Sarah Palin Auditions For Trump Cabinet, Urges Country To 'Speak American'

WASHINGTON -- In what could be a bid for a post in a future Donald Trump administration, Sarah Palin emerged out of the weeds on Sunday and urged the country to "speak American."

Republican presidential candidate Trump, who continues to dominate the polls in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, escalated his feud with rival Jeb Bush this week when he chided the former Florida governor for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. Bush, who is bilingual and whose wife was born in Mexico, vowed to keep speaking Spanish whenever he feels like it.

Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, said that even though being fluent in Spanish was "a benefit" to Bush, immigrants should still learn a language that is "understood by all."

"I think that it's a benefit of Jeb Bush to be able to be so fluent in Spanish, because we have a large and wonderful Hispanic population that, you know, is helping to build America. And that's good. And that's a great relationship ... and connection that he has with them through his wife and through his family connections," she said in an interview on CNN .

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"On the other hand, you know, I think we can send a message and say, you want to be in America, A, you'd better be here legally or you're out of here; B, when you're here, let's speak American," she added, before quickly correcting herself. "I mean that's what's -- let's speak English and that's a kind of a unifying aspect of the nation is the language that is understood by all.

The former Alaska governor of "drill, baby, drill " fame added that she could envision herself serving in Trump's cabinet -- as secretary of the Department of Energy.

"I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby, oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the earth for mankind's use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations, for us to import their ... resources," she said. "I think a lot about the Department of Energy. And if I were head of that, I'd get rid of it. And I'd let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their states."