I’m going to be honest with you: I thought for sure Donald Trump wouldn’t receive the GOP nomination.
I’m no prophet, political poll expert, or pundit, but I just thought for sure the establishment wouldn’t go for it.
I was of the opinion that Trump’s popularity, while solid, wouldn’t last when it came time to actually pull the lever, dimple the chad, or beep the electronic vote.
That being said, Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump today has me questioning every bit of that.
Ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump may very well be the GOP nominee for President. If I were a prophet, this is the point I would throw up my hands and exclaim that I quit because I have no idea what is about to happen in 2016.
The Palin Factor
To be clear, Sarah Palin is not the golden goose that laid the golden egg or gave Trump the golden ticket.
But make no mistake; she has some sway with establishment conservatives, as her popularity has barely waned since she was the nominee for VP back in 2008.
It is notable that a woman who was a mainstream conservative governor and close to some degree to actually being Vice President of the United States has given Trump the legitimacy among mainstream conservatives that he was lacking.
Liberals think her a little crazy and still regularly get her confused with Tina Fey, but when it comes to galvanizing votes, this gun-toting Alaskan is going to win the man some votes.
In fact, some are actually surmising that this is a step towards her becoming the VP nominee once again, but this time for Trump.
And to be honest, it might work.
The New York billionaire teamed up with the rural Alaskan beauty queen, and it just might provide a little yin to his yang.
There is No Clear Alternative
Here is the reality: If the GOP hopes to produce an alternative to Trump in the primary election, all but a couple of these guys are going to have to drop out sooner rather than later.
Part of me thinks Mike Huckabee believes this whole primary is just one long episode of his Fox News show, and I’m pretty sure Chris Christie is just hanging around until someone serves dessert.
Thankfully, with Iowa just around the corner, we can bank on a good number of these guys calling it quits when they fail to register a single percentage.
The question then becomes, what now? If Cruz, Rubio, Paul, and perhaps a couple of others hang around too long, Trump is going to rack up the delegates while they split the rest.
So I can’t tell a man who wants to be President to just quit early and take one for the team, but to beat the behemoth that is Trump, they’d better tag out once they realize they are getting their butts kicked.
What is Really at Stake
Again, while I am no prophet, I still do not believe the nation that elected Barack Obama twice is about to vote for Trump in a general election.
For the longest time, I believed that made a President Hillary imminent, as much as that sickened me, but the alternative might be worse.
Because I’m starting to think Bernie Sanders might have a real shot at this thing.
If Bernie wins the nomination and we have a Bernie-versus-Trump showdown, I honestly don’t know if I want to live on this planet anymore.
What happens when President Bernie takes the greatest nation on the face of the planet down the road of Democratic Socialism?
What happens when President Trump takes the strongest nation on the planet down the path of whatever is actually floating around underneath that red trucker hat of his?
No, simply stating you will leave the country won’t do if one of these men win.
The entire planet will be heading towards an unforeseeable future with either one of these men, and I’m thinking Matt Damon stranded on Mars might have been on to something.
Move to Canada? Not good enough. I’m taking the first rocket off this rock.
