Donald Trump’s eccentric campaign for president continued apace on Wednesday, with news that he is considering reality television star and former politician Sarah Palin for a position in a Trump administration.
Speaking to Mama Grizzly Radio, a web station devoted to “24-7” Palin news, Trump praised the host of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, who spent two and a half years as governor of the Frontier State before joining John McCain’s failed 2008 bid for the White House.
Asked if he would consider having Palin involved in his government “in some official capacity”, Trump was effusive.
“I’d love that because she really is somebody that knows what’s happening,” Trump said. “And she’s a special person. And I think people know that. And she’s got a following that’s unbelievable.”
Trump’s revelation, first reported by the Washington Post, came in an interview with Mama Grizzly’s Kevin Scholla, host and creator of weekly show The Palin Update.
Much of the conversation, as one might expect, related to Palin, who has been out of politics for six and a half years since the McCain-Palin ticket garnered 173 electoral college seats to President Barack Obama’s 365.
Palin had previously defended Trump following his attack on her former running mate. Trump, 69, insisted that McCain was “not a war hero” despite the Arizonan spending five and a half years as a POW during the Vietnam war.
“Senator McCain dedicated his life to serving our country, and in my humble opinion the sacrifices made by all ethical service members are heroic – putting it all on the line to defend freedom is heroic – and Donald Trump is a hero in another arena,” Palin told CNN on 20 July.
The news that Trump would “love” Palin to serve in his administration – assuming the business mogul succeeds in defeating the other 15 Republican nomination candidates and then defeats likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, which he has promised he will – offers the enticing prospect of the US being run by two stars of the reality television world.
Trump’s fame ballooned during a 12-year spell as host of The Apprentice. His spell on the show only came to an end after he referred to Mexicans seeking immigration to the US as “rapists”.
Palin threw herself into television in 2009 following the collapse of her political career. Sarah Palin’s Alaska, her first reality show, followed Palin as she travelled around the Last Frontier fishing and looking at animals. The program ran for one season and has a rating of 2.5 out of 10 on IMDB.
Palin was dropped as a Fox News commentator in June, the same month she defended the Duggar family after it emerged the eldest Duggar child, Josh, had admitted to molesting several young girls. Trump said Palin was a force to be reckoned with in US politics.
“I’m looking at some of these candidates,” Trump said. “They’re weak. They’re ineffective – to a degree that’s actually almost hard to believe. And [voters] like the Sarah Palin kind of strength. You just don’t see very much of it any more.”
The Guardian contacted Trump’s campaign to ask which position Palin would assume under a Trump presidency, but did not receive an immediate response.
