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Sarah Palin Is Helping Donald Trump Win Iowa With Endorsement

By Val Powell
Published on: 22:15 PST, Jan 24, 2016

Sarah Palin just endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday as president of the United States.

As the February 1 Iowa caucuses draw near, the 51-year-old former governor of Alaska showed her support for the Trump campaign.

In a report by the Washington Post, Palin’s endorsement is a much-needed boost for Trump’s campaign in the state, as it saw a surge of Republican caucus-goers supporting Sen. Ted Cruz.

In the past two and a half months, support for Cruz has gone up in various national polls, which pushed him into second place among the Republican presidential candidates. In fact, his popularity almost led to a tie between him and Trump in Iowa.

Reports said that Cruz, 45, already has a third of all Republican voters, based on recent national polls.

This is where Palin’s endorsement of Trump makes its biggest impact.

Palin, who was tapped by Republican presidential nominee John McCain as the vice presidential candidate in 2008, was a popular face among the GOP in general, particularly the so-called Tea Party.

The Tea Party is a political movement within the Republican party that staunchly advocates conservative principles. The group formed in 2009 after Pres. Barack Obama announced in his first presidential order to give financial support to bankrupt homeowners.

Since then, the “party” has supported several political candidates, and currently it is pushing for Sen. Cruz to be the Republican nominee. Trump’s problem with this situation is that the group is composed of active caucus-goers, as opposed to his Republican supporters who have no previous record of attending caucuses.

Political analysts see the endorsement of Sarah Palin as the boost that can help the Trump campaign defeat Cruz in Iowa.

Aside from helping Trump’s campaign in Iowa, Palin is also seen as the politician who paved the way for “unknowns” like Donald Trump.

Back when she was selected as the running mate of John McCain, she demonstrated why she was not a “typical” politician. She had memorable sound bites in her speeches, put on a brave face when contronted with controversy, and did not avoid off-hand comments.

When she was the keynote speaker at a National Tea Party Convention in 2010, she encouraged the attendees to “shake things up.”

Sarah Palin Is Introduced As The Keynote Speaker At The National Tea Party Convention

“The Tea Party is not a top-down operation. It’s a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way they’re doing business, and that’s beautiful,” she said.

In those times leading to the 2008 general elections, hers was a plight similar to Trump’s. She aimed for change and blamed the administration for her countrymen’s woes. Sarah Palin raised questions on Obamacare, Islamic terrorism, the White House’s weak foreign policies, poor treatment of war veterans, and failure to protect U.S. borders.

Sarah Palin tried to channel everyone’s frustration towards Washington, and as a result, many voters considered Obama to be a socialist, a Muslim, and not American.

Even during those times, she pushed for Trump to make his arguments known against Obama.

“Right now he’s got the spotlight, he’s got the megaphone. Now is his opportunity to really force a shift in debate and discussion in this country,” Sarah Palin said in a 2010 interview.

Fast-forward to 2016, weeks before the Iowa caucuses, and Palin is doing the same thing all over again. She endorsed Trump in her own politically incorrect way of speaking to the crowd.

Unfortunately for Trump, while an endorsement from Sarah Palin could definitely help him regain some steam in Iowa, it may not be a good choice to use it for the general elections in case he bags the nomination.

[Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images]

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