"Trump Campaign Analysis" comes this (abridged) insight into the importance and effect of the Trump/Palin coalition;
Four Hammers Fall on Cruz's Zombie Campaign
Palin's endorsement is bigger than it seems. She campaigned fiercely for Cruz, so her endorsement of Trump carries that much more weight; it's an explicit statement that Trump is better for America than her 'good friend', the senator, for whom she expended so much effort. She's popular in Iowa and elsewhere; conservatives seek her endorsement because she's trusted by people for some of the same reasons Trump is trusted.
Do you recall any other endorsements this year, by anyone, for anyone? No - this is the one that sticks out.
Palin will stump for Trump, nationwide. She will draw large crowds wherever she goes, and if she appears with Don Jr. or Eric or Ivanka, the crowds will be larger still. Additional large rallies for Trump are insured, and Trump doesn't need to be there. His people can bring him into those rallies electronically.
What about the 'intelligentsia', who scorn Palin? They're classists. They despise her folksy manner, and assume she's stupid because she doesn't speak as they do. They won't be voting for her anyway, and her coveted endorsement can't be spun against Trump. It also opens the doors to other endorsements, some of which Trump has alreadycollected.
As Scott Adams wrote tonight, Palin also serves to humanize Trump. Palin wouldn't endorse him if he were a bad guy who lacks empathy. Adams has argued that empathy is central to political success, and it doesn't have to be expressed in the hackneyed way Bill Clinton expressed it, "I feel your pain". Adams notes that Trump's answer to the New York values attack by Cruz established Trump's empathy: He was on the ground in New York on 9/11 and afterward. He 'smelled' the death. Trump communicated a convincing desire to protect America from similar horrors, and that serves as a very real proxy for the awkward empathy that Bill Clinton and others have sought to express through the years.
3. From the moment the Palin news came out, Cruz's operation couldn't wait to call her 'stupid', saying it was a mistake to endorse Trump (mistake --> stupid). Because they speak for Cruz, Cruz said it, and he had to walk it back later.
First, Cruz's 'communications director' condemned Palin's judgment. Rick Tyler is another pol who would suggest that the 20% of so of Americans who have changed their views on abortion in the last decade are lying, when in fact they should be celebrated. Here's Tyler, with his litmus tests:
Palin's daughter immediately condemned Tyler on her blog, after which Palin issued this tweet:
Cruz later had to walk back Tyler's comments, which only added to the weight of Palin's endorsement:
Cruz is constantly explaining away his comments and actions, the surest route to the political graveyard. Today saw one of his staunchest defenders and advocates saying that people don't like the Senator - which is brutally devastating. This follows on the heels of Cruz's condemnation of 'New York values'.
In his standard two-dimensional fashion, radio talker Mark Levin and others defended the New York values remark, saying that Ted meant liberalism, not an attack on the humanity of New Yorkers. All Levin sees is the right or wrong of the technical argument, not the political implications and not the perception. He doesn't consider that the key issue in the context of this campaign is what TRUMP will do with any specific comment.
Trump is ignoring the advice of Levin, who sees himself as the real real arbiter of who and what is 'conservative', an echo chamber argument that is largely irrelevant in this campaign. Levin must be privately condemning Cruz for being so careless with his words that Levin and others are forced to come along behind him and clean up his messes.
. Once again, Trump has sucked all of the oxygen out of the room, insuring that his campaign will be the focus of the media for a good chunk of the remaining two weeks before Iowa.
When the doors close on Cruz's campaign and historians write the obituary, January 5th (Trump introduces the eligibility issue) and January 19th should be remembered as the key turning points. Today, Trump, Palin, and Branstad relieved the nation of having to debate Ted Cruz's dubious eligibility. They drove a stake into the heart of his zombie campaign, which is down for the count.
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