Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:43 pm
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a rally endorsing U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for President at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich
Sarah Palin’s endorsement has been a bomb with the very people that she was supposed to sway as Donald Trump supporters came away from listening to Palin’s demented rambles completely unimpressed.
Here is how Reuters summed up the reaction to Palin’s stumping for Trump:
When it comes to influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential race, Sarah Palin’s star power is turning out to be dimmer than expected.
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There was no ecstasy in the crowd when the former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee endorsed Republican front-runner Donald Trump at a rally in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday night. And at Trump’s next appearance on Wednesday in Norwalk, people who came to see him – both hard-core Trump supporters and undecided voters – said Palin was not swaying them.
“They’re going to have to do an image remake of her,” said Joani Estes, 56, of Indianola, Iowa. Estes said her Pentecostal Christian faith made her feel aligned with Palin, but it did not make her feel any more strongly about Trump. She liked him, she said, and was likely going to caucus for him during the state’s nominating contest on Feb. 1 – but she was also keeping the door open for his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
Politico‘s survey of early state Republicans was no kinder, “The endorsement gave Trump a lot of free press,” said one Iowa GOP insider, “but Sarah Palin’s star power with Iowa conservatives faded a long time ago.”
It dropoff in enthusiasm was noticeable to anyone who watched Palin’s first two rallies with Trump. The crowd just wasn’t all that into Palin. As is typical during the modern Palin performance, the audience starts off hot for her, but by the middle of her remarks, her fragmented rambling loses even her most excited supporters.
The mainstream media has always overestimated the star power of Palin, and the networks were tripping over themselves to tout a pairing that they have always dreamed up.
In reality, there isn’t much of a market for a washed up, and deranged maverick who is still bitter about losing to Barack Obama in 2008. Palin’s speeches for Trump featured the same whining and attacks against the President that she has been using on the county fair and rubber chicken circuit for years.
Palin is yesterday plus seven years and 364 days’ news. Her main purpose on the stump isn’t to sway votes but to attract those “lamestream” TV cameras and be a walking thumb in the eye to Ted Cruz.
It turns out that even Republicans have their limits, and Sarah Palin is the no-hit wonder nostalgia tour that nobody is excited to see.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
