Donald Trump is taking issue with a speech at this week’s Democratic National Convention by Muslim lawyer Khizr Khan, whose Army captain son was killed in action and who said on stage that Trump has “sacrificed nothing and no one” for America. But Democrats and advocates for veterans’ families say the Republican presidential nominee went too far in his response.
Khan made the comment during his tribute to his son, Humayun, who posthumously received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after being killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004.
As Khan spoke, his wife Ghazala, Humayun’s mother, stood silently by his side. Trump, during an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” said: “She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”
And Trump challenged Khizr Khan’s claims about having sacrificed nothing. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Trump said. “I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures.” Ghazala Khan has said she didn’t speak because she’s still overwhelmed by grief and can’t even look at photos of her son without crying.
Trump’s comments sparked immediate outrage on social media — both because they critiqued a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has previously raised concerns about Trump’s previous comments about Muslims.
“Our commander in chief shouldn’t insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise,” Hillary Clinton told a crowd gathered July 30 on a factory floor in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. “That should really go without saying.”
At a rally in Pittsburgh, she was introduced by Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, technology investor and television personality who recently endorsed her. “Leadership is not yelling and screaming and intimidating,” said Cuban.
