How Sarah Palin Has Become a Singular National Industry -- New York Magazine

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The Revolution Will Be Commercialized

“I know everything there is to know about her,” Johnston adds. “She’s so fake. But she’s so good at it, too. She’s amazing at it. If I didn’t know it, I wouldn’t know the difference. She’s gifted. She could do movies because she’s so gifted.”

Relations between Johnston and the Palins have been surprisingly good considering all the public feuding—essentially, they’re actors on the same show. But that will likely soon get worse. In May, Johnston’s lawyer Rex Butler plans to file for joint custody of Tripp, which will drag the Palins back into court.

Johnston gets up from lunch and wants to beat the traffic on the only highway back to Wasilla. He’s off to practice his motocross before leaving on a weeklong bear-hunting trip in the Alaska Range. “Why not jump on it?” he says of all the money being offered his way. “I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not gonna go for it. It’s there, why not? It’s a great living, you make money, and it’s fun.”

Sarah Palin is clearly having fun. As her longtime Wasilla friend Judy Patrick told me, “I always used to say she needed a bigger crowd.”