Shake down the thunder from the sky. If primary voters rely on endorsements — a historically shaky proposition — then Donald Trump just scored a touchdown with Lou Holtz. He got the former Notre Dame national-championship coach to sign onto the Trumpwagon, although Coach Holtz’ reasoning might not quite resonate among the hoi polloi:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/727225626575421440

Holtz is endorsing Trump because he likes Mar-a-Lago? Ooooooooh-kay. Under normal circumstances, that would be almost an anti-endorsement in a populist, anti-establishment cycle, but Trump’s ascendance in the GOP primary already exists in defiance of that dynamic. For better or worse, the multi-billionaire tycoon whose public persona is most known for ostentatiously firing workers has become the working man’s hero for being “first class.” Holtz taps into that here, and Trump is obviously pleased to push the same line.

That makes Trump 2-for-2 among Indiana sports legends endorsing in this race. Bobby Knight might have a stronger tie to Hoosiers — Holtz left to coach the University of South Carolina for several years — but Indiana football fans have hardly forgotten Holtz. At the very least, he’s more popular than Mike Pence. That might not have been true if Holtz had decided to coach at the other USC after his Fighting Irish gig, but …

Does anyone doubt that Team Cruz is frantically trying to reach Larry Bird before tomorrow morning?

Update: No word yet on Larry Bird, but Trump picked up three other sports endorsements, the Washington Post reported:

Four other sports stars endorsed Trump on Monday: Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, a black actor and former NFL defensive back; Lou Holtz, a retired football player, coach and analyst; Gene Keady, who for 25 years was head basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana; and Digger Phelps, a former basketball coach at Notre Dame.