Nicolle Wallace, who worked for Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign, said the former Alaska governor "owned the resentment voters" in the GOP. | Getty Former aide trashes Sarah Palin in NYT op-ed

Nicolle Wallace, once an aide to Sarah Palin, trashed the former vice presidential nominee in an op-ed for The New York Times.

Wallace, who served as a senior adviser to the campaign of John McCain and Palin in 2008, writes in a Times op-ed published Monday that Trump "has made a shrewd bet" on voter anger in accepting her endorsement last week, in his latest maneuver for support in Iowa and beyond.


"With his call to deport illegal immigrants, especially because Mexico sends us its 'bad ones,' his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the country, his emphasis on the threats to lawful gun ownership and his promise to protect American goods and workers from China, Mr. Trump is riding the wave of anxiety that Ms. Palin first gave voice to as Senator John McCain’s running mate," Wallace wrote. "Mr. Trump has now usurped and vastly expanded upon Ms. Palin’s constituency, but the connection between the two movements is undeniable."

Palin, Wallace continued, "owned the resentment voters" in her party, a torch that has seemingly been passed to Trump.

"During Ms. Palin’s 37-minute score settling-slash-endorsement address last week, Mr. Trump seemed, at times, uncomfortable and eager for her to wrap things up. Should he come out on top in Iowa, he has her to thank," she concluded.

In her 2011 novel, "It's Classified," Wallace chronicled the fictional second term of the first woman president which features a vice-presidential candidate who suffers from mental illness. While Wallace at the time made clear to note that she did not believe Palin to be mentally ill, she did characterize the VP candidate as "incredibly wihdrawn."

