Posted on 01/19/2016 7:15:13 AM PST by Isara
A Sarah Palin endorsement of Donald Trump would do more damage to Palin's conservative credentials than it would to Ted Cruz, the candidate's communications director said Tuesday, remarking that he would be "deeply disappointed."
Trump has teased a "major announcement" and a "very special guest" at a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa, later in the afternoon, leading to speculation that it could be an endorsement from evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. (whose Liberty University hosted Trump on Monday) or from Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 vice-presidential candidate.
"I think it'd be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion for the conservative cause, and if she was going to endorse Donald Trump, sadly, she would be endorsing someone who's held progressive views all their life on the sanctity of life, on marriage, on partial-birth abortion," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told CNN's "New Day," adding that the Manhattan businessman supported the TARP bailout.
While acknowledging that Trump has signaled a shift in his more liberal views, Tyler said that "if it was Sarah Palin, let me just say I'd be deeply disappointed."
A source close to the Palins told POLITICO that it is "unfortunate to see some of Sen. Cruz's new Washington staff trying to drive a wedge in the media between two solid conservative allies."
"Gov. Palin has been a staunch supporter of Sen. Cruz - long before any of them came along, and will remain one long after they are gone," the source said.
Palin backed Cruz for Senate in 2012 and has offered praise for both him and Trump during the primary campaign. The trio appeared at a Capitol Hill rally in September denouncing the nuclear deal with Iran.
In November, Palin told a North Carolina radio station that Trump becoming president is "a very real possibility." A month later, she told CNN's Jake Tapper, "I'm not going to pick one right now, but what a nice problem to have if it came down to Cruz and Trump."
The relationship between Trump and Palin extends back to 2011, when the two ate pizza with a fork in Times Square during a stop on Palin's bus tour.
I see that as her being a classy person and not trashing the person who brought her onto the national stage. That is what a gracious person does.
If Palin endorses Trump today, Cruz will be beaten like a drum in Iowa
in two weeks.
And Trump will prove he was serious about winning Iowa.
I feel exactly the same way. I have a lot of respect for Palin. She has that small-town common sense, and she is one of the two people whom I always seem to agree with (Mark Steyn being the other).
Now here's where I'd be scratching my head: If Palin endorses Trump, but Steyn endorses someone else.
“IF, IF, IF Palin endorsed Trump, it would encourage me as a Trump supporter because I have questions about his seriousness on social issues. I have enough faith in Sarah’s character that she would have vetted Trump in this department and will be a thorn in his side if he was elected and went astray of conservatism on these issues.”
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I agree 100%. I trust Sarah.
If she endorses him, I bet it is because he also cares deeply about the United States and this country’s future. Sadly they both are also the butt of too many (unfair, unwarranted) jokes.
Agreed, this would come as a real surprise to me.
The only possible reason that actually fits is she’s subjugating her ideals for a prestigious position in a possible Trump administration.
Cruz is certainly not weak on illegal immigration. Rubio, Bush, Kasich, and Carson all have amnesty views of illegal immigration. Cruz and Trump are staunchly against illegal immigration.
Trump was pro-abortion at one point. He favors tax increases on the wealthiest in the country. He favors agriculture subsidies for the Iowa giant agri-concerns. Cruz is the only one to speak out against the ethanol subsidies. Trump has also been married three times and committed adultery.
The whining ahewad of time is to try and bully her off what she intends to do.
That is why she is being trashed ahead of time.’’Oh well, she is used to that sort of thing.
You greatly overrate Cruz's importance.
No. The smart move would be to help Trump start his roll in the primaries.
Which is Iowa. Palin can help him a great deal in Iowa.
[”Gov. Palin has been a staunch supporter of Sen. Cruz]
She always comes back on the scene just to tease everyone into thinking ‘will I or will I not’ and the media waits with bated breath on the answer.
I love her but enough is enough.
True, Cruz just isn’t leading. Hillary isn’t overly worried about Cruz at the moment. She is more worried about the guy who can take many of her votes!
Palin’s attempt to stay relevant. She has to maintain the value of her brand, after all. Trump will serve the purpose...
If Cruz gets the nomination she’ll suck up to him in turn.
And the guy who's not afraid to call her and her slimy hubby out.
Why would it hurt a conservative...uh...whatever it is Palin does...to endorse someone who gave 84,000 to Mario Cuomo? I’m sure Palin will negotiate her new political network well enough. She has the street cred to jet set with Chuck Schumer, de Blasio, Bloomberg, and the Davos set one day, and then have a BBQ with John Nolte at Breitbart the next day. She’s smart, I’m sure she calculated this out carefully. And just like a lot of Freepers, she’ll have her version of a tagline in which she gives lip-service support to Cruz while bashing him from the left. She can be like Rush and gush at Trump’s revolutionary popularity and throw in some cold “Cruz is a consistent conservative” just to keep selling books. It will work with the battered wives conservatives who keep McConnell, McCain, Lamar Alexander, Mike Pence, and Branstad in their cushy jobs.
Meanwhile, If what she wants to happen does happen, the conservative movement (which is simply people who recognize reality) will receive its final blow. So why should that hurt her with conservatives. Who are they? If Trump wins, there will not be any significant conservative movement. She can just sell her books to Nationalist Pragmatists.
After the primaries, endorsements are irrelevant. Everybody is in the parade behind the nominee.
not that I think any endorsement really matters....but this is fun to see the indignation by many in the Cruz camp.
“A Sarah Palin endorsement of Donald Trump would do more damage to Palin’s conservative credentials”
Could you cite me some liberal polices that Trump is running on.
You can, also, do a rather shallow research, and turn up article and speeches by Cruz that are 180 degrees from what he is saying now.
Cruz, the “consistent conservative” is being pushed to the right by none other than Donald Trump, who is supposed to be a liberal.
If Trump drops out, which I am not convinced that that has been his plan all along, Cruz will get all of those votes as well as Carson’s votes. Those votes will beat Rubio and Bush. So, yes, Cruz is important. My original theory has been that Trump has been paving the way for Cruz to get the nomination and has been slinging the mud to prep Cruz to handle Hillary’s attacks. Cruz is raising a lot of money. Bush has seen his donations fall. Rubio is holding his breath because the natural born eligibility issue would be shining on him if he were higher in the polls. Rubio is not a natural born citizen because he was born in the US to non-US citizens and has American citizenship because of the deliberate misinterpretation of the 14th amendment.
The Palin camp pretty much confirms it per the article. Wonder how Sarah felt about DT’s savaging of Cruz Saturday AM after she’d already agreed to endorse.
As a former Trump supporter, I think this will raise flags with crossover dems and indies.
Cruz can cry a river for all that it will matter.
Palin’s “credentials” with neither be harmed nor enhanced whether she endorses Trump or not.
Be a great get for Trump or Cruz. Go Trump!
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