Opinion: Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump. Yeah, we saw that coming

At first blush, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump — she just endorsed him for president — would seem to have plenty in common. They’re both shoot-from-the-mouth veteran reality-TV stars. He’s more veteran than she is, of course. Trump, the longtime wealthy New York real estate magnate, is worldly. The caribou-hunting Alaska governor turned 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate turned conservative voice for hire is not. However, both exhibit an appalling lack of sophistication and knowledge about the world and its people. So they’re a match!

But as Trump heads out of the land of campaigning for TV audiences and faux election polls (“If you were voting, who would you vote for?”) and into the realm of primaries where actual people show up and vote, you would think Trump might be concerned about toning down the rhetoric and finding a conservative of some gravitas to lend some of that substance to him.

Or not.

Corralling Palin aboard the Trump train is like doubling down on his outsider appeal. She is still something of the darling of grass-roots conservatives. She’s very photogenic — while he continues to take on the color of a lemon meringue pie. For a minute I thought maybe he courted her support because she was a woman, but, no. As dismissive and insulting as he has been of women who challenge him, he does have women working for him. And he has his daughter on the campaign trail. So Trump didn’t really need Palin, because she’s a woman. If anything, she needs him to boost her STARmeter ranking on IMDb.com.

Besides, when Trump’s closest competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, is denouncing “New York values,” why should Trump need to work at looking more rational? He’s got Cruz for that.

I will admit I am curious to see the two hit the campaign trail together. But I’m much more looking forward to seeing the SNL skit of their little endorsement fest on next weekend’s show. Lorne Michaels, call Tina Fey right now and make sure she’s available.

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