The Will-They-or-Won't-They Candidacies of Trump and Palin
In early 2011, the race for the GOP presidential nomination was full of questions, and no candidates attracted as many as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and reality-show host Donald Trump. Would she run? Could he win? Were either of them serious about the race, or were they just using the free publicity to plug their respective TV shows? In a media summit of sorts, Palin rolled into New York City at the end of May as part of her One Nation bus tour and paid a visit to the Donald. The two stepped out into Times Square for a slice of pizza, surrounded by hordes of staff, security, tourists and journalists from almost every news organization in the country. While Palin played coy throughout much of the spring and early summer, Trump tossed his hat in the presidential ring, running on a platform that appeared to consist mainly of questioning President Obama's birthplace. When Obama released his long-form birth certificate (a couple of days before Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden), Trump demanded to see the President's grades, but by that point, the wind had left his sails. Palin never did enter the race, deciding instead to keep her large fees for appearing on Fox News and her reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska.