Posted on 01/19/2016 7:59:42 PM PST by Isara
Back in December, I was at a small event in a Las Vegas bar; CNN's Jake Tapper was interviewing Sarah Palin. He asked which candidate she'd most like to grab a beer with. Her answer? Donald Trump.
Trump, of course, has been sober his whole life. But the moment perfectly encapsulates the Palin-Trump romance. Because in addition to endorsing a beer run with a man who doesn't drink, she also just endorsed for the presidency a man who is neither a committed conservative nor an anti-establishment rogue.
Trump's long history of liberalism is well known. He was once a registered Democrat who supported Democratic candidates, from Bill de Blasio to Hillary Clinton. He has said publicly that the economy usually does better under Democrats. At times he's supported legalizing drugs, raising taxes on the wealthy and embracing isolationist foreign policies.
But what's most jarring is the positions he's held on a number of issues that are particularly important to Palin.
In the past, he called himself "very pro-choice." Yet Palin - who made the very courageous and compassionate decision to have a baby she knew would be disabled - is unbothered.
On guns, he once supported a ban on so-called assault weapons and longer waiting periods to purchase a firearm. That should be deeply disconcerting to Palin, a Second Amendment firebrand who once said, "If you control arms, you control the people."
And Trump has supported universal health care - expressing admiration for Scotland's single-payer system as recently as last year. Palin spent years denouncing Obamacare, which is many steps short of a single-payer plan, as "socialized medicine."
These aren't minor policy differences. The beliefs long embraced by Palin and long eschewed by Trump are fundamental to conservatism. That Trump has suddenly gotten religion - on issue after issue - should be met by Palin with suspicion.
If his world-view weren't enough to make Palin cringe, Trump's inauthenticity as an anti-establishment candidate should be. Palin admirably took on what she called the "good old boy network" to become Alaska's first female governor. Now, she leaps to support a guy who helped create that network and who thrives in it. In what bizarre world is a billionaire real estate mogul who donates money to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid "anti-establishment"?
Over the past eight years, Palin's influence within the Tea Party has remained strong, but her favorability rating among all Americans has dropped 40 points. Worse, her rating among Republicans has declined more than 55 points.
But despite that waning influence, I've supported and admired Palin for defending life, religious liberty and gun rights, and for being a strong mother to a disabled son and another serving overseas.
The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008 - the one who campaigned tirelessly and many times thanklessly for John McCain, a war veteran Trump has openly mocked - would have seen through Trump's charlatan candidacy. The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, a devout Christian whose faith was constantly scrutinized by the secular left, would have no affection for a man who is constantly scrutinizing the devout Christian faiths of other conservative candidates.
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.
That Sarah Palin is gone. Maybe one day, over a beer, she'll tell me why.
I claim the Trumpeter trade mark/copy write! First put forth on the day of the salesman announced his candidacy.
Couldn’t listen to the rant - what did she say anyway?
Sometimes you’ve got to know when to hold’em and when to fold’em. Sarah Palin made a wise choice.
That was in 1999—wake up its 20017
Very Nice. Just stopped by for the pictures. Thanks. ;)
Using pop-phrases like “inauthenticity”, citing undocumented statistics to support the ‘like/dislike’ factor for Palin, incorrectly referring to Trump “mocking McCain” -—
the author loses credibility.
Next!
That Palin isn't gone, she refused to knuckle under and aid and abet the other side. She realizes that he has the best chance to win, isn't the left-wing demon that many claim, and that he will do far more to shake up the status quo that has been suffocating this Nation.
How more rogue can you go then by endorsing Trump! Love ya Sarah!-)
Trump isn’t anti-establishment? You might want to tell that to the GOP that has been attacking him from Day One.
You apparently don't understand that.
It's a common affliction around these parts.
I know she is wrong headed on most things, but.....anyway. Thanks for the Pic.
So why in God’s name did she endorse Trump, who has donated alot of money to Mr Emanuel?
She’s sacrificing her place in history in search of the limelight.
Obviously, as the person directly involved, she doesn't place the emphasis on it that you do.
Oh please. Some of you Cruz people are so desperate. It’s not becoming.
When the media starts finding subtle nice things to say about Palin you will know what is going on.
Please understand that as the father of a special needs child myself, I am in no way bringing Trig Palin into this. I am merely questioning how someone in a similar life situation as myself can support a person who engages in such egregious behavior against a class of people which my child is a member. My biggest nightmare is knowing the torment and ridicule that my child will have to endure from people such as this. So where is the disconnect with Sarah? Is she just not aware of the type of person Donald Trump is?
She basically said those who say Trump isn’t conservative enough are pretty foolish.
Donald Trump at the 1988 Republican Convention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acpmInqcuH4
Oprah Winfrey Interviews Donald Trump in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZpMJeynBeg
Single payer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5zFRjExsfTk#t=47
Yes but did she use my trademarked “Trumpeter”? If so, I’ll have no choice but to sue ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bPx0OOIM6W0#t=5109
Sarah on those who use the word “trumpeters”
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