WASHINGTON — Donald Trump rolled out a splashy endorsement from fiery populist Sarah Palin on Tuesday, and she immediately proclaimed that the real estate mogul is leading the GOP presidential race because he has taken on the establishment.
“Media heads are spinning — this is going to be so much fun!” Palin told a packed audience in Iowa, where the first caucuses will be held in less than two weeks.
Palin then lauded Trump’s independence and rolled out some of her signature turns of phrase.
“He’s going rogue left and right, man — that’s why he’s doing so well. He’s been able to tear the veil off this idea of the system,” she said with glee.
The Mama Grizzly went on to blast those “wearing political correctness like a suicide vest,” and called President Obama a “weak-kneed capitulator in chief” who causes the nation to “bend over and say ‘Thank you, enemy.’”
“I know that it is now or never,” Palin went on, as Trump stood alongside her, alternating between looks of pride and bemusement. “I’m in it to win it because I believe in America.
“No more pussy-footin’ around — our troops deserve the best,” Palin said.
She lauded Trump for his business savvy and his common touch. “Yeah, our leader is a little bit different. He’s a multibillionaire — not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she quipped.
By stumping for Trump, Palin — who is known for slashing attacks on Obama and cultural elites — is looking to help the GOP front-runner pry away support from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowa.
Palin’s national popularity has steadily waned since her failed 2008 campaign for vice president, but she is still popular among a key segment of GOP primary voters — evangelical Christians and Tea Party types.
Earlier this week, Trump won a warm reception at Liberty University in Virginia, another evangelical stronghold.
Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler dismissed Palin’s endorsement hours before it was even official.
“I think it [would] be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion for 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 told CNN.
Palin’s daughter Bristol teed off on the Cruz staffer’s comment. “Is THIS why people don’t like Ted Cruz?” Bristol Palin wrote in an online post.
“After hearing what Cruz is now saying about my mom, in a negative knee-jerk reaction, makes me hope my mom does endorse Trump,” she wrote. “Cruz’s flip-flop, turning against my mom who’s done nothing but support and help him when others sure didn’t, shows he’s a typical politician. How rude that he’s setting up a false narrative about her!”
By Tuesday afternoon, Cruz had to walk back his campaign’s remark.
“I love @SarahPalinUSA,” Cruz tweeted. “Without her support, I wouldn’t be in the Senate. Regardless of what she does in 2016, I will always be a big fan.”
Shortly after the endorsement, the campaign for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton sent a fundraising email to supporters calling the rowdy announcement a “bad SNL skit come to life.”
“This could be our next president listening to his Secretary of Energy,” the email said next to a photo of Trump and Palin.
Capping a landmark day for Trump, Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad delivered another blow to Cruz, saying the Texas senator could be “very damaging” to the state because of his opposition to the federal renewable-fuels standard, which mandates that ethanol be included in gasoline — providing a boon to the state’s farm economy.
With Post wire services