Donald Trump’s confrontation with the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier escalated yesterday, shaking the United States presidential campaign amid Republican Party outcries over the real estate tycoon’s comments about the couple.
Advertisement
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation’s oldest and largest veterans organization, called Trump out of bounds for tangling with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in 2004.
Thankfully, Sen. McCain issued a strongly worded statement on Monday, rebuking his party’s nominee for president.
“Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents”, McCain said. They’re heroic people who, by the way, have a constitutional right to speak out, like all of us do, including against people who are running for office.
A similar appeal was made to Republicans in the House of Representatives, according to a senior aide.
Prominent Republicans are speaking out Monday against their own presidential candidate after he chose to scuffle with the grieving parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq. Wasinger refused to comment when contacted by telephone.
The appeal did not generate any help for Trump.
Trump later said he wanted an endorsement from Martinez.
His comments drew wide condemnation from fellow Republicans, including Arizona Sen.
Columnist Charles Hurt, however, thinks Democrats deserve blame because they used Khizr Khan-and his son’s death-as a political tool at the convention. John McCain in a statement.
Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has advised Trump, said the candidate’s inability to back away from a political land mine “makes him vulnerable….” Khizr Khan sharply criticized Trump during the Democratic National Convention.
Without mentioning Trump by name, President Barack Obama praised families that have lost members who were serving in the military.
“No one – no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families”, Obama said. “They continue to inspire us every day, every moment”.
In a deeply patriotic and passionate 697-word statement, McCain discussed at length his family tradition of military service and his outrage against the insults Trump directed against Khan’s mother and father.
The exception, of course, is Donald Trump. “His sacrifice – and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan – should always be honoured”.
Trump also told NBC News that he has “made a lot of sacrifices”.
The Khans bristled at that suggestion and, in numerous television appearances over the weekend, said Trump was ignorant about Islam and about their family’s sacrifice.
On Monday, during a town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, Trump told supporters he thought the November election might be “rigged”.
Clinton’s former rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, also slammed Trump, saying he “will do everything I can to rid this country of the ugly stain of racism”.
If the statement from Mike Pence lauding Humayun Khan as an “American hero” was meant to put an end to the controversy over the fallen US Muslim soldier, it hasn’t done the trick. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know. Trump repeated this view a number of times, and tried to retreat by laughably pretending it was just a bad joke.
“The comments about Mrs. Khan because she didn’t speak on stage, that seemed very cruel”, she said. Trump said Monday on Twitter.
In an open letter, 23 Gold Star families said Trump cheapened their sacrifice and called for an apology.
Advertisement
This goes beyond politics.
