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Of Course Sarah Palin Is Endorsing Donald Trump: If You're Surprised By This, You Shouldn't
National Review ^ | 01/20/2016 | Charles C.W. Cooke

Posted on 01/20/2016 7:16:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Where there are open flames, there will always be curious moths. Tonight, at a little after six o'clock, Sarah Palin will succumb at last to overwhelming temptation and sign up for Donald Trump's ever-glistering light show. And in that remarkable moment, the mask will fall off completely.

If you are surprised by this development, you shouldn't be. Ours is an age in which politics and entertainment are melted together without opposition or disfavor; a silly, self-indulgent, shallow age in which Kanye West thinks he can be the president of the United States and the president of the United States thinks he can be Kanye West. That Palin and Trump are together at last is no accident of ideology or timing; rather, it is the inevitable and rational confluence of two ghastly cults of personality -- a fat-cutting, cash-saving merger that will serve to increase overall market share. Under their own steam, both figures have convinced a significant portion of the American population that their personal advancement is the key to the country's success. Together, just think how great America can be!

Talk to a Palin fan and you will be told in a matter of moments that to oppose her is to oppose "real America." Talk to a Trump fan, and you will be told that to knock him is to knock "We the people" -- of which, it is made abundantly clear, you are no longer a valued part. All told, this symmetry makes sense, for the pair have of late become mirror images. Sarah Palin started in politics and moved seamlessly into television and entrepreneurship; Donald Trump started in business and, after a quick foray onto the small screen, readied himself for the ballot box. Now their most effective cudgels can be wielded as one: You're not so effete that you're against the both of them, are you?

They will pretend otherwise, of course -- and their screaming acolytes will mewl their way into acquiescence -- but, by uniting, the pair has shown the way toward a new sort of conservative establishment. Last year, long before Trump made his ambitions clear, I submitted that if one "wanted to find a figure to which Palin can be reasonably compared . . . it's not Ronald Reagan. . . . It's Donald Trump." And so it has come to pass. Like Palin, Trump has mastered the art of the interminable ramble, the purpose of which is not to convey meaning or to advance a useful argument but to stun the audience into dumb submission. Like Palin, Trump has embraced his ignorance and wielded it as a sign of strength and normality against the ever-protean "elite." And, like Palin, Trump has betrayed his desire to fix the political system not by mastering or replacing it, but by becoming it. This isn't an insurgency, it's a shakedown. And the conmen are moving in packs.

Alas, there is no grand principle on display here. There is nothing but opportunism and ego. For a long time now, Sarah Palin has been apt to say anything and everything to keep the cameras buzzing around her hive. This rotten endorsement completes the decline. What, we might ask, has become of Palin's beloved Tea Party? What, too, of her purported admiration for limited government, and of her ostensible hatred of heretics and fakers? The prospect of a mass movement that was earnestly committed to libertarianism was always a little too good to be true, but even I didn't imagine it ending like this. All that talk of the Constitution and the Declaration; all that energy expended against the cronies and the rent-seekers; all those purifying voter drives -- and for what? So that Sarah Palin could add a few zeroes to her bank balance and Donald Trump could go from the purchaser to the bought? Today was the day that Rick Santelli's famous yelp finally melted into populism and avarice. Today, at about ten minutes past six, P. T. Barnum beat out Hayek for the soul of the insurgent Right. Today, the rebels became the charlatans they had set out to depose. What comes next will be anybody's guess.

-- Charles C. W. Cooke is a staff writer at National Review.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; elections; endorsement; immigration; sarahpalin; trump; trumpwasright
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To: napscoordinator

Oddly enough, the people on FR that claim to be the most conservative, seem to want to exert the most control over how people pick a candidate.

And they assumed the right to deem anyone whom dares choose anyone but their pick to no longer be conservative.


61 posted on 01/20/2016 8:15:13 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: Night Hides Not

I also believe that the Cruz / Trump “feud” is a hoax. The Donald likes and respects Cruz, and Cruz likes and respects Trump. Early on, when the long knives were out for Donald, Cruz kept his in his scabbard. I firmly believe that the current dustup between them has the purpose of sucking all the air out of the room for others. Think back to just before the last debate ... we were being told Rubio was surging into 3rd place every day, that he had the momentum. When was the last time you saw a headline article about him? No, I believe that they are working together to keep both their names at the forefront, and there is probably some plan in mind for a significant position for Ted. I could see VP (to unite the new and old wings of conservatism), as Attorney General, or as a Supreme Court Justice.

I also really liked Billy Joel a lot, and I think that was one of his best songs. I even went line by line through it with my children when they were young to teach them about the world events that created the modern culture.


62 posted on 01/20/2016 8:16:21 AM PST by RainMan (Liberals are first and foremost, jealous little losers who resent anyone who has anything they dont)
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To: grania
Narrative? What narrative?

There's nothing but spite and invective. There's no there, there.

This screed reflects much more poorly on the writer than the subjects of the article.

grania, in all seriousness, do you consider this reply to be in the spirit of what you would like the Cruz supporters to do on threads?

63 posted on 01/20/2016 8:16:29 AM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Helicondelta

“She can pick the winners.”

1. Not always!

2. I hope for her sake that Trump goes all the way...

3. It ain’t over till it’s over. Y. Berra


64 posted on 01/20/2016 8:18:50 AM PST by HoosierWordsmith
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To: P-Marlowe

Sarah coined nothing. That phrase has been around for decades, if not longer.


65 posted on 01/20/2016 8:21:47 AM PST by stormer
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To: Servant of the Cross
Honestly, I'm seeing more substantive argument from both sides today. Perhaps Cruz spoke to his aides after the damage they did with the invective against Sara and Bristol.

I have no doubt that both campaigns follow FR. Listen to folks carefully. You can tell when they're picking up vocabulary, attitude and expressions from FR.

66 posted on 01/20/2016 8:23:37 AM PST by grania
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To: Servant of the Cross
Doesn't it seem true that this entire piece by CW Cooke is in itself an attack on Palin?

Cooke,an atheist, is supporting who? Instead of bashing Palin or Trump, shouldn't he be making the case for his preferred candidate?

For the record, I am an undecided former Scott Walker supporter.

67 posted on 01/20/2016 8:25:23 AM PST by SoFloFreeper (Obama hates the three Cs: Christianity, Constitution, and capitalism.)
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To: napscoordinator

I have no idea what you “think.” But from what you write I can tell you’re an idiot.


68 posted on 01/20/2016 8:27:59 AM PST by subterfuge (TED CRUZ FOR POTUS!)
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To: Night Hides Not

“It all went downhill when he married Christie Brinkley.”

Well, the first album after he married her was great... after that, it was downhill.

I do think you’re on to something though. Being a “tortured artist” was good for his songwriting... being a happily married man, not so much.


69 posted on 01/20/2016 8:32:52 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: VanDeKoik

“American citizens over the age of 35?

Yup.”

So the fact that Kanye West can technically qualify to run for President justifies your comparison of that low-life to Ronald Reagan?

Remember, no one here is talking about technical qualification. Cooke’s statement was about the age we live in where a moron like Kanye West gains parity with people who are actually qualified for high office by education, experience, training and temperament. You do understand that, don’t you? Or are you so drunkenly, cravenly, slavishly devoted to the billionaire huckster that you have surrendered entirely whatever intellectual faculties you once may have had?


70 posted on 01/20/2016 8:36:19 AM PST by JewishRighter
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To: subterfuge

“Stopped reading where author calls Palin dumb.”

2008: Katie Couric asks Palin what newspapers and magazines do you read...to establish your worldview?

Palin responds: “Um, all of ‘em, any of ‘em that, um, have, have been in front of me over all these years. Um, I have a...vast variety of sources where we get our news too.”

2015: Chuck Todd asks Trump who he talks to for military advice?

Trump Responds: “Well, I watch the shows. I mean, I really see a lot of great — you know, when you watch your show, and all of the other shows, and you have the generals, and you have certain people –.”

Birds (or DOPES) of a feather flock together!

The good thing is that Trump and Palin understand each other!


71 posted on 01/20/2016 8:36:28 AM PST by HoosierWordsmith
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe the Country Club Repubs should cancel the Convention and just select Jeb.


72 posted on 01/20/2016 8:40:12 AM PST by agincourt1415 (Trump-Cruz 2016 the Dream Ticket)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ah, the famous daily Cooke hit piece. The guy is a true turd. All he does, every day, is sit around and write anti-Trump columns.


73 posted on 01/20/2016 8:48:51 AM PST by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: SeekAndFind

Behold the once mighty "Mama Grizzly," who abandoned her cubs and values for the spotlight and a 30 silver fish.

Damn girl, show some dignity.

74 posted on 01/20/2016 8:54:15 AM PST by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
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To: HoosierWordsmith

Ha, ha! Those are hilarious. Regarding the article, I just wasn’t in the mood to read those types of comments. I’m Cruz all the way.


75 posted on 01/20/2016 9:02:12 AM PST by subterfuge (TED CRUZ FOR POTUS!)
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To: Boogieman
I must admit that my musical tastes haven't evolved much from the mid 1980's. I can barely recognize a few of the most popular artists today.

During my tour in Germany (77-81), I purchased 10-12 albums a month to mix tapes. I lived too far from base to get any TV signal, it helped to fill the time.

Fast forward to marriage and parenthood in the late 80s. That's pretty much consumed my life, no complaints. My 3 kids benefitted from hearing the musicians I grew up with.

/thread hijack

76 posted on 01/20/2016 9:26:56 AM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi! My vote is going to Cruz.)
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To: DouglasKC

Sarah Palin should modify her high pitched voice. It can be irritating at times. I heard several clips of her speaking today while endorsing Trump and I had to turn down the radio. Kinda like Mark Levin who talks normal then starts yelling. It turns people off from the message.

Trump ain’t the best but far far far better then any democrat socialist.


77 posted on 01/20/2016 9:36:09 AM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: P-Marlowe

Thanks for hitting the nail on the head.

You said and I agree:

The woman who coined the term Crony Capitalism comes out in support of the man who made Crony Capitalism into an art form.


78 posted on 01/20/2016 9:47:38 AM PST by Critical One
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To: JewishRighter

“So the fact that Kanye West can technically qualify to run for President justifies your comparison of that low-life to Ronald Reagan?”

Lets step back from that and look at it away from our admiration of Reagan.

Both are above 35.

Both are Americans.

Reagan was dismissed as just some B actor, Kanye.....is Kanye.

However, if Kanye decided to run, and by some twist, actually presents a platform that people want to vote for (like Reagan) then he has just as much of a chance as he.
As that at its base level all that the constitution expects.

If the requirements are not to your liking, then advocate for more requirements to be added.

“Or are you so drunkenly, cravenly, slavishly devoted to the billionaire huckster ....”

Ok, nevermind, I didn’t realize that I’m replying to a zealot.


79 posted on 01/20/2016 9:49:08 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: SeekAndFind
...ever-glistering light show...

Yep, get out there and GLISTER!

80 posted on 01/20/2016 9:53:48 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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