Donald Trump teased a “big endorsement” at his campaign rally Monday and rumors surrounding the identity of his newest high-profile supporter have been swirling ever since.
“We’re getting a big endorsement on Tuesday. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” the Republican presidential front-runner said at a late-afternoon campaign stop in Concord, N.H.
Soon after, Steve Deace, an Iowa-based conservative radio host and Ted Cruz supporter, suggested the endorsement could be coming from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., who heaped praise on Trump after the billionaire delivered remarks to the student body Monday.
“Multiple little birdies tell me Jerry Falwell, Jr. is going to do [sic] endorse Donald Trump for president and do an event in Iowa with him tomorrow,” Deace wrote on his Facebook page.
Deace later updated the post three separate times.
First, he suggested Trump’s campaign was behind rumors that evangelist Billy Graham was also coming to Iowa to endorse the Republican front-runner — not true, Deace later said. He then claimed sources told him Falwell had decided against endorsing Trump amid backlash and that Trump, in Falwell’s absence, was frantically searching for a “Ted Nugent type conservative celebrity” to take his place.
Hours later, Bloomberg Politics’ managing editor Mark Halperin tossed former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin into the mix.
Does anybody know where @SarahPalinUSA plans to be on Tuesday? @JenniferJJacobs pic.twitter.com/ipC5BafRCx
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) January 18, 2016
That prompted widespread speculation that perhaps the former Alaska governor, who endorsed Trump’s plan to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and has lauded outsider candidates like him and Cruz, could be the “big” endorser.
“Oh My: Palin to Endorse Trump in Iowa Today?” read a headline on Townhall.com.
The Washington Post soon followed with speculation of their own: “Is Sarah Palin about to endorse Donald Trump? An investigation.”
Even Cruz’s campaign weighed in on the rumors, claiming a Palin-Trump endorsement would be deeply disappoint the Texas senator.
“I think if it was Sarah Palin, let me just say I would be deeply disappointed,” Cruz’s communications director Rick Tyler told CNN.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, the media was still playing the guessing game and Trump was doing his part to fuel it.
“[It will] be a very big event. I think you’ll be very impressed,” Trump told reporters during his first of three campaign stops Tuesday in Iowa.
Asked if the endorsement is coming from Palin, he responded: “That I won’t say. I am a big fan of Sarah Palin, but I’m not saying who it is.”
“I think we’ll talk about that later, but it’s a very big event planned, and I think everybody’s going to be impressed,” he added. “Nobody knows who it is, and that’s fine.”
Trump is currently second in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
