Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) would have made a better Presidential nominee than Donald Trump. He understands that attacking Khizr and Ghazala Khan is terribly un-Presidential:
Like his comments about Judge Curiel, Mr. Graham said, Mr. Trump’s jabs at Mr. and Ms. Khan were unacceptable. “This is going to a place where we’ve never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen,” he said.
He added: “The problem is, ‘unacceptable’ doesn’t even begin to describe it” [Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman, and Ashley Parker, “Donald Trump’s Confrontation with Muslim Soldier’s Parents Emerges as Unexpected Flashpoint,” New York Times, 2016.07.31].
Jeb Bush, another candidate Trump squeezed out of the Presidential race, says Trump’s attack on the Khans is “incredibly disrespectful of a family that endured the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”
South Dakota Democratic Party Vice-Chair Joe Lowe, who heard Khizr Khan’s speech in Philadelphia in person as South Dakota delegate to the Democratic National Convention, knows a thing or two about immigrants, sacrifice, and love of country. He responds directly to the brutish, classless GOP Presidential nominee; I annotate with useful links:
One of the most moving moments of the Democratic National Convention was when the father of a fallen Muslim American Soldier spoke about his valiant son’s death. US Army Captain Humayun Kahn gave his life defending the troops that he called his family.
In response, Donald Trump said that Khizr Khan’s wife didn’t speak because she was forbidden to speak since she is a Muslim Wife. Well, Donald, this shows me how much you understand her grief and the Muslim religion. In addition, you stated Khizr Kahn’s words were not his own but were written by a Clinton speech writer.
This comes from a draft dodger during the Vietnam War. Trump’s excuse – he had bone spurs on his feet. Yet now he claims his doctor said he is one of the healthiest people he knows. While American soldiers were dying on the battlefield, Trump was defending his country dancing in New York night clubs.
Donald Trump states he has made a lot of sacrifices: “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.” This quote comes from ABC News, “Donald Trump to Father of Fallen Soldier: ‘I’ve Made a Lot of Sacrifices’”—I suggest all of you read it.
Donald, your sacrifices include four bankruptcies, and your companies have been “cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage.”
This is not sacrifice; it is lining your pockets.
I understand what sacrifice is. My father gave his life for our freedom. He died piloting a B-17 on October 22, 1944. My favorite uncle died diving on a hand grenade in a Saigon movie theater to save many lives. I carried his casket to the grave. When I was the Fire Chief for the South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire, I had to tell a mother her 25-year-old son gave his life on the Coal Canyon Fire. These true heroes did not dodge the fight over bone spurs and then dance in New York’s finest nightclubs.
So, Donald, how dare you speak down to a mother and father who a still grieving over the loss of a son fighting for of America?
As for our State of South Dakota Federal Delegation, how can you stand behind this presidential candidate who is not fit for the highest office in this land? [Joe Lowe, statement to Dakota Free Press, 2016.07.31]
If Donald Trump hasn’t attacked, offended, or horrified you, sit tight: he’ll get to you by November 8.
Asked if Trump’s attack on the Khan family is a pivotal moment in the election, Clinton said: “Well, he called Mexicans rapists and criminals. He said a federal judge was unqualified because of his Mexican heritage. He has called women pigs. He has mocked a reporter with a disability.”
“Ridiculed a POW in John McCain,” Kaine interjected.
“That’s right,” Clinton said. “And any one of those things is so offensive and then to launch an attack as he did on Capt. Khan’s mother, a Gold Star mother, who stood there on that stage with her husband honoring the sacrifice of their son and who has in the days since spoken out about the overwhelming emotion that any mother would feel as her son was being honored and then to have Trump do what he did, I don’t know where the bounds are. I don’t know where the bottom is.”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/politics/donald-trump-khizr-khan-family-controversy/index.html
Cory says “If Donald Trump hasn’t attacked, offended, or horrified you, sit tight: he’ll get to you by November 8.”
Trump verbally attacked a fire marshall and offended firefighters in Colorado Springs today. This was after being rescued from a stalled elevator by, wait for it, wait for it, you guessed it, firefighters. Trump overbooked a small venue in an old Nazi-style maneuver to make it look like a big crowd and then complained that the fire marshall wouldn’t let all the people in.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/politics/trump-elevator-rescue/index.html
Thinking about the song “Lump” by the band, “The Presidents of the United States of America” today and it occurred to me it would be the perfect parody song for Trump and his idiocy. People beat me to it already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di76vMdnr_4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srws_RcY1zA
Darin – Well played, but my friends Joe Lowe and Cory nailed it. Again.
I’m trying to remember what the Donald has nailed. OK, I suppose he’s hired thousands, tens of thousands of people to nail something for him. Does that count?
unbelievable that some people still like him.
Darin, that’s a reasonable reminder that the GOP nominee has crossed lots of lines that would have been political suicide for past candidates. Somehow Trump survives… why? Does being a Kardashian mean never having to say you’re sorry? Do people still not realize this is reality, not reality TV? Will anything change now that the nominees are official?
dude why you delete??????? [because you keep pretending to be illitereate—although for the first time, you spelled every word right in a comment—and because you’ve submitted a fake e-mail address. Fix both problems. —CAH]
Cory, I think this is the pivotal moment in the campaign. Some people will continue to vote for Trump even though he is a narcissistic, bigoted, spoiled brat, but many principled people of conscience are not going to vote for this “dark soul.”
People are shrinking away from Trump like he is a pariah. He has one tenth the staff in swing states that Hillary has to play out the ground game. The Koch brothers donor network is not going to support him. He gets rebuked by Republicans as well as Democrats for his crazy statements.
The latest general election poll has Hillary up 7 points on Trump. White college educated voters are favoring Hillary by 5 points, which is a demographic that Democrats haven’t carried in a presidential election for quite a long time. The swing states are still favoring Hillary by only two points, but trending Clinton’s way.
As long as Trump keeps making himself the story rather than focusing on the issues, I like Clinton’s chances. And Clinton has the money to blanket the airwaves in the swing states with attack ads just using the crazy stuff that Trump says. Voters will be reminded of this stuff before the election, believe me, believe me. Trump either likes his money too much to spend it or doesn’t actually have as much money as he wants everybody to believe. What’s in those tax returns?
I think Hawks and Williams should get going in beating the hell out of NOem and Thune on their boys unpatriotic vitriol towards a gold star family. These two support Trump and give hime much love, they should be held accountable for their billionaire. Democrats don’t know how to bare knuckle it.
Gold Star mothers are suffering even further with the republican nominee for president. http://www.votevets.org/press/gold-star-letter
Someone should ask Trump how many of those jobs he created were filled by foreign workers he brought in under a visa program thus paying lower wages.
I am a vet and Trump lost any support I may have had for him when he attacked John McCain over being a POW and thus not a hero.
Mr. Lowe is right on in his criticism of Trump. It’s sad that we seem to have so many voters that will vote for anyone that has Republican after their name regardless of qualifications and honesty.
CNN just sent out a Breaking News email alert in which Sen. McCain again chastised Trump’s attack on a Gold Star mother and her family.
I don’t know if this is a pivotal point in the election, but Hillary has to make it one.
What would be ironic is if the Muslim family were responsible for Trump’s loss on election day.
Corey Lewandoski, Trump’s old campaign manager just said that Trump actually really thinks about the positions that he takes in reference to the dispute with the Khan family.
Now see to me that is just makes it worse. If you are speaking stream-of-consciousness style and you blurt out, “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices” that’s idiotic but could be less damning.
However, to say that Trump actually thought ahead of time, hey, I know the Khan’s son died heroically in service to this country, but I’ve sacrificed too by working past five and actually paying people that work for me. To me, that is even worse. Trump actually believes that the Khan’s loss of their son in service to our country is no more exceptional than the life of a person who works hard and employs others.
If it is true that Trump thought about this issue before tackling it, which it certainly could be because Trump never really backed away from his statements, it supports the diagnosis of a narcissistic mental disorder and lack of empathy. It also sheds light on Trump’s own questionable deferment from military service during the Vietnam War. The fact that he would raise this issue in this way shows you that he doesn’t think that his cowardly draft dodging ways mean anything either. These and other actions demonstrate that he has no deep abiding respect for veterans and members of our military. He justifies his cowardice by demeaning the position of honor that these veterans and service members enjoy. You see to Trump John McCain’s service and sacrifice was demeaned by the fact that he was a POW. That is how Trump’s mind justifies his own accomplishments as being equal in valor to military heroes.
Maybe Lewandoski is backstabbing Trump in a strategic way because he got fired but it did not appear that way.
You would think that a billionaire presidential candidate could afford the best in handlers.
Trump needed to apologize to the Khans for his initial comment and than dropped the subject with a “no further comment’.
Trump doesn’t know how to do that, instead he keeps on pushing forward with insults and self-serving comments.
This clearly shows that Trump needs to be in full control at all times and advisors be damned. Even a successful president has to listen to advisors that are specialist in their various fields.
America cannot afford to have a bully president that listens only to his gut and acts as impulsively as Trump does.
The Khan controversy is going into its fifth day, it should have ended the day after the Democratic convention with an apology from Trump.
Democrats need to hang this around Thune and Noem’s neck like a boat anchor clear up to election day. Sad thing is, SD zombie voters probably won’t notice.
This is Obama’s doing. All veterans should be proud of the way this president has stood for us against a most difficult republican congress. http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2016/HUDNo_16-117
Homelessness is the worse thing that can happen to a veteran. Donald Trump is our mortal enemy. He and his followers have placed a stain on veterans that cannot be bleached out with just his having his ass kicked at the polls in November, we must purge the entire crowd that puts themselves before there country. In order to make America great again, this crowd must go. I am talking about our own 3 dingalings here in South Dakota to be placed at the top of those that must go. They may say they are against Trump but they still endorse his sorry behind, so they are the problem as well.
I’m going to preface this by saying I am a Vet, so hopefully that gets me at least a brief moment of consideration before people call for my head.
1. Trump’s response to the Khans was, predictably, bigoted and half thought out which is pretty much par for the course. We expected this. But;
2. Can we stop acting as though families of service members and those service members themselves are somehow immune from criticism? If a person thrusts themselves into the political arena, they need to be able to deal with response (looking at you, knuckle dragging imbecile who argued Clinton should be shot). This national need to handle us with kid gloves is infantilizing and condescending as hell.
Dicta, I agree that no one should be immune from criticism for incorrect statements. The death of a loved one does automatically make everything a person says true. But I haven’t heard the Khans say anything obviously false, and nearly every response Trump has offered about the Khans has been incorrect and/or demeaning.
Jerry, I agree that Williams and Hawks should be Lowe Democrats and throw punches over Thune and Noem’s endorsement of Trumpism.
Yeah, like I said: Trump has been predictably idiotic.
Like I have said in the past,each election cycle wingnuts nominate a rich,white, extremely clueless nut for Potus.
They not only get richer by the cycle, they get more cluelesser than the previous nominee.
Romney wasn’t clueless. Wooden and robotic? Sure. But he is a really bright guy who saved Bain in the early 90s and increased its transparency, as well as pushing a health care system that was a big part of the development of the ACA.
http://theweek.com/articles/477773/mitt-romneys-9-worst-cluelessrichman-gaffes
His 47% gaffe makes him clueless. Romney wouldn’t take the Bain job until he got a guarantee none of Romney’s money was at risk.
Mittens flip-flopped on healthcare when he ran for Potus. He ran away from his own plan.
Romney, though not my guy and not as good as Obama, was at least qualified to be President. Trump is not.
“http://theweek.com/articles/477773/mitt-romneys-9-worst-cluelessrichman-gaffes
His 47% gaffe makes him clueless. Romney wouldn’t take the Bain job until he got a guarantee none of Romney’s money was at risk.”
Some scathing critiques in there. Likes to have the ability to fire people. Says he has been afraid of losing his job. Is friends with NASCAR team owners. THE HORROR
The funniest, clueless line comes from a multi-millionaire telling unemployed people he is unemployed, too.
Drumpf is a pathological liar. HRC has heard the wingnut lies about her for so long,even she is believing some of them.
I agree that Trump appears to be pathological. I would not apply that adjective to Mitt Romney.