Fallen soldier’s father rebukes Trump
Whose eyes couldn’t tear and whose heart couldn’t swell with admiration when Khizr Khan, father of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, told the story of his fallen son who died in Iraq more than a decade ago while trying to protect his men from a suicide bomber.
As the elder Khan and his wife took the stage Thursday to represent Muslims in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and to honor all veterans, he strayed from the typical Hillary-is-wonderful-because speech.
“If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America,” said Khan, a Muslim who immigrated from Pakistan when his son was 2. “He wants to build walls and ban us from this country. Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution?”
As cheers erupted, Khan reached into his lapel pocket and pulled out a small blue and white pamphlet. “I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America. You’ll see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing – and no one.”
Members of the audience leapt from their seats with wild applause and cheers. It may well have been the most powerful anti-Trump message of the entire convention.
The Khans live in Charlottesville, Va. Capt. Khan, who grew up in suburban Maryland, was killed in June 2004 by a car bomb near Baquba, Iraq. He had told his fellow soldiers to stay away from the suspicious vehicle, and as he approached it, it exploded. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
New job for Roger Ailes?
Who couldn’t laugh out loud at the news last week when Trump said that perhaps dumped FOX news creator and sexual harasser Roger Ailes might have a role in his campaign?
Of course he would. These guys are two peas in a pod, twins separated at birth.
Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall when Megyn Kelly heard this news?
The trouble is, such a thought is only funny in the vacuum of the absurd.
This is America now well into the 21st century and the Republican nominee for president is so 18th-century and so tone-deaf that he still has no respect for women beyond whether they have legs and – you know.
One must wonder how Ailes will go over with Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, though certainly nothing he could say about the Trump girls would be much worse than what their father has said publicly while extolling their looks. If Ivanka were not his daughter, he would date her, he once joked. And according to People magazine, a clip from a 1994 episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” shows Trump making a suggestive comment about Tiffany’s body when she was just 1.
To a Robin Leach question about what attributes their infant daughter inherited from her parents, Trump replied: “She’s got Marla’s legs. We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet but time will tell,” he added, holding his hands in front of his chest to represent breasts.
Let’s hope Trump won’t put Ailes in charge of managing personnel for the campaign.
A to-do list for Russian spies
Open letter to Vladimir Putin:
Hi, Vlady,
Since you are Russia’s top spook, could you maybe find Donald Trump’s missing tax returns?
Oh, yeah, sorry – I’m just being “sarcastic.”