title:  Palin Stuns Room By Claiming Latinos Are Enticed Over Border With Soccer Ball-Filled Gift Baskets (TWEETS)
text: Sarah Palin did that thing where her mouth began moving but her brain was in no way involved, and this time she managed to say some stuff that was both so offensive and so stupid that she stunned an entire room full of Republican donors into silence. Then people started laughing.Palin was speaking in her capacity as a Donald Trump surrogate to a room full of Milwaukee GOP voters (and unfortunately for her, a good number of reporters). Wisconsin is crucial for the Republican primary, and her presence there was meant to bolster Trump s sagging poll numbers. As a  winner take all  state, Wisconsin could be the key to whether Trump gets the nomination before the convention or doesn t. The stakes are very high   and he sent in Sarah Palin. She failed. She failed really, really badly.Her singular ability to create baffling word salads was out in full display. Reporters quickly began firing off tweets documenting the cringeworthy performance. By all accounts, Palin was met with a pretty unenthusiastic crowd. And things only got worse.At Milwaukee GOP dinner, Sarah Palin intro'd as "icon to conservatives everywhere." Man in the back snorts. Polite applause as she walks up.  Matt Flegenheimer (@mattfleg) April 2, 2016How do you know Palin has faded? 8 mins into her speech at GOP dinner and no applause yet. Some eye rolls and phone checking tho.  Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 2, 2016One moment did make people sit up, though. During Palin s rant, she floated the theory that undocumented immigrants are flocking to the United States because they are promised free soccer balls and gift baskets when they arrive.In Milwaukee, Sarah Palin says illegal immigrants who come across Mexican border get "gift baskets with soccer balls."  Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 2, 2016Sarah Palin just said that immigrants are being enticed over the border with gift baskets (???)  Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 2, 2016Who are giving these people soccer ball-filled gift baskets? Trump s opponent Ted Cruz and his friend conservative radio host Glenn Beck. Of course.On illegal immigrants, Palin says Trump's opponents are "inducing and seducing them with gift baskets."  Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) April 2, 2016In fact, as Mediaite notes, Palin s bizarre rant about soccer balls may stem from a two year old story about how Glenn Beck went to the border during the child immigrant crisis in 2014 with supplies for the children. At the time, Beck (and Palin) blamed Obama for the children being sent to the border to escape violence and famine in South and Central America. Beck enlisted Ted Cruz to help deliver the packages. It was their way of opportunistically doing something nice for the kids, while also publicly shaming a president that they hated.What s baffling is that Palin seems to believe that the soccer balls doled out by Glenn Beck in 2014 actually drove immigrants to come to America. In her delusional telling, Ted Cruz   a fanatical anti-immigrant crusader   is  pro-immigration  because he took part in a photo shoot with detained immigrant children waiting to be deported in 2014. If your eyes just rolled into the back of your head, imagine sitting in a room with her as she makes that pitch. The crowd began openly mocking her.seeing some people in the crowd talking amongst themselves as Palin speaks, some laughing (and not with her, more at her)  Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 2, 2016It s safe to say, Sarah Palin didn t win Trump any votes in Milwaukee   and may have actually cost him a few.Watch Palin s insane speech below:Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images