"But my son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened" Sarah Palin said. Palin links son's domestic-violence arrest to Obama's neglect of veterans

Sarah Palin addressed the “elephant in the room” at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally for Donald Trump on Wednesday, linking her son Track’s recent arrest on domestic violence charges to President Barack Obama’s neglect of veterans.

“I can talk personally about this. I guess it’s kind of the elephant in the room — because my own family, going through what we’re going through today with my son, a combat vet having served in a Stryker brigade fighting for you all, America, in the war zone. But my son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened,” Palin said.


Palin’s son Track, who served in Iraq, was arrested Monday night at the Palin family’s Wasilla, Alaska, residence on domestic violence charges after a fight with his girlfriend, who said he had threatened to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle.

“They come back wondering if there is that respect for what their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military have given so sacrificially to this country, and that starts at the top,” she continued, touting Trump as the best choice for president. “It’s a shame that our military personnel even have to question, have to wonder if they’re respected anymore. It starts from the top. The question, though, it comes from the top, the question, though, that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, ‘Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we’re trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?’”

“So when my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with, and it makes me realize more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of America’s finest that we’ll have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them,” she said.

Palin’s appearance in Tulsa is her first stop stumping for Trump since the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential candidate endorsed the billionaire businessman on Tuesday. Palin’s support gave Trump an extra dose of media attention as he battles Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for the lead in Iowa less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 caucuses.

But Palin also threatens to overshadow Trump on the campaign trail, and she set the rumor mill grinding when she didn’t appear at his event in Iowa earlier Wednesday, despite the fact that the tickets promoted a “special guest.” “Trading in the beautiful snow of Iowa for the red dirt of Oklahoma as planned, despite what the media is trying to spin up!” she wrote on Facebook.

Taking the stage at the rally later in the day, Palin said America’s best days are ahead of the country, reiterating that this nation needs a commander-in-chief “who will let them (the military) do their jobs and go kick ISIS’ ass.” She also played to the Oklahoma crowd — bringing up its red dirt, red-bud trees and the “redhead from the Big Red Apple” who is campaigning there — as she rejected the Republican establishment’s notion that Trump isn’t “red” enough.

“All of a sudden, they’re saying we’re not red enough; we’re not conservative enough. And I say, ‘What in the world do they know about conservatism?’” Palin challenged.

“Is it conservative to hand Barack Obama a blank check every year to fund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and to keep those borders open so illegal immigrants compete for our jobs?” she asked. “Is it conservative to watch these safety nets turn into hammocks for people — many who just choose not to work? Is it conservative not to allow again illegal immigration to produce millions of new future Democrat voters? That’s not conservative. And is it conservative to bequeath our children trillions of new debt — trillions that they’ll never be able to pay off — and is it conservative to not fight back for our solvency and our sovereignty? They, now, are concerned about ideological purity? Since when?”

Palin praised Trump for being the only candidate willing to talk about tough issues and called for voters to take America back from the establishment on Super Tuesday.

“Well, not every conservative has had the guts to talk about the real issues that are needing to be discussed and debated,” she said. “Our candidate is ballsy enough to get out there and put those issues on the table — the issues that a lot of other candidates have wanted to duck and run from.”

Palin also took a parting shot at Obama, whom she noted will be leaving the White House a year from Wednesday. “He’s going to be packing up the selfie sticks, packing up the teleprompters … and all that hopey-changey stuff,” she said, concluding that he’ll be in Chicago looking up at a Trump Tower, “because yes, Barack, Trump built that, and that says a lot about our next candidate, who will be the next president of the United States of America: Donald J. Trump.”

Trump thanked Palin for her remarks and vowed that Americans are going to win so much with him as president they’re going to sick of it. “We are going to win for our vets. We are going to win with military — we’re going to build it so big, so strong, so powerful,” Trump said.

Americans are going to win so much they’ll say: “’Please, President Trump, we can’t take this much victory. Please, stop. We don’t want any more wins,’” Trump warned. “And I’m going to say to you: We’re going to win. I don’t care what you say. We’re going to make our country great again. We’re going to win, we’re going to win and we’re going to win!”