting the media and commending him on his entrepreneurial success.
“Mr.Trump should know he’s doing something right when the malcontents go ballistic in the press! There is no denying Donald J. Trump’s accomplishments and drive to create opportunity for every willing American to succeed,” Palin said in her Facebook post. “His own success is [a] testament to the job-creating achievements made possible when one applies the courageous and tenacious pro-private sector precepts we need to fire up the economy.”
Palin herself has had a history of “blockbuster” speeches and “ad-libbed” commentary, as stated by the National Public Radio. Like Trump, her political style is one that depends on popular conceptions, rage, and celebrities.
“Hearing Palin’s speeches over the years and listening to Trump on the campaign trail now, you have two people speaking to the same audience, while hitting the same notes: Obamacare, radical Islamic terrorism, Obama’s weak foreign policy, his poor treatment of veterans and, of course, immigration,” according to the National Public Radio. “The language is always proudly politically incorrect.”
According to The New York Times, since the delivery styles of Trump and Palin are so similar, Palin could amplify the “news media-circus aspects of Mr. Trump’s candidacy.”
“She too is a reality television star accustomed to playing to the cameras and often accused of emphasizing flash over substance,” according to Alan Rappeport and Maggie Haberman, writers for The New York Times. “And while Mr. Trump has already shown the ability to garner wall-to-wall cable-news coverage, Mrs. Palin’s involvement in his campaign could help him deprive Mr. Cruz of attention in the homestretch to the caucuses.”
As of now, it is still unclear if Palin’s endorsement had any positive correlation with Trump’s results in Iowa, but regardless of this, it is definitely clear that Palin has regained her hold on popular media as Trump’s new “Trumpeter.”