Captain Humayun Khan was 26 when he was killed in the line of duty while stationed in Baqubah, Iraq.
Hundreds of Khan’s fellow soldiers were eating breakfast in the nearby mess hall when Khan noticed a taxi driving towards the compound far too fast. He ran towards the cab, sacrificing his life as the explosives it was packed with detonated. He has been credited by Hillary Clinton as saving the lives of his entire unit.
Captain Khan saved the lives of his entire unit when he bravely stepped forward to investigate a suspicious vehicle.https://t.co/GGEf5kgjLy
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 26, 2015
Last week, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Khan’s parents Khizr and Ghazala took to the stage to speak of their son’s bravery and to slam Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims (like the Khan family) from entering the US.
To wild adulation from the crowd, Khan’s father asked of Trump “Have you even read the Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? You have sacrificed nothing, and no-one.”
The most dignified, damning indictment of Donald Trump at the #DNCinPHL came from Khizr Khan https://t.co/XjfFVDzPi9https://t.co/2LmZ7JjmMq
— Vox (@voxdotcom) July 29, 2016
Trump who, over the course of the primary campaign, time and again lashed out when criticised, hit out at Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala, implying that Ghazala did not speak on the DNC stage because she was forbidden to as a Muslim woman.
“His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”
Trump also argued that he had too “made sacrifices”, pointing out that he had “worked very hard” and created tens of thousands of jobs.
Trump's reply to Khizr & Ghazala Khan, whose son died in Iraq: "I've made a lot of sacrifices"
(via @ThisWeekABC)https://t.co/krzu9nYiDK
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 30, 2016
Trump’s claim that Ghazala Khan “wasn’t allowed” to speak at the DNC has been roundly rebuffed, not least by Ms. Khan herself, who wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which she repeated the claim that “Donald Trump does not know what sacrifice means.”
“I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I haven’t been able to clean the closet where his things are — I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?”
Trump’s offensive, however, has not abated. He has since taken to his online bully pulpit once more to justify what he has said about the Khan family.
I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016
Whether this feud with the parents of an American war hero will dent Trump’s popularity remains to be seen, but if his previous transgressions are anything to go by – it won’t make a blind bit of difference.
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