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How Sarah Palin Paved The Way For Donald Trump
NPR
Don Gonyea
1/23/2016
Excerpt:
When Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president this week, it was a surprise move, but one that seemed perfectly logical.
In fact, Donald Trump's rise can be seen as a natural extension of the kind of politics that Palin herself embraced after her unsuccessful run for vice president — combining populism, rage and celebrity.
Eight years ago, Sarah Palin was still unknown to the vast majority of Americans outside of her home state. But when Republican presidential nominee John McCain plucked the Alaska governor from obscurity to be his running mate in 2008, a force of nature in Republican politics was unleashed.
From her very first moments on the national stage, it was clear that Sarah Palin was not your typical politician. Despite a relative lack of experience, she delivered a blockbuster performance in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in September of 2008.
Some of her best lines were ad-libbed, including her shoutout to hockey moms like herself all across the country.
"I love those hockey moms," she said. "You know they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick." Even her detractors had to admit is was a great moment.
A conservative superstar was born.
The final months of the presidential campaign that year would provide glimpses of the vice presidential candidate's future as a political rabble-rouser who wouldn't shy away from controversy or hardball rhetoric.
She keyed in on Barack Obama's association with Chicago college professor William Ayers, who was a founder of the radical organization the Weather Underground in the 1960s. The group carried out bombings of government buildings as protests against the Vietnam War, which they say were targeted to avoid injury.
On the stump in 2008, Palin said, "Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
Obama handily defeated the McCain-Palin ticket, but in many ways that gave birth to the Tea Party. And Palin was exactly what the movement needed.
She was the keynote speaker at a National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., in early 2010, urging attendees to shake things up.
"The Tea Party is not a top-down operation," she told the crowd. "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 was greeted with cheers and chants of "Run Sarah, Run."
Activist William Temple was certainly enamored. "She's the strongest man in the Republican Party," he told NPR that day. "If I can get close enough, I'll give her a kiss."
Meanwhile, Donald Trump watched Palin's rise as she channeled — and fueled — the anger felt by many voters toward Washington. Many of these voters described President Obama as a socialist, a Muslim or not American.
On that last point, Trump was relentless. He repeatedly doubted that Obama was born in the U.S. He questioned documents showing that the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Trump asserted in a 2011 interview with NBC that Obama "doesn't have a birth certificate or he hasn't shown it. He has what's called a certificate of live birth," and for Trump that wasn't proof enough.
As Trump promoted the so-called "birther" movement, Palin cheered him on, telling Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, "I respect what he's doing in putting his money where his mouth is. He's actually investigating his speculation there on Obama's birth certificate."
But Palin saw an opportunity for Trump to do more. She urged him to speak out on other topics.
"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," she said in that 2010 Fox News interview.
................................................
View the complete article, including image and videos, at:
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/23/464068...r-donald-trump
NPR
Don Gonyea
1/23/2016
Excerpt:
When Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president this week, it was a surprise move, but one that seemed perfectly logical.
In fact, Donald Trump's rise can be seen as a natural extension of the kind of politics that Palin herself embraced after her unsuccessful run for vice president — combining populism, rage and celebrity.
Eight years ago, Sarah Palin was still unknown to the vast majority of Americans outside of her home state. But when Republican presidential nominee John McCain plucked the Alaska governor from obscurity to be his running mate in 2008, a force of nature in Republican politics was unleashed.
From her very first moments on the national stage, it was clear that Sarah Palin was not your typical politician. Despite a relative lack of experience, she delivered a blockbuster performance in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in September of 2008.
Some of her best lines were ad-libbed, including her shoutout to hockey moms like herself all across the country.
"I love those hockey moms," she said. "You know they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick." Even her detractors had to admit is was a great moment.
A conservative superstar was born.
The final months of the presidential campaign that year would provide glimpses of the vice presidential candidate's future as a political rabble-rouser who wouldn't shy away from controversy or hardball rhetoric.
She keyed in on Barack Obama's association with Chicago college professor William Ayers, who was a founder of the radical organization the Weather Underground in the 1960s. The group carried out bombings of government buildings as protests against the Vietnam War, which they say were targeted to avoid injury.
On the stump in 2008, Palin said, "Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
Obama handily defeated the McCain-Palin ticket, but in many ways that gave birth to the Tea Party. And Palin was exactly what the movement needed.
She was the keynote speaker at a National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., in early 2010, urging attendees to shake things up.
"The Tea Party is not a top-down operation," she told the crowd. "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 was greeted with cheers and chants of "Run Sarah, Run."
Activist William Temple was certainly enamored. "She's the strongest man in the Republican Party," he told NPR that day. "If I can get close enough, I'll give her a kiss."
Meanwhile, Donald Trump watched Palin's rise as she channeled — and fueled — the anger felt by many voters toward Washington. Many of these voters described President Obama as a socialist, a Muslim or not American.
On that last point, Trump was relentless. He repeatedly doubted that Obama was born in the U.S. He questioned documents showing that the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Trump asserted in a 2011 interview with NBC that Obama "doesn't have a birth certificate or he hasn't shown it. He has what's called a certificate of live birth," and for Trump that wasn't proof enough.
As Trump promoted the so-called "birther" movement, Palin cheered him on, telling Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, "I respect what he's doing in putting his money where his mouth is. He's actually investigating his speculation there on Obama's birth certificate."
But Palin saw an opportunity for Trump to do more. She urged him to speak out on other topics.
"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," she said in that 2010 Fox News interview.
................................................
View the complete article, including image and videos, at:
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/23/464068...r-donald-trump