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    Sarah Palin says Ron DeSantis ‘should stay governor’ and not run for president

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    Sarah Palin says Ron DeSantis ‘should stay governor’ and not run for presidentPalin, who quit as Alaska governor in 2009 amid talk of a run for president, envisions DeSantis running one day ‘but not now’ Ron DeSantis of Florida should stay as governor “a bit longer” and not run for president in 2024, said Sarah Palin – the former Alaska governor who was John McCain’s running mate in 2008 but resigned rather than complete her term after Republican defeat.Nikki Haley calls for ‘new generation’ of leaders in presidential campaign launchRead moreDeSantis, 44, has not declared a run but is widely expected to do so as the only strong challenger to Donald Trump in polling regarding the forming field.Palin, a Trump supporter, told Newsmax: “DeSantis doesn’t need to [run]. I envision him as our president someday but not right now.“He should stay governor for a bit longer. He’s young, you know. He has decades ahead of him where he can be our president.”The field of declared candidates is now two-strong, with the entry of Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador. One recent poll showed Haley splitting the anti-Trump vote with DeSantis and thereby handing the nomination to the legally embattled, electorally unpopular former president.In office, DeSantis has aped Trump with hardline and often theatrically cruel policies, focusing on culture war issues including education and the Covid pandemic. But he stormed to re-election last year and is the party establishment favourite. He is widely reported to be readying a run.Palin, 59, said she was “all about healthy, competitive primaries. That makes everybody debate more articulately and work harder and let the people know what records are and visions for this country are.“… But when you talk about the specific people, the individual people who are looking at putting their hat in the ring … they got a lot of guts thinking they’re gonna go up against Trump.”Asked if she would be willing to be Trump’s pick for vice-president, Palin said: “What President Trump and I have talked about is kind of the same thing that we’re talking about.”Palin was plucked from relative obscurity to be McCain’s running mate against Barack Obama in 2008, a risky choice McCain reportedly made by miming rolling a dice and saying: “Fuck it. Let’s do it.”Palin proved a hit with the Republican base – many see her selection as the birth moment of the populist far right which now dominates the party – but not with the electorate at large.She quit as Alaska governor in July 2009, prompting widespread criticism for walking away from the job before her term was up. Many suspected she would run for president. That prospect never materialised but Palin has remained prominent on the US far right.Last year, an attempt to win a seat in Congress fell short despite Trump’s support, with Alaska sending the Democrat Mary Peltola to Washington instead.Palin also fell short in court, when she sued the New York Times for libel.TopicsSarah PalinRon DeSantisDonald TrumpUS elections 2024US politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      ‘I want to work with everyone’: Alaska’s history-making new congresswoman

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      Interview‘I want to work with everyone’: Alaska’s history-making new congresswomanMaanvi Singh in Anchorage Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, having defeated former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is a relentless coalition builderAhead of her astonishing victory this week in a special election to fill Alaska’s sole congressional seat, Mary Peltola was delighted to get recognized at Costco. “I was approached by some people to do a selfie,” she laughed.It seemed like months of traversing the state for meet-and greets was paying off. “I am getting recognized more.”Wind in Democrats’ sails as Sarah Palin humbled in Alaska special electionRead moreNow, people all over the US are learning her name. Peltola, who is Yup’ik Eskimo, will make history as the first Alaska Native to represent the state in Congress, and as the first Democrat to hold the seat in nearly 50 years.On Wednesday, she prevailed over the Trump-endorsed former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Republican party-backed Nick Begich III – in a state that favoured Trump by 10 points in 2020. She will serve out the remainder of the late Republican congressman Don Young’s term.A former state legislator and fisheries manager, Peltola campaigned as a relentlessly amicable coalition builder. “I want to work with everyone and anyone who is a reasonable person to find solutions to Alaska’s challenges,” she said.In a race where Palin’s celebrity – and her self-described “right-winging, bitter-clinging” attack dog energy – loomed large in the media and in voters’ minds, Peltola would often bring up her warm relationship with Palin. She’d talk about how both she and Palin were pregnant at the same time, while Peltola was serving as a legislator and Palin was governor. “Our teenagers are just a month apart,” she said. Before Palin left to campaign as Republican John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 elections, she bequeathed Peltola her backyard trampoline.Resolute nicenessPeltola was born in 1973, the year that Young was elected to office, and her father was a friend of the late congressman. While Young – a bombastic character with a taxidermy-stuffed office, a reputation for making racist and sexist jokes and a zeal for oil – was very much a contrast to Peltola, in demeanour and philosophy, voters in Anchorage nonetheless said they shared a sense of pragmatic bipartisanship.In 2010, Peltola helped to run the write-in campaign for Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator with an independent streak now fighting for her political life after she voted for Trump’s impeachment.First elected to the state legislature in 1998, Peltola built a reputation for resolute niceness. She helped build the Bush Caucus – a bipartisan group of legislators representing the most rural and remote parts of the state – and showed a knack for winning over even her most conservative colleagues to advance policies on natural resource management and infrastructure.Peltola’s own politics diverge from the Republicans she is often willing to work with. In the US House race, she was the only candidate who endorsed abortion rights. “Alaska Natives have a history of forced sterilisation against their knowledge or consent,” she said. “People should have to build their families the way, when and how they choose. And for that to be infringed on is very troubling.”A majority of Alaskans support the right to choose – and after the supreme court decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion access, the issue has energized voters in the Last Frontier as it has in other parts of the country.Peltola’s policies on climate adaptation also reflect the nuanced realities of Alaska – a state whose economy is intricately entwined with the oil and gas industry and whose people live at the Arctic edge of the climate crisis. Alaska is losing glacier ice faster than anywhere else in the world. “In the near term, we are tied to oil and gas. And in the near term, that is how we are paying our bills as Alaskans,” Peltola said. But “I have seen firsthand the effects of climate change across Alaska. We had over 250 wildfires this summer before June, we had the largest tundra fire we’ve ever seen in May.” Fisheries and salmon stock, which many Alaskans depend on for sustenance, are suffering, she added.Her platform focused on investment in renewable energy and a gradual transition for Alaska’s economy.A focus on bipartisanship could pay offIt remains unclear if Peltola’s moderate way will pave her path to victory in November when she’ll be running again in the race to serve the next full, two-year term in Congress. Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which the state tried for the first time with the special election, could be shaped as much by Alaskans’ scepticism about Palin as their support for Peltola.But in a state that tends to elect a Republican but where the majority of voters declare no party preference, her focus on bipartisanship could pay off.“We all have to help each other out if we’re going to survive. That’s the fundamental nature of Alaskans,” said Ivan Moore, an Anchorage-based pollster who has been tracking Peltola’s rise in Alaska politics. “We can be political assholes, just like everywhere else. But when push comes to shove, when it’s life and death, Alaskans will help each other. And I think Mary tapped into that.”“She speaks in a language that connects people,” said Shirley Mae Springer Staten, 76, an Anchorage-based arts educator who supported Peltola. “There’s a new wave of unkindness in politics these days, and I like that Mary Peltola pushes against that.”News of her victory this week came on Peltola’s 49th birthday – a “GOOD DAY”, she tweeted shortly after the elections division released preliminary results.Now more people know who she is. But she’s sticking with what works. “Support a regular Alaskan,” is the slogan.TopicsAlaskaDemocratsUS politicsSarah PalinClimate crisisinterviewsReuse this content More

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      Mike Pence lays groundwork for potential 2024 run with Iowa and New Hampshire visits – as it happened

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      Today, he’s in New Hampshire, promoting conservative policies while calling on fellow Republicans to hold off on attacking the FBI and signaling a willingness to talk to the January 6 committee. Next, he’ll be in Iowa, where he is to attend the state fair and meet with the state’s GOP honchos.Just what is Mike Pence doing? Laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run in 2024, that’s what. Iowa and New Hampshire are both early voting states in the Republican presidential primary, and stops by prospective candidates such as Pence are not out of the ordinary. Where Pence would fit into the 2024 Republican field is unclear. Donald Trump is seen as champing at the bit to return to the campaign trail, and reportedly has little love for his former number two. If Pence hopes to capture the support of Republicans who have tired of Trump, he may have to vie against Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who could tailor his campaign to the same voters. Then there’s Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican who was last night ousted from the House by the Wyoming GOP in favor of a Trump-backed attorney. If Pence opts to run as a defiantly anti-Trump Republican, she would be his chief opponent, assuming she decides to aim for the presidency.But that’s not all. Pence could find himself up against Trump’s former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, or his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, or even South Dakota’s governor Kristi Noem, not to mention conservative senators like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, or Tom Cotton. In a field with this much potential for crowding, one can see why Pence may want an early start.Mike Pence’s visit to New Hampshire has added to speculation that he may be mulling a presidential run in 2024. Meanwhile, Liz Cheney announced she was considering her own bid for the White House as a defiantly anti-Trump Republican, hours after GOP voters in Wyoming rejected her bid to continue as the state’s House representative. Here’s a rundown of today’s news:
      Donald Trump sure seems to like a Wall Street Journal column suggesting a Republican-led Congress or White House could retaliate against Democrats over the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago.
      A poll from Wisconsin indicates Democrats may have momentum in the state’s Senate race, though the contest for the governorship appears to be tightening.
      Rudy Giuliani has appeared before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating attempts to meddle with the state’s election results in 2020. He has been told he is a target of the investigation.
      The memoir of Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner was torn apart by The New York Times’ book reviewer.
      A court ruling allowed the Biden administration to again pause new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land.
      Donald Trump and his political action committee have promoted a Wall Street Journal column suggesting that Republicans could seek revenge against Democratic politicians for the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago.Attorney general Merrick Garland’s “raid has made even the highest political figures fair prosecutorial game, and the media’s new standard is that the department can’t be questioned as it goes about ensuring ‘no one is above the law.’ Let’s see how that holds when a future Republican Justice Department starts raiding the homes of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, James Comey and John Brennan,” writes Kimberley A. Strassel, a member of the Journal’s editorial board.She also posits that a GOP-controlled House, which could come as soon as next year, might create their own select committees similar to the one investigating the January 6 attack, and perhaps subpoena Democratic lawmakers. “What goes around always comes around. What went around this week will come around hard,” Strassel wrote in the piece published August 11.Trump was apparently a fan of the column:Trump reposts an op-ed describing the likelihood of payback — such as raiding homes of Biden, Clinton, Comey etc — if he retakes the White House. pic.twitter.com/v067yHOK69— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 17, 2022
      As was the Trump War Room, managed by his Save America PAC:ICYMI: “The Payback for Mar-a-Lago Will Be Brutal”https://t.co/58YugoDe8m— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 17, 2022
      Today, he’s in New Hampshire, promoting conservative policies while calling on fellow Republicans to hold off on attacking the FBI and signaling a willingness to talk to the January 6 committee. Next, he’ll be in Iowa, where he is to attend the state fair and meet with the state’s GOP honchos.Just what is Mike Pence doing? Laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run in 2024, that’s what. Iowa and New Hampshire are both early voting states in the Republican presidential primary, and stops by prospective candidates such as Pence are not out of the ordinary. Where Pence would fit into the 2024 Republican field is unclear. Donald Trump is seen as champing at the bit to return to the campaign trail, and reportedly has little love for his former number two. If Pence hopes to capture the support of Republicans who have tired of Trump, he may have to vie against Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who could tailor his campaign to the same voters. Then there’s Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican who was last night ousted from the House by the Wyoming GOP in favor of a Trump-backed attorney. If Pence opts to run as a defiantly anti-Trump Republican, she would be his chief opponent, assuming she decides to aim for the presidency.But that’s not all. Pence could find himself up against Trump’s former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, or his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, or even South Dakota’s governor Kristi Noem, not to mention conservative senators like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, or Tom Cotton. In a field with this much potential for crowding, one can see why Pence may want an early start.Planned Parenthood plans to spend a record $50 million ahead of November’s midterm elections, pouring money into contests where access to abortion will be on the ballot.The effort, which breaks the group’s previous $45 million spending record set in 2020, comes about two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It will be waged by the organization’s political and advocacy arms and will focus on governor’s offices, U.S. Senate seats and legislative races in nine states where abortion rights could be restricted or expanded, depending on the outcome at the ballot.The historic proportions of the midterm campaign, when less money is usually spent than in presidential races, were made possible by a torrent of money raised after the decision by the high court’s new conservative majority, touching off a tectonic shift in abortion politics. For the first time, Republicans who have long campaigned against abortion will face voters on an issue that is no longer hypothetical and carries real life consequences.​​As Republicans move towards an election season rife with internal disagreements and mixed public opinions on exceptions in abortion bans such as instances of rape and incest, many rightwing lawmakers are finding it increasingly difficult to implement cohesive abortion policies.The phenomenon has been starkly illustrated by Kansas’s referendum a few weeks ago, where the usually Republican state voted to keep abortion protections in its constitution, providing an unexpected boost from red state America to the abortion rights movement.Planned Parenthood says its spending will help remind voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin what’s at stake in a bid to drive turnout by Democratic and independent voters.“Who wins in these midterm elections will determine whether a state has access to abortion and potentially determine whether we will face a national abortion ban,” said Jenny Lawson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes. “We will be clear about who is on which side.”Planned Parenthood says it intends to contact 6 million voters through door knocking, phone calls, digital advertising, mailers and radio ads.It also is launching a website, takecontrol2022.com.According to a survey conducted between 27 June and 4 July by the Pew Research center, a majority of the American public disapproves of the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe: 57% of adults disapprove of the court’s decision, including 43% who strongly disapprove, and 41% of American adults approve while 25% strongly approve of the court’s decision.The survey also found that 62% of Americans say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 36% of Americans say that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Only 38% of Republicans say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, marking a 1-point decrease from poll results obtained in 2007.A poll from Wisconsin is adding credence to the idea that Democrats are gaining strength in congressional races.The survey from Marquette University Law School shows the Democratic nominee for Senate, Mandela Barnes, up by 51 percent against Republican incumbent Ron Johnson’s 44 percent. The race for governor is much closer, with Democratic incumbent Tony Evers coming in with 45 percent of support against Tim Michels, the Republican challenging him, whose preference was at 43 percent.The data confirms increased momentum for Barnes, who was polling at 46 percent against Johnson’s 44 percent in a mid-June survey. In the governor’s race, it suggest tightening, as Evers was up by 48 percent against Michels’ 41 percent in the earlier poll.It appears Harriet Hageman, the attorney who ousted Liz Cheney from the House of Representatives in the Wyoming Republican party primary, has no interest in talking to her predecessor.Politico reports that Cheney attempted to concede in a phone call to Hageman, but ended up leaving a voice message:NEW: Rep. Liz Cheney tells me her concession call to Harriet Hageman ended up being a “clear and direct” voicemail that she left before she went on stage last night, after trying multiple times to get in touch w/ her. Cheney says she still has not heard anything back.— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 17, 2022
      “I left her a message before I went on stage — again, after we tried three different times to reach her,” Cheney told me in an interview today. “And that was that was that.”— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 17, 2022
      As afternoon turned to evening on January 6, 2021, the US Capitol Police received the following message from the US Secret Service: “Good afternoon, The US Secret Service is passing notification to the US Capitol Police regarding discovery of a social media threat directed toward Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”The Secret Service sent along a social media post containing threats to lawmakers, including Pelosi. But according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which obtained Secret Service emails containing the warning, the agency had first learned about it two days before the insurrection at the Capitol, during which many of Donald Trump’s supporters made no secret of their desire for revenge against lawmakers who were a thorn in his side.The investigation adds to the questions swirling around the Secret Service. The agency is embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed it allowed agents’ text messages from around the time of the attack to be deleted, prompting calls in Congress for accountability.Secret Service watchdog suppressed memo on January 6 texts erasureRead moreFlorida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis is facing a federal lawsuit from a state attorney he suspended earlier this month for “wokeness”.In a Twitter post, Andrew Warren said he filed papers in Tallahassee this morning, calling his removal as state attorney for Hillsborough county “a blatant abuse of power”. Today we took action against Ron DeSantis’ abuse of power and unlawful suspension. Please join us in this fight at https://t.co/mebZt8It8i #DefendDemocracyNow pic.twitter.com/ekluzexc2H— Andrew Warren (@AndrewWarrenFL) August 17, 2022
      DeSantis suspended Warren on 4 August for “neglect of duty” after the twice-elected official said he would not enforce the state’s new 15-week abortion ban. The governor said Warren was following a “woke agenda,” although some analysts question the legality of the move based on an action that hasn’t taken place yet.“The governor has broken two laws. He’s violated my first amendment rights by retaliating against me for speaking out on abortion and transgender rights, and he’s violated the Florida constitution by removing me from office without any legal justification,” Warren said in the post.There was no immediate reaction from DeSantis’s office.The Orlando Sentinel noted that DeSantis, seen as a likely candidate for the Republican party’s 2024 presidential nomination, has taken no action against so-called “constitutional” sheriffs who say they won’t enforce certain Florida gun laws.Former vice-president Mike Pence asked fellow Republicans to stop lashing out at the FBI over their recent search of Donald Trump’s house, reports the Associated Press.During an event in New Hampshire, Pence called demands from Republicans to defund the FBI “just as wrong” as previous calls from activists to divest funding from the police for other needs. “The Republican Party is the party of law and order,” said Pence. “Our party stands with the men and women who stand on the thin blue line at the federal and state and local level, and these attacks on the FBI must stop. Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police.” Pence added Republicans can criticize attorney general Merrick Garland and ask for more transparency around the search without condemning the FBI. FBI officials have said that law enforcement have encountered a number of Trump supporters who seem ready to attack the FBI or those they believe are investigating Trump too much, following the search. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that the agency will undergo a massive restructuring following failures during the Covid-19 pandemic. CDC director Rochelle P. Walensky announced the planned changes during a meeting with senior staff today, acknowledging the CDC’s botched response to Covid-19, reported the New York Times. “For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” said Walensky on the agency’s shortcomings. “My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at C.D.C. that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness.”Changes will be aimed at increasing the CDC’s ability to faster respond to major health crises and restoring public trust. Critics of the CDC say that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency failed to scale up testing, vaccination efforts, and data collection. The CDC has also been accused of publishing ineffective and contradictory health advice on Covid-19. Similar issues have been raised about the CDC’s response to the spread of monkey pox in the US. Yesterday’s elections in Wyoming and Alaska have ousted Liz Cheney from her House seat while giving Sarah Palin a shot at getting her own spot in the chamber. But Cheney has vowed to keep fighting Donald Trump and his allies, a task at which many before her have failed.Here’s a rundown of what has happened so far today:
      Former vice-president Mike Pence signaled a degree of openness to talking to the January 6 committee, though with several caveats.
      Rudy Giuliani has appeared before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating attempts to meddle with the state’s election results in 2020. He has been told he is a target of the investigation.
      The memoir of Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner was torn apart by The New York Times’ book reviewer.
      A court ruling allowed the Biden administration to again pause new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land.
      While Alaska’s elections were held yesterday, it may take till the end of the month to determine the winner of closely fought races, such as the special election for the state’s vacant House of Representatives seat.According to the Anchorage Daily News, “As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, the Alaska Division of Elections had counted over 150,000 ballots in the race that will determine Alaska’s next representative in Congress, in a special election to replace 49-year Rep. Don Young, who died unexpectedly in March. The Division will continue to accept ballots until Aug. 31, as long as they were postmarked on or before election day. Once the last ballots are counted — if no candidate crosses the 50% threshold needed to win under the state’s new ranked choice voting system — the candidate in last place will be eliminated and the second-place votes of that candidate’s supporters will be redistributed.”Sarah Palin may nearing a return to the national political stage, Maanvi Singh reports, after Alaska voters gave her decent support in last night’s special election:Sarah Palin looks set to be on the ballot in November’s general election after the former governor of Alaska and ex vice-presidential candidate clinched one of four spots vying for a seat in the US House, according to the Associated Press.Palin, who rose to fame more than a decade ago as John McCain’s running mate, advanced to the general election along with her two challengers, Nick Begich III, a tech millionaire backed by the Alaska Republican party, and Mary Peltola, a former state legislator and Democrat. It was too early to call the fourth spot.Palin, Peltola and Begich are competing for Alaska’s only House seat, formerly occupied by Don Young, who died in March. The trio were also competing in a special election to serve the remainder of Young’s term, which ends early next year.Sarah Palin advances to November election for Alaska House seatRead more More

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      Sarah Palin advances to November election for Alaska House seat

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      Sarah Palin advances to November election for Alaska House seatFormer governor clinches one of four spots on ballot for seat formerly occupied by Don Young Sarah Palin looks set to be on the ballot in November’s general election after the former governor of Alaska and ex vice-presidential candidate clinched one of four spots vying for a seat in the US House, according to the Associated Press.Palin, who rose to fame more than a decade ago as John McCain’s running mate, advanced to the general election along with her two challengers, Nick Begich III, a tech millionaire backed by the Alaska Republican party, and Mary Peltola, a former state legislator and Democrat. It was too early to call the fourth spot.Palin, Peltola and Begich are competing for Alaska’s only House seat, formerly occupied by Don Young, who died in March. The trio were also competing in a special election to serve the remainder of Young’s term, which ends early next year.The results of the special election could take days to finalize as Alaska voters are using a ranked voting system for the first time.Liz Cheney loses Wyoming Republican primary to Trump-endorsed rivalRead moreYoung was first elected to the office in 1973 and was the longest-serving Republican member of the House, holding the state’s sole seat in the chamber for nearly 50 years.Palin, 58, first shot to prominence as McCain’s running mate in the 2008 elections, when she branded herself a “mama grizzly” and built a persona as a loose-lipped loose cannon. Palin’s attacks on the media, her racist rabble-rousing and her eschewing of policy or traditional politics in favor of demagoguery in many ways paved the way for Trump, of whom she was an early endorser.After that failed 2008 campaign, Palin left her post as Alaska governor and took a long hiatus from politics amid ethics scandals. This year, she staged a comeback, appearing with Trump at rallies and fundraisers but often skipping traditional campaign events and candidate debates within her home state.Elsewhere in Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski faced 18 challengers – including the Trump-backed Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka – in a non-partisan primary in which the four candidates garnering the most votes will advance to November’s general election.The Congress and Senate races will offer insights into the power Trump still commands over voters, even in the “last frontier” of Alaska, where most voters have not declared a party affiliation.As perhaps one of the most famous Alaskans, Palin remained the most familiar among the candidates, despite the perception among many voters that she abandoned her state after quitting the governorship. After leaving politics, she launched a career in reality TV, showcasing her life and state in shows such as Sarah’s Alaska and belting out Baby’s Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot while dressed in a pink and blue bear outfit on an episode of The Masked Singer.“I knew who Sarah was before I became an Alaskan,” said Kari Jones, 47, who moved to the state five years ago after her husband, who is in the military, was posted there. But Jones said her husband backed Begich, in large part because the former governor didn’t show up to a local meet-and-greet event and had been less accessible than her opponents. “She did lose some votes because of that,” Jones said.“I’m looking for candidates that show they’re really dedicated to the state, not just during election time,” Aundra Jackson, 60, who was fishing for coho salmon in Anchorage.Nearly 15 years ago, when Palin first took the governor’s seat, she was a fiery newcomer who unseated a powerful incumbent: Lisa Murkowski’s father, Frank Murkowski. Back then, Palin’s approval rating had peaked just over 90% according to Ivan Moore, an Anchorage-based pollster. She was briefly reputed for her bipartisanship, creating a sub-cabinet on climate change and taking on the oil and gas industry, before she leaned into more rightwing politics.“Palin is probably the most attractive, charismatic candidate out there,” Jackson said. “But when she’s asked any specific questions, all I hear from her are soundbites. So it just surprises me that she’s got the popularity.”Begich, who painted Palin as absentee and vacuous in the days before the election, had earned endorsements from many prominent state Republicans. Peltola, the Democratic candidate, has presented herself as a fiercely amicable moderate who was willing to collaborate with conservatives and progressives. “I’m not interested in speaking ill of Sarah, she has her supporters and I respect her and her supporters,” she said in an interview with the Guardian before the election.The congressional election on Tuesday was the state’s first ever ranked-choice race, where voters were able to choose their first, second and third choice for the role. In “pick one” Senate and congressional primaries, voters also choose their favorite candidate from a longer list of choices. The four with the most votes in each race will advance to the ballot in November.The Associated Press contributed reportingTopicsUS midterm elections 2022House of RepresentativesUS politicsAlaskaSarah PalinJohn McCainDonald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

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      Alaska election tests weight of Sarah Palin’s celebrity – and Trump’s sway

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      Alaska election tests weight of Sarah Palin’s celebrity – and Trump’s sway More than a decade ago, Palin ascended to international fame as a vice-presidential candidate – but now she faces an uncertain political futureThe billboards around town may say “Sarah for Alaska” – but as far as resident David Gober can tell, Sarah Palin “is all for Palin”.At a coffee shop not far from Palin’s campaign headquarters in Anchorage, Gober, his wife Zelda Marie and a few friends meet up regularly to affably dissect their politics and golf games. The group – like many Alaskans – is skeptical about their former governor’s congressional bid.Best of frenemies: Ron DeSantis stalks Trump with Republican primary tourRead moreMore than a decade ago, she ascended to international fame as a vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election, with her self-described “rightwinging, bitter-clinging” persona. Since then, she has starred in several reality TV specials and in The Masked Singer, dressed as a fuzzy pink bear.But on Tuesday she is seeking elected office again, running for an open congressional seat with dozens of candidates. Voters across the 49th state will have to rank her against the tech millionaire Nick Begich III, a Republican, and the former state legislator Mary Peltola, a Democrat. The world’s best-known Alaskan politician faces an uncertain political future.“Palin gets people excited … She’s charismatic,” said Zelda Marie Gober, 67. “Do I want her in my politics? Not really.”The election will not only test the weight of Palin’s celebrity, but also that of Donald Trump – in a remote state that fiercely values independent thought.Polling can be difficult across the vast state, and further complicating predictions is the state’s new voting system. On Tuesday, voters will rank their preferred candidates to fill the congressional seat through the end of the year. They’ll also vote in “pick one” primaries for the House term that begins in January, the Senate race, the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s races, and 59 state legislative races. “This is a big election for us,” said Jenny-Marie Stryker, political director of the progressive Alaska Center. The special election will fill a seat held by the late Don Young, a Republican who was first elected to Congress 1973 and was the longest-serving member of the House. “It’s a rare opportunity for change. It’s really exciting – and uncertain.” Across political divides and 665,000 sq miles of mountains, glaciers and tundra, the largest US state is navigating an election unlike any before.In Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, a city of about 10,000 in the valley of the misty, snow-laced Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains, many voters are unsure of what to make of the world’s renewed interest in their community as their hometown hero launches her political comeback bid.“Ever since she was picked as a vice-presidential candidate, I’ve gotten jokes from family out of state about whether we ride moose to school,” said Heather Kruse, 31, who works at the local medical supply store. “It’s pretty cool to be recognized, I guess,” said Krause, who remembers Palin as warm and engaged when she met her in 2006. “And we can take a joke over here.”Still, Palin’s star has faded a bit over the past decade.At Chimo guns, the local gun and outdoor supply store where Palin and her family used to shop, the proprietor isn’t sure what happened to the photo of Palin that used to hang behind the counter. He does know that when Palin, now 58, went from mayor of Wasilla to governor and then vice-presidential candidate and TV celebrity, Wasilla changed. “This used to be a quiet little community,” said Craig, the shop’s towering owner who said did not want his last name printed in the news. In 2008, the media descended on the town, he said. “And we just kind of lost our innocence. It’s never been the same since.”Nearly a decade and a half ago, when Palin first thundered into the governor’s seat – a fiery young newcomer, unseating a powerful political incumbent – her approval rating topped off at just over 90% according to Ivan Moore – an Anchorage-based pollster. She was the fresh new face of Alaskan politics, a staunch conservative who was nonetheless willing to take on corruption within her own party, a pragmatist who was open to working with Democrats.Before she denied the climate crisis and declared “global warming my gluteus maximus” in a 2013 Facebook post, she created the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet. Before she turned “drill, baby, drill’ into a national slogan, she sought to raise taxes on the oil and gas industry.“For a short period of time, she was a tremendously open, fair and progressive leader in Alaska,” Moore said. “And then of course, it all went horribly wrong.”The Sarah Palin who rose to national prominence as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 elections, the “mama grizzly” who spouted rabid run-on rambles, was initially unrecognisable to many Alaskans. “Her ideological flips were pretty stunning,” said Diane Hirshberg, director of the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research.On the national scene, Palin was a loose-lipped loose cannon – one who lobbed base, racist attacks against Barack Obama, embraced radical rightwing ideologies and denigrated the “lying” news media rather than answer basic policy questions. In many ways, she blazed a trail for Donald Trump – captivating the country as a renegade far-right celebrity.It follows, then, Palin’s biggest appearance so far was in July, alongside Trump and far-right senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka at an Anchorage rally. While her challengers addressed voters at a candidate forum in Kenai this month, Palin was fundraising in Minneapolis, alongside fervent Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.“Sarah didn’t even show up to the July 4 parade in Wasilla,” said Lisa Stewart, 62 – who attended a local meet-and-greet session with Begich ahead of election day. “That blew my mind, that she couldn’t make time for her home town.”Stewart, a retired teacher, said she had taught a couple of Palin’s children, and she’s been a longtime friend of Palin’s parents. “I think she’s a different person now than the Sarah I knew.”A big point of contention for many supporters was that she quit the governorship in 2009, amid ethics scandals, not long after losing her vice-presidential bid. And until recently, many former supporters said she’s been absent.Even Trump’s support doesn’t hold much sway here. Stewart, like many Begich supporters, voted for Trump, and are backing his candidate Tshibaka for Senate over incumbent Lisa Murkowski. “But even Trump picks some duds,” laughed Mike Coons, 69. “And anyway, where is Sarah? I don’t see her around here.”Indeed, Palin has always branded herself as a maverick, political outsider – but this time around she has rarely campaigned inside Alaska. She has avoided media interviews, and her campaign did not respond to multiple queries from the Guardian, including requests to share her campaign schedule.In Wasilla and the broader Matanuska-Susitna valley that encompasses the city, a deeply conservative stronghold that any republican candidate needs to win a statewide race, Begich has seized upon her absence. The day before the election, he’s holding an event at Palin’s former in-laws house in Wasilla.“They came to me, and they know a lot of people in this community,” he shrugs. At a meet-and-greet event Wasilla, held at another local couple’s stately home overlooking the sprawling Chugach mountain rage Begich chats with with supporters who know Palin personally, her neighbors and family friends.“You know, Palin doesn’t have a sole claim to Wasilla,” he said. “These are my people too.”Begich 44, has a famous name as well. He’s grandson to Nick Begich Sr, who represented Alaska in the House, and the nephew of Mark Begich, a former mayor of Anchorage and US senator representing the state. Begich’s other uncle, Tom Begich, is a state senator. The catch? All of the other politicians in the candidate’s family are Democrats.“I think that’s going to be a big struggle for him,” said Ron Johnson, a representative of the Alaska Republican party, which has endorsed Begich. “I know him to be a true conservative. He’s just really got to keep getting that message out there.”Palin does still retain a good amount of support. She finished the state’s special primary election ahead of a pack of 48 candidates. “I think she’s amazing,” said Kari James, 47, a landscaper who was pleasantly surprised to learn that she’d be tending to the garden boxes outside of Palin’s Anchorage headquarters last week. She‘s the sort of person who could blaze into Washington “and put all those progressives in their place”, she said.The blue-shingled building was quiet, and the parking lot mostly empty – with a sole campaign worker inside to greet anyone who wandered in looking for a lawn sign. “It’s true she’s not as accessible,” James said. “But she is just more famous than the others.”For better or worse, several voters across Anchorage and Wasilla told the Guardian that Palin was still the candidate they knew best. “I just don’t know anything about Begich or Peltola,” said Nate Kile, 46 – who knew for sure he didn’t want to vote for Palin, but said that campaign outreach from her opponents had rarely filtered through to him. “I’m just totally lost,” said Heather Hile, 43 – who was on a date with Kile at a colorful used bookstore and café in Anchorage’s Spenard neighbourhood – an especially progressive enclave within blue-leaning Anchorage.Peltola, 48, a former state legislator who is running a grassroots campaign focused on infrastructure, environmental conservation and economic issues, has a natural base in many parts of the city – but also comes to the race with less funding and resources than her millionaire opponents. In an interview with the Guardian at the Writer’s Block café and bookstore in Anchorage, she says she’s aiming to fit in as many one-on-one meetings with voters across the vast state as she can ahead of the election. Her message is that she’s willing to work with both conservatives and progressives to advance Alaskan interests in congress. If she wins, Peltola, who is Yup’ik, would be the first Native Alaskan to represent the state in the House.“If we’re really going to start solving our problems and getting to solutions, we have to show up not angry and not bitter, and not blaming other people,” Peltola said. “We have to show up open-minded.” Though she differentiates herself from Palin and Begich on policies, she won’t respond to Palin’s fervency with any negativity. “She and I overlapped in the state capitol, and we were both pregnant at the same time,” she said. “I respect her and her supporters.” And if they’re ranking her first, Peltola would kindly ask that they consider listing her as a second choice.For Shirley Mae Springer Staten, 76, who was listening to the live music being performed at Anchorage’s Wild Salmon Festival, Peltola’s openness evoked the sort of politics that the late congressman Don Young practised. Young was far more prickly, and Jackson didn’t necessarily agree with all his policies. “But at the end of the day, he was working for Alaska,” she said. “We need someone in Congress who’s just focused on doing the work. Not stirring up this toxic anger.” TopicsSarah PalinUS midterm elections 2022US politicsAlaskafeaturesReuse this content More

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      Sarah Palin leads in special primary for Alaska’s House seat in comeback bid

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      Sarah Palin leads in special primary for Alaska’s House seat in comeback bidRun by former Republican vice-presidential candidate marks first bid since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009 Former Alaska governor and Republican ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin leads in early results from Saturday’s special primary for the state’s only US House seat in what could be a remarkable political re-emergence.Voters in the far north-western state are whittling down the list of 48 candidates running for the position that was held for 49 years by the late US Representative Don Young.The early results showed Palin, endorsed by Donald Trump, with 29.8% of the votes counted so far; Republican Nick Begich had 19.3%; independent Al Gross had 12.5%; Democrat Mary Peltola with 7.5%; and Republican Tara Sweeney had 5.3%.A candidate whose name is Santa Claus, a self-described “independent, progressive, democratic socialist”, had 4.5%.In a statement Palin said she was looking forward to “fixing this country by responsibly developing Alaska’s God-given resources” and then expressed rightwing talking points on gun rights, abortion and a desire for a smaller government.The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to an August special election in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Young’s term, which ends in January. Young died in March at age 88.This election was unlike any the state has seen, crammed with candidates and conducted primarily by mail. This was the first election, too, under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections.Saturday marked the first ballot count; state elections officials plan additional counts on Wednesday and Friday, and a final count on 21 June. They have targeted 25 June to certify the race.Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, released a statement expressing gratitude “to all of my wonderful supporters who voted to make Alaska great again!”The sheer number of candidates left some voters overwhelmed, and many of the candidates themselves faced challenges in setting up a campaign on the fly and trying to leave an impression on voters in a short period of time. The candidate filing deadline was April 1.Palin’s run marks her first bid for elected office since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009. She was endorsed in this campaign by some national political figures who participated in a “telerally” for her and said Palin would “fight harder than anybody I can think of”, particularly on energy issues.Palin sought to assure voters that she is serious about her bid and committed to Alaska.During the campaign, opponents poked at that. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who made an unsuccessful run for US Senate in 2020, said Palin “quit on Alaska”. Begich and Sweeney made points of saying they are not quitters.The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsSarah PalinHouse of RepresentativesAlaskaUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Sarah Palin faces formidable opponent in Congress run: Santa Claus

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      Sarah Palin faces formidable opponent in Congress run: Santa ClausThe bearded city council member in North Pole, Alaska, backs Bernie and champions child welfare. Could his new workshop be in Washington? Sarah Palin announced her candidacy for Alaska’s only congressional seat this month, entering a race with dozens of candidates. She certainly brings name recognition to the contest – but another contender may have her beat in that department.His name is Santa Claus.Sarah Palin announces run for US Congress in AlaskaRead moreHe lives, of course, in North Pole – a town of about 2,000 in Alaska. He has a big white beard and a kindly manner, and Santa Claus is indeed his legal name, though, as a Bernie Sanders supporter, he does not exploit elf labor. He won a city council seat in 2015, to the delight of observers around the world. Now he’s ready to take his political career to the next stage.He’s running to complete the term of the long-serving Republican congressman Don Young, who died last month at age 88. A special primary will be held on 11 June.As for Claus’s politics: he’s been called “a bastion of blue on a city council as red as Rudolph’s nose”. He says voters who look at Sanders’ policy platform can get a pretty good idea of his own, including support for Medicare for All, racial justice, corporate accountability, and free and fair elections. That includes ranked-choice voting, which will feature in the second round of the coming election. “That’s what’s given me the opportunity here,” he said. Ranked-choice voting “gives people with name recognition such as yours truly, and even Sarah, for that matter, a slight advantage”.But Claus hasn’t always had that name. “Seventy-four years ago, I didn’t pop out with a beard,” he says. In fact, Claus changed his name from Tom O’Connor in 2005. He was living in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, at the time, and pondering what he should do with his life, as Julia O’Malley wrote in a 2015 Guardian profile. He had previously worked in law enforcement, where he’d witnessed kids falling “through the cracks” of the foster care system, and he wanted to do what he could to help them, he told the Anchorage Daily News in 2020. He’d already grown the beard, and as he prayed for guidance, someone in a car nearby shouted, “Santa, I love you!”“That’s about as fast an answer to your prayer as I’d probably ever get,” Claus tells the Guardian. “So next day, I called up the county clerk to change my name legally.” It caused a few headaches, including some brief suspicion at airport security, where he got “the once-over”. “Somebody about a month later sent out an email, I guess, letting people know, yeah, there’s this guy Santa who’s gonna be flying around. Not necessarily in my sleigh, but using regular transportation.”Despite his name, greeting children at Christmastime isn’t his thing. “I’m not really interested in that,” he says. “There are plenty of my beloved helpers throughout the world who sort of stand in for me with their in-person visits.” Instead, he says, “I tend to interact more with adults with respect to legislation.”To that end, shortly after changing his name, he embarked on a tour of every state, meeting with governors, their staffers and legislators to advocate for child welfare, as he told the Daily News. It was on this tour that he met his future rival for the congressional seat – and despite the political gulf between them, she made a good impression.“Sarah Palin was one of the governors I visited,” he says. “We met very briefly, but she had set up a meeting with six of her different department heads, which was quite unusual for a governor to do. So I was appreciative,” he says, saying Palin was “very nice, very helpful to me”.As for their disagreements, Claus, who has not declared a party affiliation, is diplomatic. “Now that she’s been endorsed by Trump,” he says, chuckling, “let me put it this way: being a Bernie supporter, we have disparate views on a variety of subjects.”He continues: “I don’t plan to get pushed around by her or by Trump. So it may have some interesting moments during the race,” for which he says he is not soliciting or accepting donations. “As a candidate, as a legislator, I tend to look for common ground. There are people I disagree with and people who disagree with me. But there’s always common ground and one’s willing to make the effort to find it and then legislate for greater good.”The congressional election will determine who completes Don Young’s term, ending in January. If Santa Claus wins, he doesn’t plan to run for re-election.“I think there should be people a decade two or three younger than I am stepping up and doing their best to help their communities and their states. For some positive change, I’d like to do my little part.“Plus I think it’d be kind of fun. Alaska is known for kind of having characters up here. I would certainly be well within that tradition.”TopicsAlaskaSarah PalinUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Sarah Palin announces run for US Congress in Alaska

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      Sarah Palin announces run for US Congress in AlaskaThe former governor says she will ‘combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda’ Sarah Palin has announced her run for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, marking her first run for public office in over a decade.“America is at a tipping point,” Palin said in a statement released on her Twitter account announcing her candidacy. “As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight.“At this critical time in our nation’s history, we need leaders who will combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda,” she said.It will be Palin’s first political campaign since serving as John McCain’s running mate in a campaign that saw Barack Obama elected president in November 2008.Fiery, anti-establishment rhetoric came to define Palin’s vice-presidential campaign, which served as a precursor to the rise of Donald Trump and the modern Republican party.Alaska’s House seat became vacant after the Republican Don Young died suddenly last month at age 88 after serving for more than four decades. Young had held Alaska’s House seat since 1973 and was seeking re-election at the time of his death.Sarah Palin requests new trial after losing New York Times defamation caseRead morePalin is shaking up an already unpredictable race for Alaska’s lone US House seat, where she joins a field of at least 40 candidates. The field includes current and former state legislators and a North Pole city council member named Santa Claus.Palin, a former governor of Alaska, has kept a low profile in Alaska politics since leaving office in 2009, before her term as governor ended.A special primary is set for 11 June. The top four vote-getters will advance to a 16 August special election in which ranked-choice voting will be used, a process in line with a new elections system approved by voters in 2020. The winner will serve the remainder of Young’s term, which expires in January.Others who filed their paperwork by the Friday deadline include the Republican state senator Josh Revak; the Democratic state representative Adam Wool; the independent Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who unsuccessfully ran for US Senate in 2020; and Andrew Halcro, a former Republican state lawmaker who is running as an independent. They join a field that includes the Republican Nick Begich, who had positioned himself as a challenger to Young; the Democrat Christopher Constant, an Anchorage assembly member; and John Coghill, a Republican former state lawmaker.Meanwhile, a man who years ago legally changed his name to Santa Claus and serves on the North Pole city council also filed with the state division of elections for the special primary. Claus, who said he had a “strong affinity” for Bernie Sanders, is running as an independent.He said he is not soliciting or raising money. He said the new elections process “gives people like me an opportunity, without having to deal with parties, to throw our hat in the ring”.“I do have name recognition,” he said with a laugh. TopicsSarah PalinUS CongressAlaskaRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      ‘She paved the way for Trump’: will Sarah Palin stay in the Republican spotlight?

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      ‘She paved the way for Trump’: will Sarah Palin stay in the Republican spotlight? Palin’s return to the headlines – for her defamation trial and flouting Covid rules – is a reminder to many that her ascent in 2008 was a pivotal moment in US politics Removing a white face mask as she took the witness stand behind a Plexiglass shield, Sarah Palin likened herself to the biblical David taking on the mighty Goliath of American media, the New York Times newspaper.The 58-year-old’s appearance in a Manhattan courtroom this week was a far cry from her heyday on the campaign trail, whipping up crowds with incendiary rhetoric as a US vice-presidential candidate in 2008.‘Trump is not my God’: how the former president’s only vaccine victory turned sourRead moreBut in making her pitch to a jury – the only nine voters who matter this time – Palin still had a star power, and reflex for bashing the media, that served as a reminder of how she paved the populist way for Donald Trump.And when the former governor of Alaska was asked whether she might run for office again, she teased a back-to-the-future scenario for the Republican party and America. “The door’s always open,” she told the court.Anyone wondering, “Whatever happened to Sarah Palin?” has not been paying attention to headlines of late. She declared that she would get the coronavirus vaccine “over my dead body”, duly tested positive for Covid-19 and went dining out in New York anyway, flouting public health guidelines.The infection did cause a delay in her defamation trial against the New York Times, which published a 2017 editorial that incorrectly linked Palin to a mass shooting six years earlier (it corrected the editorial the following day but she contends that the correction did not go far enough).Once the trial got under way, Palin told jurors she was “mortified” by the mistake and called the Times “the be-all, end-all, the loud voice in American media”. She said: “It was devastating to read a false accusation that I had anything to do with murder. I felt powerless – that I was up against Goliath. The people were David. I was David.”But she faces an uphill battle against a paper that has not lost a defamation case in more than half a century. She must convince jurors that the Times acted with “actual malice”, meaning that it knew the editorial was false or had reckless disregard for the truth.The court has heard Palin – she and husband Todd divorced in 2020 after 31 years – describe herself as a single mother and grandmother who “holds down the fort” for her family in Alaska when not advising candidates about “the good, bad and ugly” of politics. She also recalled the surprise over her eruption on the national political stage in 2008, saying: “I don’t think they were prepared for me.”That is an understatement. Palin was a wildly improbable choice back then as running mate for Republican John McCain in the contest with Democrat Barack Obama, bidding to become the first Black president, and his running mate, Joe Biden.The ascent of Palin – going outside what had been deemed an acceptable talent pool in terms of experience and judgment – is now seen as a pivotal moment in American political history, opening a Pandora’s box of divisive, nativist, anti-intellectual, celebrity-driven smash-mouth politics.Steve Schmidt, then a senior adviser to the McCain campaign, was the first to float the idea of Palin as running mate. In an interview with the Guardian, Schmidt said his exact words were: “We should take a look at Sarah Palin. I don’t know a lot about her other than she’s the most popular governor in the country with an 87% approval level.”So it was that in August 2008 McCain invited Palin to his ranch in Sedona, Arizona, to consider the bold move. Schmidt recalled: “Mark Salter [another adviser] and I are there with McCain, and McCain says, ‘Come on, boys, let’s go talk to her.’“I said to him, ‘It’s completely inappropriate for us to be in this meeting. This is a presidential-level decision. Only you can make the determination she’s prepared to take the 35-word oath and become president.’”So Schmidt and Salter did not attend. “The singularly greatest regret of my life,” Schmidt acknowledged this week. “It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”He is convinced that, had they been in the room, they would have immediately realized how unprepared and unqualified Palin was and done everything in their power to talk McCain out of it.“No one will ever know what the discussion was,” continued Schmidt, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “There were two people in the room: him and her. I’m fairly certain if there was a substantive conversation that I was party to I would’ve chained myself to the back of the bumper to stop her from being announced.“I’ve never encountered a person and I’ve never experienced in my political career someone so abjectly dishonest. You could not get a straight answer on a question on the most basic informational level, which was my initial warning sign about her in the hours after McCain picked her.”McCain’s impulsive and fateful decision – for which he later expressed regret – is chronicled in a new book, Insurgency: How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted, by Jeremy Peters. He writes: “McCain turned to his wife, Cindy. ‘John, it’s a gamble,’ she said.“This made McCain’s face light up. ‘Well, I wish you hadn’t said that,’ he said. McCain, an avid craps player, balled up his fist and blew on it, then shook it like he was about to roll a pair of dice. ‘Fuck it,’ he said. ‘Let’s do it.’”The gamble backfired as McCain still lost the election and, in the eyes of critics, tainted his legacy by accelerating the Trumpification of the Republican party. During the campaign Palin’s ignorance became clear as she stumbled over basic questions such as what newspapers and magazines she read.She accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists” and used the term “shuck and jive” to portray him as evasive and dishonest. (She later wrote on Facebook: “For the record, there was nothing remotely racist in my use of the phrase ‘shuck and jive’.”)Peters, a journalist at the New York Times, said in an interview: “She is the tip of the spear for Donald Trump and everything he unleashed in American politics. Like Trump, her appeal to her supporters was as much about who her perceived enemies were and as it was about her herself.“She also had a really intuitive sense of how to go into combat with those enemies, especially the media. She was the canary in the coalmine when it came to doing lasting damage to the reputation of the mainstream media, which had already been taking a beating but had never been made into a real political enemy to the extent it would be under under Trump.”Palin’s loose talk of the media “making things up” and claims that it should “quit lying” foreshadowed Trump’s popularisation of phrases such as “‘enemy of the people” and “fake news”.Peters added: “She also had a real sense for social media and using that to basically say whatever she wanted and get attention that wouldn’t require her to go to the mainstream media, because the mainstream media would then just cover whatever she said on Facebook.”Palin went on to campaign for the Tea Party, a conservative revolt fuelled by rage against elites, distrust in government and racial hostility to Obama. It was another harbinger of the “Make America Great Again” white grievance movement.Palin had a five-year stint as a contributor to the conservative Fox News channel on a reported $1m contract, endorsed Trump for president and, emulating his past career as a reality TV star, made a surprise appearance on The Masked Singer, rapping and dancing in a pink bear costume.Now, should she pull off an unlikely legal victory over his old foe the New York Times – a judgment that could have a chilling effect on freedom of the press – Trump would probably be the first to congratulate her. What he may never grasp is the political debt he owes her.Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: “Would there be a Donald Trump without Sarah Palin? It’s hard to imagine Trump coming out of nowhere. Sarah Palin paved the way for Donald Trump.”Last year Palin hinted at an Alaska Senate run against Republican moderate Lisa Murkowski. If Trump regains the White House in 2024, she might find another comeback path. Jacobs admitted: “I find it impossible to make predictions about a Republican party that has veered so far to the extreme, so far towards irresponsibility.“This is a party without a measure of itself. It’s a chaotic party that no longer has core principles so yes, I could see Palin ending up in the cabinet if she were able to rehabilitate herself and find a way to become relevant again.”TopicsSarah PalinThe ObserverRepublicansUS politicsNew York TimesfeaturesReuse this content More