One of the most powerful speeches at the Democratic National Convention was delivered by Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. Army Captain who died in Iraq. His son, Humyun Khan, was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously. He died while heroically protecting his men from an attack on their compound.
During his convention speech, Khan took issue with Trump’s efforts to demonize Muslims, including his proposal to ban them from the United States. Pulling a pocket-sized copy of the constitution from his pocket, Khan questioned if Trump had “read the United States Constitution.”
He went on to declare that, while his son had made the ultimate sacrifice for America, Trump had “sacrificed nothing and no one.”
In an interview that will air tomorrow on ABC, George Stephanopoulos asked Trump if he had any reaction to Khan.
Trump responded with a series of slurs against Khan and his family. He suggested that Khan’s wife remained silent because the Muslim faith prohibited her from speaking. He said that Khan was just repeating the words of “Hillary’s speechwriters.”
Trump also said he had also “sacrificed” because he had “created thousands of jobs” and contributed to veterans charities.
Donald Trump to Army Gold Star father Khizr Khan: “I've made a lot of sacrifices" https://t.co/ZOHLGCaOyChttps://t.co/Myp4oyHyX4
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 30, 2016
Much of what Trump said was just not true. Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, spoke about her son in an interview on MSNBC. You can watch it here.
Khizr Khan did not use speechwriters for his speech. In fact, there was no written text and nothing was loaded into the teleprompted. He spoke from his heart.
Asked what he would say to the father, Trump replied, “I would say we had a lot of problems with radical Islamic terrorism.”
It is unclear what Khizr Khan, a gold star father and Harvard graduate who has spent 40 years working as an attorney has to do with “radical Islamic terrorism.”
But Trump thinks Khan deserves a lecture rather than condolences or thanks.