Palin on being Trump’s VP nominee: ‘I wouldn’t want to be a burden on the ticket’

Sarah Palin says she’d be open to being Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate but doesn’t want to hurt his chances the way many believe she did for John McCain in 2008.

“I want to help and not hurt” the former Alaska governor said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And I am such a realist that I realize there are a whole lot of people out there who would say, ‘Anybody but Palin.’ I wouldn’t want to be a burden on the ticket, and I realize in many, many eyes, I would be that burden.”

“I just want the guy to win. I want America to win,” Palin, who endorsed Trump in January, continued. “And I don’t know if I would be the person that would be able to help him win.”

But Palin, who burst onto the American political and pop culture scene as McCain’s running mate, said if Trump did put her on his shortlist for VP, she wouldn’t need much vetting.

“I think I’m pretty much as vetted as anybody in the country,“ she said. “I think there are so many other great people out there in America who can serve in this position. I think if someone wanted to choose me, they already know who I am, what I stand for. They wouldn’t be in for any surprises.”

Palin endorses Trump during a rally in Ames, Iowa. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

Palin also lashed out at House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said last week he’s not yet ready to support Trump.

In response, Palin said she will do everything she can to help fell Ryan in the Wisconsin primary.

“His political career is over,” Palin said of the 2012 vice presidential nominee. “He has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his.”

Palin told CNN she will campaign for Paul Nehlen, Ryan’s GOP opponent in the Badger State.

“Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is they have become so disconnected from the people they were elected to represent,” she said. “Their problem is they feel so threatened at this point that their power, their prestige, their purse will be adversely affected by this change that is coming with Trump.”

Palin also thinks Ryan has an ulterior motive for not backing Trump.

“If the GOP were to win now, that wouldn’t bode well for his chances in 2020,” she said. “And that’s what he’s shooting for.”

In a separate interview that aired on “State of the Union,” McCain warned Ryan and other GOP leaders not to ignore the will of the voters who’ve all but cemented Trump as the party’s nominee.

“You have to listen to people that have chosen the nominee of our Republican Party,” the Arizona senator said. “I think it would be foolish to ignore them.”

McCain acknowledged there’s a “disconnect” that exists within the GOP when it comes to Trump.

“You have to draw the conclusion that there is some distance, if not a disconnect, between party leaders and members of Congress and the many voters who have selected Donald Trump to be the nominee of the party.”

But McCain, a war veteran who was mocked by Trump earlier in the campaign for being “captured,” said he’s not about to stump for Trump, either.

“A lot of things would have to happen,” McCain said. “I think it’s important for Donald Trump to express his appreciation for veterans, not John McCain, but veterans who were incarcerated as prisoners of war.”

McCain introduces Palin as his vice presidential running mate in Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 29, 2008. (Photo: Kiichiro Sato/AP/File)

McCain also defended his choice of Palin for vice president.

“I don’t often make a comment like this,” he said. "But she was treated terribly by what we know as the mainstream media, and that’s the only thing I will ever resent about my presidential campaign is her treatment by the media. It was disgraceful.”

As for whom Trump should choose, McCain said it should be “somebody who unites the party,” like Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst or even Ryan, “though I’m not sure he’d want to do that again.”