Speculation rises that Palin will endorse Trump
Donald Trump’s promise of a “special guest” in attendance for his Tuesday Iowa rally has stoked speculation that former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will endorse the GOP front-runner.
The Trump campaign has not commented on the rumors, stemming from Trump teasing in a Facebook post previewing his Ames, Iowa, rally that there would be “a major announcement and a very special guest in attendance.”
{mosads}That sparked a flurry speculation that has centered on Palin and evangelical icon Jerry Falwell Jr. The Washington Post further fanned those flames by noting that a charter plane flew from Alaska to Des Moines on Monday night before leaving for Tulsa, Okla., the site of Trump’s Wednesday rally.
Trump wouldn’t give any further information when reporters during an event on Tuesday in Winterset, Iowa, asked point-blank whether his guest would be Palin.
“I think you’ll be very impressed. … Nobody knows who it is and that’s fine,” Trump said.
“I’m a big fan of Sarah Palin, but I am not saying who it is. “
A Palin endorsement would bring significant fanfare, as Palin remains a popular figure within the evangelical and Tea Party wings of the GOP that Trump is counting on for support. The former Alaska governor has also been effusive of Ted Cruz, so the possibility of her endorsement could also be seen as a win over his main rival at the polls as the Iowa caucuses close in.
“Pretty much everybody I know now believes Trump’s special guest in Iowa tomorrow night is now going to be Sarah Palin,” Steve Deace, an influential Iowa conservative radio host who is backing Cruz, tweeted Monday night.
And a top Cruz aide during a Tuesday morning interview with CNN’s “New Day” warned Palin against endorsing Trump.
“I think it would be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion of 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, he supported [the] TARP bailout — it goes on and on and on,” Cruz communications director Rick Tyler said.
“Donald Trump claims he’s changed all those views. But I think if it was Sarah Palin, let me just say I would be deeply disappointed.”
Trump and Palin have already sung each other’s praises both on the trail and when she interviewed him in August for One America News Network.
She also told CNN in September that she’d be interested in serving as Trump’s energy secretary after he said months before that he’d love to see her in his cabinet.
This report was updated at 12:06 p.m.
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