Free Republic

"Trump's candidacy, it has exposed not just that tragic, the ramifications of that betrayal of a transformation of our country, but too, he has exposed the complicity on both sides of the aisle that has enabled it, O.K.?" Palin told the crowd at her big announcement endorsing Donald Trump. ... Still, Trump has been having a super week. Palin wasn't even the high point. That came when Iowa's six-term Republican governor, Terry Branstad, urged voters to reject Trump's main competitor, Ted Cruz. "Ted Cruz is ahead right now. But what we're doing is, we're trying to do is educate the...

... Today, Palin is standing in Ames, Iowa to put her support behind someone who cannot be trusted to protect the unborn, who has twice traded in his wives for younger models (literally), who claims to be for the “little guy” but who has been all-too-willing to use government as a hired thug to line his own pocket, and who spent years making significant donations to Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee...

This is nice. Yesterday morning, I posted THIS about how I felt that Ted Cruz shouldn’t criticize my mom over the speculation that she might endorse Donald Trump. Here’s his gracious response: (TWEET-AT-LINK)(continued)

Rick Davis, the campaign manager for 2008 GOP nominee John McCain, said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the loser in former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to endorse businessman Donald Trump for the 2016 GOP nomination. "You win every day or you lose every day in a campaign at this stage down to the wire. And it was a big win day for Trump and a big lose day for Cruz," Davis said on "CBS This Morning." There's a "battle for the dwindling Carson vote," he said, which is why both Trump and Cruz are pushing so hard to build...

Ah, what is a political commentator to do? The presidential campaign has not even gotten to the stage of the first voting in Iowa yet, and the whole thing is already a parade of fifteen or more clown cars. What am I supposed to do? I look into my tool chest, and I am already running low on colorful adjectives. And anything I might want to say about Trump will now just Palin comparison. So let us start at the beginning of this sad business, when John McCain first selected her to be his vice-presidential candidate. What has happened since...

Sen. John McCain declined on Wednesday to criticize Sarah Palin, his former running mate, for endorsing Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. "I respect her view," McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters in the Senate on Wednesday, a day after Palin endorsed the man with whom he has had a bitter feud. "I have great affection and appreciation for her," he said. "I respect what she does." Palin's decision isn't affecting his own thinking about the race, McCain added. "I'm not considering anyone," he said. "I've got my own race to run." McCain had previously endorsed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of his...

The conservative commentariat has imploded in dismay at Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump in Iowa on Tuesday. Fans of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) , Trump’s main rival in Iowa and beyond, were understandably dismayed. But the reaction went far beyond that. Some said Palin betrayed her conservative principles by choosing a candidate whose conservatism is shallow at best. And some rehashed the personal attacks that have been a staple of the left. In fact, Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Trump makes sense, and fits both her politics and her personality.

With 13 days until the Iowa caucuses, Donald J. Trump and Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas, are deploying different surrogates but similar playbooks in the state, where the Republican electorate is conservative and where each is trying hard to win. Mr. Trump's closing argument began on Tuesday night with the endorsement of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008, who built a grass-roots following from the ashes of defeat that year. Mrs. Palin could be a significant help to Mr. Trump, certainly in terms of news media attention. But much of the coverage of her endorsement speech was...

I had the opportunity to attend the Trump rally in Tulsa today. I wanted to hear him first-hand without media bias. Palin being there was an added bonus. I was asked to give a full report and here's my views: 1. Trump seems trustworthy. If you're surprised to hear that, so am I to write it. I'm not saying he'll always be right. Look, the President is going to face situations we don't know about yet. How will they be handled? Trump rightfully blasted the stupidity, incompetence, and weakness of the present administration. He made no bones about it. Calling...

Via the Blaze, I was going to write a post about her blaming PTSD -- and Obama -- for her son's domestic violence arrest but I can't get past the first line of the clip below. The candidate who'll respect what our veterans go through is the guy who ... mocked her former running mate's heroism in enduring the Hanoi Hilton because he had the misfortune of being captured in the first place? Palin circa 2009 would have destroyed Trump for that. Palin 2016 doesn't blink. Increasingly I feel like the Trump campaign is a test to see how far...

Endorsing Donald Trump last night in Iowa, Sarah Palin called him "the only one that has been willing [and] who’s got the guts" to take on the GOP establishment. "He is from the private sector, not a politician: Can I get a hallelujah?" the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee said. The crowd answered back: "Hallelujah!" Today she and Trump will campaign together in Iowa and Oklahoma. A key Cruz ally acknowledged last night that Palin helps Trump: "He‘s a thrice-married, non-churchgoing billionaire, and she gives him credibility with conservative women," said Kellyanne Conway, who manages a Cruz super PAC. "It‘s...

George Will says Donald Trump bringing out Sarah Palin to endorse him is not "turning a fresh face to a promising future. We Should All Believe In Recycling, But There Are Limits" HUGH HEWITT, HOST: I’m joined by nationally syndicated Fox News contributor and author of A Nice Little Place on the South Side, George Will. George Will, welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show, great to have you. GEORGE WILL: Glad to be with you. HH: What did you make of that? GW: Well, I don’t think it’s the Republican Party turning a fresh face to a promising future....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Man, are we loaded today.  I'll tell you right now, it's going to take all three hours and then some.  I'm gonna try to get it all in here in three hours.  Much of today is gonna build on points that I have been making the past two days, evolving, growing, adding evidence to it, all rooted around the question, who is and what is the conservative movement, and why is it apparently behaving so oddly?  I think I can explain this and much else to all of you as the program unfolds today before your very...

Former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 GOP standard bearer Bob Dole appears to have endorsed Donald Trump. SNIP Nevertheless, Dole praised Trump stating he could “probably work with Congress, because he’s, you know, he’s got the right personality and he’s kind of a deal-maker.” SNIP

... When supporters of Trump begin to realize that, not only is he not a conservative, but he’s not even a populist, they will jump ship. Conservatives will flock to Cruz. The populists will scatter, licking their wounds, either holding on to the Trump ideal to the bitter end or finally realizing Cruz is the fighter they wanted all along. Either way, their insurgency will be broken, and the conservative resurgency will truly begin...

Wednesday, January 20, 2016: GOP Presidential front-runner Donald Trump held a massive campaign rally in Tulsa, OK at the Mabee Center. Mr. Trump brought former Alaska Governor and 2008 GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin with him- and she spoke for about 20 minutes to a fired up crowd of an estimated 20,000 supporters.

... Shapiro is absolutely right, and kudos to him for being willing to write it. The populist twinge to the original Tea Party was fine because it was promoting freedom and liberty, smaller government, and sound fiscal policy. But the populism running rampant today, which Sarah Palin is supporting, isn’t promoting what the original Tea Party stood for. It’s here where Palin is abandoning the values she claims to stand for, all in the name of populism and strong man syndrome. She should know better, and it’s disappointing she’s gone down this road. It isn’t surprising, but it’s still disappointing...

“It’s just classless,” said a former senior adviser to McCain of the endorsement, predicting it would backfire. “It’s undermining to a key Trump message which is one of competency. What Trump has said is that he’s going to hire the very best people and bring in men of Carl Icahn’s ilk … and he’s appearing with someone who’s viewed as one of America’s most astounding morons.” Palin’s endorsement of Trump follows a public dispute between the New York real estate tycoon and the Arizona senator who accused Trump of “firing up the crazies” after Trump held a campaign rally in...

For Meghan McCain, Sarah Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump was difficult to watch. -snip- Meghan McCain, who said that she has still not spoken with Palin since 2008, remarked of the former vice-presidential candidate's endorsement speech, "This is not my style of politics, using sort of vulgar language." During her endorsement speech, Palin declared that Trump would "kick ISIS ass."

Sarah is on now live. video