--- title: Sarah Palin: Donald Trump, John McCain are 'Both Heroes' description: Arizona Sen. John McCain's former running mate says both he and Donald Trump are both heroes. canonical: https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-20T22:49:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:11.411Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sarah Palin Says Trump and McCain Are Both Heroes og:description: McCain's former running mate did not pick sides in the recent fight. og:url: https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd642204b44821f11/69885baf5f570feab8b1c86d/palin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4308 og:image:height: 2423 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on February 26, 2015 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sarah Palin Says Trump and McCain Are Both Heroes twitter:description: McCain's former running mate did not pick sides in the recent fight. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd642204b44821f11/69885baf5f570feab8b1c86d/palin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sarah Palin Says Donald Trump and John McCain Are Both Heroes > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 20, 2015 10:49 PM UTC  Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) February 26, 2015 in National Harbor, Maryland. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) February 26, 2015 in National Harbor, Maryland. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 20, 2015 10:49 PM UTC Sarah Palin has weighed in on the fight between Donald Trump and Sen. John McCain — and she’s not taking sides. The former Alaska governor and McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election responded to request for comment from CNN writing in an email by [calling both men heroes](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-sarah-palin-hero/index.html). “Both men have more in common than the today’s media hype would have you believe,” she wrote. “Both blazed trails in their careers and love our great nation.” While Palin described McCain’s military and political service as heroic, she also said that Trump “is a hero in another arena,” adding that he is “giving voice to untold millions of fed-up Americans witnessing a purposeful destruction of our economy.” She alluded to Trump’s statement about immigrants by writing that career politicians are “ripping open our porous borders which, obvious to all us non-politicians, puts us at great risk.” In recent years, Palin and Trump have had nice things to say about each other, and the two famously ate pizza ([using forks and knives](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/03/what-the-fork-trump-explains-why-he-used-utensils-with-his-pizza/)) together in New York in 2011\. In June, she [praised Trump’s campaign on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10153415084743588), although she stopped short of endorsing him. [_Read more at CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-sarah-palin-hero/index.html)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/"},"headline":"Sarah Palin Says Donald Trump and John McCain Are Both Heroes","datePublished":"2015-07-20T22:49:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:11.411Z","description":"McCain's former running mate says both men \"blazed trails in their careers and love our great nation\"","url":"https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","John McCain","Sarah Palin"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd642204b44821f11/69885baf5f570feab8b1c86d/palin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd642204b44821f11/69885baf5f570feab8b1c86d/palin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> on February 26, 2015 in Washington, DC.","caption":"<> on February 26, 2015 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965269/sarah-palin-donald-trump-john-mccain/","name":"Sarah Palin Says Donald Trump and John McCain Are Both Heroes"}}]}] ```