During the Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan expressed his anger that the Republican nominee has “sacrificed nothing and no one”.
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For Donald Trump, it’s become a familiar pattern. She stood silently beside her husband as he delivered a powerful condemnation of the Republican presidential nominee. After winning the primary, he spent days criticizing a US district court judge’s Mexican heritage.
Trump’s comments have sparked backlash from both political parties.
In June 2004, Khan was killed by a suicide vehicle bomb at the age of 27 after ordering his fellow soldiers to “hit the dirt”.
“It’s not about a soldier, who’s an fantastic guy”, he said. Trump said. “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices”. “You have a son in the military, how do you tolerate his disrespect?”
The candidate’s callous remarks have been condemned by many, including Republican politicians and other Gold Star families who called on him to apologize.
“Our son, Humayun, had dreams of being a military lawyer, but he put those dreams aside the day he sacrificed his life to save the lives of his fellow soldier”, said Khizr Khan, accompanied by his wife.
Since then, Donald Trump has gone on to stage a series of freakish attacks at the Khan family, suggesting that Khan’s wife Ghazala was “not allowed” to speak publicly (she has since gone on to write an opinion piece for The Washington Post explaining that discussing her son’s death in public is too hard for her, as if she should have to).
“I didn’t even know he was a Muslim”, she said.
Trump’s unwillingness to let the matter subside sparked outrage Monday from a chorus of Republicans. “While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us”.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam echoed Bondi’s comments about Khan and said “any comments to the contrary are dishonorable and abhorrent”.
“My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism whether it’s from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton”, Blunt said in a statement.
Ghazala’s response helped launch the #CanYouHearUsNow campaign, which urges Muslim-American women to speak out about who they are and what their faith represents. Trump has since fired back at Khizr Khan, claiming that his wife, who was also on the stage, wasn’t allowed to speak because of Sharia Law.
This Saturday will mark five years since Vaughn’s son died.
Trump backers attending the OH rally dismissed the issue, underscoring how the businessman was able to survive numerous such firestorms in the GOP primaries. “I walked out feeling like I understood where his heart is, regardless of the comments that he made that may seem insensitive to some”. I see him standing outside the ROTC building in his army camouflage, and it occurs to me that even then he was already a soldier.
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Reaction came swiftly and sharply from all sides, with leading Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressing support for the Khan family.
