# Would there be Trump without Sarah Palin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 20, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979 "2022-08-20T04:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/1 "2022-08-20T04:14:17Z")
Saw the headline below and clicked wondering how they would be in conflict. The article doesn’t talk about that, but skimming through it got me thinking. I haven’t thought about it except for the few minutes since I skimmed the article, will leave it to the experts here. I have never thought about Palin as a historically important person. This could be an entirely different thread, but what Trump shoiuld do right now is announce a Trump/Palin ticket. He could rake in tens of millions in contributions. > **[Opinion: The mirror-image careers of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are on a...](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/18/opinions/sarah-palin-comeback-donald-trump-hemmer/index.html)** > > With Sarah Palin's attempted comeback underway, says Nicole Hemmer, we can connect the dots between how far right-wing antifeminist women helped fuel Palin's ascent and how, taken together, her career and former President Donald Trump's mirror each... ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/2 "2022-08-20T04:38:51Z")
well they changed the headline, on the link anyway, it was “The mirror-image careers of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are on a collision course” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/3 "2022-08-20T13:04:13Z")
I think Palin did energize and bring legitimacy to a certain faction on the right. I was not really aware how many people were on board with that “take no prisoners, no compromises!” style of politics until she emerged as McCain’s running mate. The fact that she said a lot of stupid stuff only endeared her more to that demographic, and evidently exposed the beginning of the deep rift we have today. TFG is riding the same wave Palin and the Tea Party movement rode. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/4 "2022-08-20T14:03:57Z")
There are a lot of flagstones on the path from sanity to Trump, but Palin was one of the biggest. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/5 "2022-08-20T16:45:11Z")
I’d give the right-wing talk bubble more credit. They’ve been spouting insanity for decades, long before Palin. That makes Palin an early symptom rather than a cause. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/6 "2022-08-20T16:51:06Z")
Trump/Palin: If Palin wins the House seat in AK, she could then quit again on live TV in a rambling incoherent speech and then announce that she’s running as Trump’s VP, thereby once again fucking over the Alaska electorate which never seems to learn from these mistakes. It’s a state with a long history of charlatans, grifters and downright criminals, either home-grown, or carpetbaggers trying to escape their fates in the great 48 by fleeing to The Frozen North. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/7 "2022-08-25T12:33:26Z")
I think Sarah Palin was ahead of her time in that America is now ready to embrace her level of idiocy. Trump existed long before Palin. And I think the notion of Donald Trump as President of the United States has existed for nearly as long. At least as long as Rage Against the Machine’s 2000 “Killing in the Name” video. Mostly as parody or an ironic symbol of a dystopian America run by capitalist greed (which are basically the same thing). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/8 "2022-08-25T13:24:57Z")
Don’t forget - while Sarah Palin was in the spotlight running for Vice President, Donald Trump was leading the charge that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/9 "2022-08-26T14:52:12Z")
The Drive-By Truckers wrote a song “[Sarah’s Flame](https://youtu.be/gwBVH6pxzyA)” suggesting this same thing. Not a good source, but a good song: > Sarah memorized every bumper sticker > On the back of every pickup with a rebel flag > … > She made it look so easy, all fat Donny had to do was wear the pants > … > What’s a girl gotta do to get a little bit of credit in a place like this > … > Tiki’s (torches) would’ve never hit the streets if it weren’t for Sarah’s flame ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/10 "2022-08-26T17:06:26Z")
If anything, I think Ross Perot was the predecessor for Trump. A businessman who had no political experience and campaigned on a simple slogan (“Just fix it!”) What Perot lacked was Trump’s media savvy and utter lack of morals. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-there-be-trump-without-sarah-palin/969979/11 "2022-08-31T12:59:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’d give the right-wing talk bubble more credit. They’ve been spouting insanity for decades, long before Palin. That makes Palin an early symptom rather than a cause. Yes, this. Palin was definitely ahead of her time. A visionary pioneer in idiocy and tribalism. But I don’t see anything playing out differently without her. Trump is trump – see the central park 5 and birthirism thing. And fox news and the republican party was on its way in this direction for a long time – recall the “American taliban” list of quotes that went round in the 2000s and the various racist memes about Obama. (NB: I visit Trumpist forums, and they’ve largely moved on from trying to criticize Obama…even they realize the futility of trying to suggest he demeaned the office or was stupid after Trump. In fact, the rhetoric now is that Obama’s not _really_ black, he’s only half black…because the racists just can’t accept a black man being this intelligent and having this level of integrity). A lot of factors have come together in making this mess, and to be honest I think Palin’s role was relatively small.