TAMPA, Fla. -- The joke was, it seemed, a little awkward.
Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, was scheduled to campaign on Donald Trump's behalf Monday in Florida, but she had canceled to return to Alaska after her husband, Todd, was hospitalized in a snowmachine accident.
But Palin, the former governor of Alaska, still managed to appear with Trump at his event here, and in response to a question from the audience about the Second Amendment, Trump invoked both her and her husband.
Referring to the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California, Trump said the situation might have unfolded differently had others in the room been armed.
"If Todd Palin were in that room, frankly, if Sarah Palin were in the room -- forget about Todd, especially now," Trump said, seeming to refer to Palin's hospitalization.
"If Sarah Palin were in that room, if somebody were in that room that had a gun of some kind, attached to the hip, attached to the ankle, with bullets that could fly in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have this," Trump concluded.
There seemed to be no hard feelings, with Trump thanking Palin at the end of his speech and telling her to "get home to that incredible husband."
And Palin did her part to excite the crowd when she spoke before the New York businessman. She referred to the rash of protests that have increasingly started to disrupt Trump's events recently, with one ending in violence and another leading him to shut down a rally in Chicago on Friday evening.
"What we don't have time for is all that petty, punk-ass little thuggery stuff that's been going on with these quote unquote protesters, who are doing nothing but wasting your time and trying to take away your First Amendment rights, your rights to assemble peacefully," Palin said.
Then, she turned her attention to another favorite target of Trump's -- reporters.
"And the media being on the thug side, what the heck are you guys thinking, media?" she asked. "It doesn't make sense."