Members of the press were amused, giddy, bored and annoyed to learn Tuesday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had endorsed Donald Trump in the GOP 2016 presidential primary.
“Tina Fey to endorse Donald Trump,” Reason’s Peter Suderman joked, referring to former Saturday Night Live cast member Tina Fey’s infamous impersonation of the former governor.
Yahoo News’ Hunter Walker added, “Dare the media dream of a Trump/Palin ticket?”
“Jan. 2017, Trump is president,” BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski laughed. “Palin hosts ‘The Apprentice.'”
Palin formally endorsed the billionaire businessman during a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday afternoon, telling a crowd of Trump supporters that he is the only one who can fight liberalism and the so-called Washington “establishment.”
“Are you ready for new? And are you ready for the leader who will let you make America great again?,” she asked. “I want you to try to picture this … Exactly one year from tomorrow, former President Barack Obama. He packs up the teleprompters and the selfie-sticks, and the Greek columns, and all that hopey, changey stuff and he heads on back to Chicago, where I’m sure he can find some community there to organize again.”
“There, he can finally look up, President Obama will be able to look up, and there, over his head, he’ll be able to see that shining, towering, Trump tower. Yes, Barack, he built that, and that says a lot,” she added.
Even before she delivered her lengthy and somewhat disjointed endorsement address, members of the press were having a little fun at what they characterized as an amusing turn in the 2016 primary
“Chances Palin will resign half-way through her endorsement speech? She does that,” said RedState contributor Ben Howe, referring to when she resigned as governor before her term had come to an end.
Other reporters saw the news as entirely predictable and not all that interesting.
“CNN touting Palin endorsement of Trump as “bombshell”? Huh? It’s neither surprising nor important,” said Yahoo’s Jon Ward.
Rare editor Jack Hunter quipped, “I’m not the least bit surprised Palin endorsed Trump. I am surprised that so many seem surprised.”
Another segment of media reacted poorly to the news, writing that they were disheartened that Palin, a supposed conservative, had endorsed Trump over other 2016 primary contenders.
“The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, who was a passionate and fearless voice for hockey moms, mama grizzlies and women everywhere, all while enduring patently sexist attacks from the left, wouldn’t have supported a man who calls other women bimbos and slobs, thinks women who breast-feed and go to the bathroom are ‘disgusting,’ and criticizes another candidate for her looks,” CNN contributor S.E. Cupp opined. “That Sarah Palin is gone.”
IJ Review contributor Sarah Rumpf wrote Tuesday, “Much of Palin’s popularity with tea partiers and conservative activists comes from her willingness to be a strong voice for conservative principles, and sadly, today’s endorsement stands in direct contradiction to many of Palin’s own words over the years.”
But not everyone reacted with amusement or irritation at the endorsement. A few holdouts in the right-wing of media were delighted to learn that Palin backed Donald Trump.
“No one speaks better to the [evangelical] base than Sarah Palin,” an excited Trump supporter and Tea Party activist, Scottie Hughes, said Tuesday on CNN, explaining why the former governor’s endorsement matters to Trump in the caucus state of Iowa.
