Trump Camp: Khan Doesn't Deserve Title Of Gold Star Parent

Despite the polls that indicate that one of Donald Trump's biggest self-inflicted wounds has been his on going attacks on the Khan family, Trump's New York co-chair has launched a new attack claiming that Khizr Khan does not deserve the title of "Gold Star" parent.  The foulness, indecency and plain insanity of Trump and Carl Paladino, his New York co-chair is breathtaking. The simple facts are that Humanyun Khan was a U.S. Army Captain who died saving his men and civilians.  His parents lost their beloved son.  Anyone who questions the parents' right to be called "Gold Star" parents is not only morally bankrupt but also mentally unbalanced.  Talking Points Memo looks at this disgusting attack.  Here are excerpts:

The co-chair for Donald Trump’s campaign in New York is defending the Republican nominee's attacks against the Khan family, saying that Trump does not have to respect or refer to Khizr Khan as a "Gold Star parent" because he is "a member of the Muslim Brotherhood."

In an interview with "Imus in the Morning" interviewer Connell McShane, surfaced by BuzzFeed News, Carl Paladino said that focus in the election has unnecessarily shifted negatively to Trump, despite having an "un-indicted felon," presumably Hillary Clinton, in the race and a supporter of hers, Khan, being undeserving of the title of "Gold Star parent."

“We’ve got an un-indicted felon as his opponent and you’re talking about Khan, about him making a remark about this man,” he said.

“All right, I don’t care if he’s a Gold Star parent," he continued. "He certainly doesn’t deserve that title, OK, if he’s as anti-American as he’s illustrated in his speeches and in his discussion. I mean, if he’s a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or supporting, you know, the ISIS-type of attitude against America, there’s no reason for Donald Trump to have to honor this man.”

Paladino, who made a failed bid for governor of New York in 2010, went on to say that he does not feel that Trump should change his rhetoric in any way and that no one can be sure that President Obama is not a Muslim. 

I'm sorry, but Donald Trump is human sewage!!

Gold Star Families Demand An Apology From Trump

Hero Humayun Khan, whose parents are being attacked by Donald Trump

A subsequent post will look into growing concerns in some circles about Donald Trump's mental stability, but putting aside clinical diagnosis, one would argue that no one in their right mind would attack and insult gold star parents/families while running for political office here in America.  Yet, as prior posts have noted, that is precisely what Donald Trump has done - and continues to do.  As a result, VoteVets.org released an open letter written by the families of 17 service-members who were killed while on active duty, calling Trump’s comments about the Khan family “repugnant…offensive, and frankly anti-American.”  Adding to the insults is that few Republicans have withdrawn their support for Trump - e.g., Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, etc.  Think Progress looks at the growing firestorm.  Here are excerpts: 

Over the weekend, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his campaign surrogates gave several interviews in which they continued to attack the family of fallen Iraq War veteran Humayun Khan and defend Trump’s comments suggesting that Ghazala Khan wasn’t permitted to speak because she’s Muslim. 

In their letter, other Gold Star family members rejected Trump’s definition of sacrifice.

“Ours is a sacrifice you will never know. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know,” the letter states. “When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice.”

Trump’s comments have drawn swift repudiations from every shade of the political spectrum. Former Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) offered his support for Khan over the weekend, as did Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), a former marine. “Having served in Iraq, I’m deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all our brave soldiers who were lost in that war,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trump’s supporters, including Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, continued their contortion act of trying to distance themselves from Trump’s extreme rhetoric while still failing to rescind their endorsements of him.

For Trump, his comments are just the latest provocation of military veterans and their families. Last year, he responded to criticism from John McCain by suggesting that the Republican senator wasn’t a war hero because he had been shot down, detained, and tortured during the Vietnam War. “I like people who weren’t captured,” he said at the time, earning near universal condemnation. Then as now, Trump refused to apologize.