On Friday night, Sarah Palin interviewed Republican front-runner Donald Trump – a match that could only be made more conservative by resurrecting the father of Reaganomics himself.
The segment aired on One America News (OAN), a small network with limited reach via cable providers. Furthermore, the network’s website crashed due to high demand several hours before the interview was scheduled to begin.
It sounds like the exclusive “interview of the year,” right? Wrong.
Palin addressed Trump as a martyr for conservatism, lauding his “sacrifice to hit the campaign trail.” Although she addressed the real estate mogul’s recent snafus with the “idiots in the media,” she failed to ask him any “gotcha” questions herself.
Instead, the interview was peppered with inaccurate statistics and political aphorisms. Both individuals spouted off numbers that were as inflated as their egos; unemployment is nowhere near 93 million, and Trump’s overall polling percentage is almost a third less than the 41 percent Palin claimed. After ten minutes of sound bites about taxes, veterans, and the Bible, political pundits everywhere were likely feeling underwhelmed.
The media response to the highly anticipated interview was lukewarm, if not laughable – and rightfully so. Trump milks the press as a form of free advertising. He makes bold, and often times offensive statements that no serious politician would dare to utter. Trump is living, breathing click-bait. After all, bad publicity is better than none at all.
However, I predict that the reign of the “Trumpeters” and “Trumpservatives” will be short-lived. As the general public grows tired of his distasteful exploitation tactics, the media will cease covering them.
Consider the 2012 presidential election. At this point in the election cycle (August 27, 2011), Rick Perry was the leader of the polls by 2.5 percent. Exactly two months later, the top spot was occupied by Herman Cain, former president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. By December 27th, Newt Gingrinch was ahead by 2.8 polling points. Rick Santorum was leading by 3.3 points two months after that.
Despite the front-runners who came and went like contestants on The Price is Right, who was consistently in second place? Mitt Romney, who ultimately won the GOP ticket by a landslide of 52.8 percent – a whopping 33.8 points more than his nearest competitor.
For now, I’m not worried about the land of the free and the home of the brave being run by a reality television host. In fact, I’m rather enjoying the show.
POLITICANA 