Angry exchanges between Donald Trump and the parents of an Army captain killed in Iraq continued into Monday with Trump accusing them of “viciously” attacking him and the soldier’s father slamming Trump for not understanding his constitutional rights.
Advertisement
Khizr Khan, speaking on CNN, said Trump’s reaction to his convention speech is “proof of his ignorance and arrogance”.
Trump responded on social media: “Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same – Nice!”
McConnell said he was “grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror”.
“Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard”.
Ed has already pointed out that John McCain issued a statement saying Trump’s comments did not represent the Republican Party.
His decision to push back against a Gold Star family, perhaps the most unimpeachable group in American culture today (across party lines, too) is prompting new pressure on Republican leaders to decide once again whether to stand by their nominee. I’ve worked very, very hard.
“I just want you to be impressed with the gravity, the existential gravity of this election”, Kaine said.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Khizr Khan told CNN on Monday that “We want to be out of this controversy”.
In interviews Sunday, Khan thanked Trump for calling his son a hero, but said Trump is being “disingenuous” because of his campaign rhetoric.
Democratic pollster Paul Maslin said that while “ninety-nine percent of me says this is devastating for Trump”, Clinton backers can’t assume that another few days of bad headlines will sink a candidate who “simply defies all natural laws of American politics”. “And he should listen to America, what America and the world is telling about the remarks, about the lack of empathy, and that’s all I wish to convey to him”.
Many times Gold Star families can feel isolated because they no longer share that connection to the military community.
“I am much weaker than she is, in such matters”, Khizr Khan said of his wife, Ghazala, in an interview on MSNBC with Lawrence O’Donnell on Friday, the day after he had addressed the Democratic National Convention.
McCain’s response is among the strongest from any major Republican leader to Trump’s remarks, which included questioning why Capt. Khan’s mother, Ghazala Khan, did not speak when she appeared alongside her husband, Khizr, last week.
Hillary Clinton even retweeted the Republican governor of Ohio, John Kasich – a former primary rival of Trump’s – after he expressed support for the Khans. “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 said. I reject it. Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice.
Republican leadership in the House and Senate also issued statements backing the sacrifice of the Khan family, though they did not mentioned Trump by name. He also, of course, got into the two most central speeches – those of the party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.
At the Democratic convention, the Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told his son’s story, questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said “you have sacrificed nothing”. What may change – what absolutely should change – is the willingness of Trump supporters to ignore these neon-lit, billboard-sized signs of the dangers that Trump poses to their party, to their country and to their own sense of self-respect as patriotic Americans.
Advertisement
Trump tweeted Monday that Putin is not going into Ukraine “if I am president”.
