Sarah Palin Unedited is a series featuring full, unaltered transcripts of one Alaskan’s public ramblings. If you only read the pull-quotes, that’s okay.
Hello, Iowa! It is so good to get to be with you today! Ooh, what a perfect song, too. You guys gotta, maybe they’ll crank that at the end of the rally, you’ll get to hear more of Big & Rich’s awesome lyrics about comin’ to your city. I’m glad to be in your city, this is gorgeous, you all look great. Thank you so much for spending your very very precious, valuable time here. Bein’ involved in politics and these campaigns sucks up a lot of your resources, human and fiscal resources! You know, time is our most valuable resource, so thank you for spending it with us today. Iowa, are you ready to make America great again?
You ready to get government off our back and back on our side? You ready to secure our borders so we can secure our jobs and secure our homes? And are you ready for a commander-in-chief who will respect our troops and will never leave any of ‘em behind? You ready for peace through strength and that Reagan-ous posture that would tell any enemy, “Uh uh, we’re America, so we win, you lose!” Well only one candidate has a record of success that proves he’s the one that’s gonna to be able to get the job done. The one common sense conservative that really is in a perfect position to tell the Washington good ole’ boys, “Hey, the status quo is gonna go.” Because the American people are taking our country back. You know, and that’s why both political establishments, both sides of the aisle, that’s why they are in such a panic, because they recognize that it is our candidate who will do exactly that, and, you know, when both parties, the machines involved, when both of them hate ya? Then you know America loves you and we do love he who will be the next president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump!
As I suggested, politics bein’ kinda brutal business, you find out who your friends are, that’s for sure, and I know that you all probably go through your own battles, maybe with family, with friends, you know, trying to, you know, at least in the arena of ideas, duking it out, trying to find that best candidate to lead the country. Uh, let me give you an example of some of the, a little tiny bit of brutality, in the grand scheme of things really is not that big of a deal, but you guys will appreciate it because you’re from Iowa! We got your good old representative Steve King! Friend of mine—I thought! Here I see that just a bit ago, someone showin’ me a story, he’s accusing me, on MSNBC—first, MSNBC, really, [indecipherable], MSNBC—of selling my support to Mr. Trump.
And this is why, when you read things like this, this is why people don’t really like politics, they know it’s a dirty business because people will say things that they know are untrue, but why would a good conservative guy like Steve King from the heartland of America want to say something that he knows isn’t true, that’s just, that just doesn’t sound like the heartland of America. Maybe he’s forgotten some of his heart in the heartland, got a touch of that Potomac fever there in D.C.! Maybe he’s been, I don’t know, maybe he’s been in a cornfield too long huffin’ ethanol or something, because uh, his accusations here are way off-base and I do wanna address it because, hey, I’m not the only one learning from Donald Trump that you stand up for what is right, you stand up for yourself, your family, your community and especially your country when somebody says somethin’ that isn’t accurate, it’s not true, no, you [indecipherable] kowtow and get down in a fetal position and let ‘em clobber you, heck we’ve got a commander-in-chief today who’s doin’ that, the rest of us don’t need to do that, let’s lead the charge, teach our president how to fight back.
So listen up Steve King, yeah, I guess I do have to confess though, little tiny bit that I’m busted, you’re right, yes yes, Mr. Trump did make me a promise, and I will be better off when it’s fulfilled, and I do believe that my kids, they’re gonna be more secure too, so that is why I’m here today, I’m collecting on the promise. ‘Cause Mr. Trump promised me that he will make America great again and that’s the only thing I’m askin’! So some of these Republicans, and I’m proud to stand on the planks of the Republican platform, we’re right, we are right, and really adhering to them and building upon those planks America will be made great again. But these Republicans, dogonne it, when I look at them trying to beat up Mr. Trump and claimin’ he’s not conservative enough, and I’m thinkin’, what’s their definition of conservatism? Look at the mess that they’ve helped get us into! You know, if that’s the definition of conservatism, growing government and allowing some of the things that are going on today, well then we gotta redefine conservatism.
We worked really really hard to send Congress a GOP majority, didn’t we, in these past elections. What did they do? We handed them the majority, they handed Obama a blank check. A blank check that opened borders for un-vetted illegal aliens to come in and take American jobs, and a blank check that funded Planned Parenthood against our will. And it funded bloated budgets and jacked up trillions and trillions of dollars of new debt that our children are going to be handed, that is so immoral, to think that they can get away with that, they hold the purse strings but that’s what’s happened. And that blank check too, making no sense because it’s led us to things, oh gosh, to pay the bills then, we have had to uh, print money out of thin air, [indecipherable] we’ve had to borrow money from foreign countries to turn around and give to foreign countries, that’s not a whole lotta common sense, I think common sense is an endangered species in D.C. And that’s why we need to make these changes. No—
That blank check too, what it did for crony capitalists? It paid for perks. But really, the only thing they paid lately especially is lip service. Lip service to the idea of reining in spending other people’s money, their addiction to opium— other people’s money—needs to be cured. We know what the cure is, get someone in there with private sector experience who has had to balance budgets, he has had to produce and not just rely on government and spending that other people’s money, we have to be able to have someone in that highest CEO position in the land to turn things around and to teach those within our own party and hopefully, if some of ‘em aren’t a lost cause in the other party, to teach them too how our economy can really get roaring again by doing the right things. It’s been a lot of talk, talk, talk instead of do, and that’s what we hire them to do, is fulfill their campaign promises and rein in this bloated government. Well Trump’s campaign is beautiful, because it’s exposed all this, and he’s exposed it because he’s a doer.
And Donald Trump, he builds things. Big, big things. You have to ask yourself, what have his opponents ever built? Big, big vocabularies. Big debt. No, big, um, big war chests again, being able to spend other people’s money, and that is the problem, that we have no leadership in D.C. to stop the D.C. insanity. So Iowa, are you ready to fix the problem? You are gonna be leading the nation tonight, it’s you! The eyes of America are upon you, you’ll lead the nation in this. You know why Barack Obama really trashed our constitution and just ran roughshod right on over Congress and rammed those executive orders down our throat? You know why he did that? Because he could. He knew that he could.
This, though, this great awakening that you are all a part of, is telling those in D.C., those good ole’ boys, that we’re not gonna take it anymore, that enough is enough. You are part of this great awakening that is so needed, and it’s a movement, and it’s an energy, and it’s a strategy. It’s a strategy where we all know, we know that it’s now or never to make America great again, that’s how important this election is. It is now or never. And this campaign was borne of that urgency. And really, it is all about you. You who grow our food and teach our children, you who run our main streets and run our factories, own the businesses, you who fight our wars, you know that we are at a tipping point.
It’s so funny though that the beltway pundits, so many in the media, they don’t know that, though. They won’t admit it anyway. They’re still saying, “Dang, I can’t figure out this Trump thing! Where’s all this energy coming from?” And I say, “Daaang, what’s not to figure out?” We love our country, and we’ll fight for it! We love our freedom and we’ll fight for it! A lot of us here, we proudly cling to our god, our guns, and our constitution, and those who don’t, they still want to be with us to fight for it, our rights, to exercise that, that is why we are here as a part of this movement. Those who maybe don’t believe in those specific values and things that, listed there, they still want to fight with us so we can save the freest, most generous, most exceptional nation in the history of mankind! So what is not to get? We’re clear, we’re here, get used to it!
We need to send a message tonight, Iowa. We need to be able to count on you leading the charge for the rest of the nation. We’re rootin’ for Donald Trump, and you know why? Because Trump roots for us. He has worked so hard, and he has seized opportunity to earn his success, and he wants that great success for the rest of us too. And he’s using it to help his fellow man, he wants that for all of you. He is beholden to no one but we the people. And he is beholden to nothing except doing the right thing, to restore constitutional government back into the system, that’s the only way we save our Republic. So you’re here for the right reasons, he’s in it to win it, he’s runnin’ for the right reasons, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for speaking on behalf of so many millions of millions of Americans tonight when you go to caucus and you cast that vote for Trump. He wants that success, he wants the best for all of you. So to make America great again, let me introduce to you the next president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump!
From a speech she gave on Monday, Feb. 1 at a Trump campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this has been Sarah Palin Unedited.
Contact the author at ellie@jezebel.com.
Image via Getty, gif by Bobby Finger.