Humayun Khan is an American hero – a Muslim U.S. soldier killed while striving to save the lives of fellow soldiers from a vehicle bombing in Iraq.
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Mr Khizr Khan, a Harvard-educated lawyer whose son died in a 2004 suicide bombing in Iraq, went head to head with the insult-dishing White House candidate in a confrontation that has dominated the USA news cycle for days. The statement sparked a backlash as Mr Khan shot back that Mr Trump could not insult women, judges and even members of his own party, while Mrs Khan said that Trump was ignorant about Islam and did not know the meaning of the word sacrifice.
McCain, a respected politician on national security within the Republican Party and a former prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, is not the only one to criticize Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric.
The families of 17 fallen United States military members have written to Donald Trump accusing him of “cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost”. “We are a testament to the goodness of this country”, he said.
Trump was talking about Bernie Sanders’ capitulation in the Democratic race and said the Vermont senator “made a deal with the devil” when he agreed to back Clinton.
McCain, who’s rebuke of Trump was perhaps the most forceful, is facing one of the toughest re-election battles of his three-decade career in Washington.
Trump has not apologized to the family.
The list also says Trump had not directly compared his sacrifices to the Khans.
“This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart!”
“He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States – to say nothing of entering its service”, McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a lengthy statement issued by his Senate campaign Monday morning. “I can’t imagine how he would feel now”, said Constance Ahearn, 75, who lives in the San Francisco area.
In response to the Khans, Trump was initially taciturn, saying only, “I’d like to hear his wife say something”.
Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spent the weekend issuing statements distancing themselves from Trump’s attacks on the Muslim immigrants.
In an interview with ABC News affiliate WSYX-TV, in Columbus, Trump said he had “great honor” for Humayun Khan and called him a “hero”.
Gold Star families represent such a small fraction of the population, “it’s super important that the people making the decision to send men and women off to war understand what that means”, said Borek, who hasn’t decided which candidate she will vote for.
Donald Trump is fighting a political battle against some military families tonight.
In a letter published Monday on VoteVets.org, a group of 11 “Gold Star” families wrote, “Your recent comments regarding the khan family were repugnant and personally offensive to us”.
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McCain thanked the Khans for coming to America, saying “your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation – and he will never be forgotten”.
