# Will Trump survive his treatment of Khizr and Ghazala Khan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 1, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463 "2016-08-01T13:37:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/201 "2016-08-03T13:42:00Z")
Mr. Khan to Trump regarding Trump’s accepting the Purple Heart medal from a veteran. _“You should have pinned that back to that veteran’s chest and should have hugged him and thanked him.”_ Mr. Khan is like the mockingbird nipping at the tail feathers of the crow. From Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in a combat injury. \*.@realdonaldtrump, this is how one usually looks when you are awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing easy about it. [https://twitter.com/TammyforIL/status/760588228932108288/photo/1](http://pic.twitter.com/K59HLnzmhK) — Tammy Duckworth (@TammyforIL) August 2, 2016\* Tammy added a picture of herself in a hospital bed recovering from the injury that earned her the Purple Heart. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/202 "2016-08-03T13:44:27Z")
**Rick Jay** , as a mod, statements like that do not help the Boards mission to fight ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/203 "2016-08-03T14:57:05Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > **Rick Jay** , as a mod, statements like that do not help the Boards mission to fight ignorance. **RickJay** is as entitled to make baseless assertions as any other poster when he is posting as a poster. His mod status has nothing to do with that. It doesn’t make him a cult leader-like figure whose every utterance should be treated as if pearls were falling from his keyboard. Disagree with him, by all means, but don’t attempt to hold him to some higher, more exalted status of communication that the rest of us bums just because he’s a mod. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/204 "2016-08-03T15:05:17Z")
It’s a bit odd of a statement, I must say though. I thought RickJay lived in Ottawa and this is the current mayor: > [@](#): > > James Alexander “Jim” Watson (born July 30, 1961)[1] is the current mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a former Ottawa city councillor (1991–1997) and mayor (1997–2000), and subsequently represented the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2010. He was a Minister in the Cabinet of Premier Dalton McGuinty until he resigned in January 2010 to successfully run for mayor in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election. He was re-elected mayor 27 October 2014. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/205 "2016-08-03T15:10:08Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > It’s a bit odd of a statement, I must say though. I thought RickJay lived in Ottawa and this is the current mayor: He lived in Toronto until sometime in the last couple of years. Now, it is an odd statement, and I disagree with it, but it’s ridiculous to say that he shouldn’t post odd statements because he’s a mod. Baseball threads would never be the same. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/206 "2016-08-03T15:31:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Donald Trump is not “extremely right wing,” nor was Rob Ford. Ford was conservative by the standard of people who live in downtown Toronto, insofar as a municipal councilor can be, but was no fascist. Trump has no ideology at all. Trump would cheerily embrace Marxism if he thought it would make him money and stroke his ego. This is an opinion, with which I generally agree. Trump is only ‘extremely right’ within the normal realm of democratic politics if your opinion is that ‘right’ equals ‘distasteful’. Trump is extremely distasteful, IMO. But there are factually plenty of things Trump has said even in his campaign, let alone in his whole public life, which are at odds with conservatism as its been understood in the US in recent decades. Trump is not a further right version of them, he’s different, but one dimensional left-right doesn’t capture it (see Economists’ cover story this week: Trumpism, whether or not the man himself, is part of a new rich world divide political mainly between open and closed to the outside world, not so much left v. right). The only way to say Trump is ‘extreme right’ is to establish that he is actually a fascist. Fascists were also to the left/authoritarian side of modern conservatives in many respects, though it’s convention to call them ‘the extreme right’. But ‘ignorance’ isn’t having a different opinion, and it’s a matter of opinion, which I’m sure has been the subject of long threads, whether Trump is a fascist. I agree with Rick, if Trump thought actual fascism would promote Trump he’d be one, if Communism would he’d be there just as quick, or anything else. Which was true of some fascists historically, it was a generally less ideological ‘ideology’ than some others, and some of its famous figures had been on the left at one time. So calling Trump a totally self focused opportunist doesn’t itself disprove he could be a fascist. However to really decide I think you’d have to see what he would _do_ as a leader in the political realm, since he has no track record and contradicts himself so often. I don’t propose conducting that experiment though. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/207 "2016-08-03T15:43:21Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > \*Already \*Speaker Ryan – _ **Ryan!** _ – is being primaried from the Trump Right, mostly over not being enthusiastic enough about Trump rather than about any policy. Surely he’ll win but this is someone who would have been renominated _unopposed_ by any normal political party. If he loses, he and Eric Cantor could always get together and do a podcast or something. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/208 "2016-08-03T15:49:48Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I keep seeing this sort of thing and want to make a point. > > All of the available air time in the potential swing states is - I’d bet anything - already purchased or optioned. It was bought by various groups/campaigns months ago. So the idea of being able to buy TV spots in the next few months is a fallacy. > > During my campaign in 2010 - a local race - I couldn’t arrange for TV after June because we had several state and national races that had arranged to buy all the airtime available. I could only get two weeks worth during the 5:30AM morning show time slot in September. Just a quick follow up on this. [SigDig over at 538 is reporting](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/significant-digits-for-wednesday-aug-3-2016/) that Hillary and her allies have reserved $98 million worth of air time through E-Day while Trump and his allies are at $817K. I dig counting on free air time through Trump’s personality and statements but that’s going to be a slaughter. By the time he begins airing things there won’t be a lot of airtime left to buy. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/209 "2016-08-03T15:58:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > … Hillary and her allies have reserved $98 million worth of air time through E-Day while Trump and his allies are at $817K. … Ok, but how much of the _available_ airtime is sold? Impossible to tell from this if either candidate is going to be unable to buy more time. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/210 "2016-08-03T16:18:07Z")
Oh, I agree. But it’s more than just them. It’s congress and state and local buys as well. We can’t view it as just those two campaigns. But the disparity is real. And it’s another indication of the inexperienced nature of Trump’s campaign apparatus. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/211 "2016-08-03T16:22:21Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Oh, I agree. But it’s more than just them. It’s congress and state and local buys as well. We can’t view it as just those two campaigns. > > But the disparity is real. And it’s another indication of the inexperienced nature of Trump’s campaign apparatus. Not a problem. Trump does not need to pay for media attention. He just needs to keep upping the ante. I imagine next week he’ll punch a baby, and spit on a picture of Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/212 "2016-08-03T16:33:13Z")
> [@67java89](#): > > The Democratic Party is using them, and he’s happy to let them. Fair is fair - after all, the Trump campaign used Scott Baio. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/213 "2016-08-03T16:46:39Z")
> [@67java89](#): > > Agree. It’s clear that Khan started the whole thing and the major media outlets are flipping it to sound like Trump attacked Khan, when it was the other way around. In his response, Trump was just being Trump. Asymmetrical warfare at its finest. Of course the Khan’s attacked Trump. He’s the Republican candidate for president – it’s the job of the Democratic convention to attack Trump. But it was a trap. The only good response to the Khan’s speech – if any response was required, which it wasn’t – was for Trump to say that he honored the Khan’s sacrifice. And shut up. But no. Donald fell into the trap, pulled out his shovel, and started digging, and piling dirt on his head, and setting his shoes on fire. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/214 "2016-08-03T17:10:40Z")
Goodness me … [Khizr Khan mourning ​at Arlington cemetery – the story behind the picture](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/03/khizr-khan-at-arlington-cemetery-the-story-behind-the-picture) > [@](#): > > In 2007 I was in Arlington National Cemetery with my wife, Janine Altongy, to take photographs for my book War Is Personal, about Americans affected by war. We were there to photograph Paula Zwillinger, a New York resident who had lost her son, and a young girl named Kayley Sharp, who was visiting the grave of her father. At the time, section 60 – where Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are interred – was growing. > > That morning, there was a slender, stern-looking man in section 60. At first, from a distance, I thought he was a Protestant priest because he was dressed so somberly. From the side of the headstone I was on, you could only see a number, not the crescent moon and star that showed it was the grave of a Muslim soldier. It was only when I saw the man’s posture that I realised what his faith was. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/215 "2016-08-03T17:27:57Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Asymmetrical warfare at its finest. Of course the Khan’s attacked Trump. He’s the Republican candidate for president – it’s the job of the Democratic convention to attack Trump. > > But it was a trap. The only good response to the Khan’s speech – if any response was required, which it wasn’t – was for Trump to say that he honored the Khan’s sacrifice. And shut up. > > But no. Donald fell into the trap, pulled out his shovel, and started digging, and piling dirt on his head, and setting his shoes on fire. Clinton’s presidential response to her parallel situation where she manages to disagree and still be respectful: “My heart goes out to both of them. Losing a child under any circumstances, especially in this case, two State Department employees, extraordinary men, both of them, two CIA contractors gave their lives protecting our countries, our values. I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that. As other members of families who lost loved ones have said, that’s not what they heard – I don’t hold any ill feeling for someone who in that moment may not fully recall everything that was or wasn’t said.” Note the lack of implying that Smith is a terrorist or bringing up her own struggles as a law student as comparable situations of Smith’s sacrifices. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/216 "2016-08-03T17:35:07Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Goodness me … > > [Khizr Khan mourning ​at Arlington cemetery – the story behind the picture](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/03/khizr-khan-at-arlington-cemetery-the-story-behind-the-picture) Thank you for posting that link. It’s an extraordinary story and photo. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/217 "2016-08-03T17:38:01Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Donald fell into the trap, pulled out his shovel, and started digging, and piling dirt on his head, and setting his shoes on fire. It looks more like Donald setting his hair on fire and trying to put it out with the shovel. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/218 "2016-08-03T18:00:04Z")
Yet another prominent Republican jumps ship. Meg Whitman, now endorsing, and offering to contribute to, Hillary. I’m losing count buy we’re up to about 7 now, maybe 8 prominent Republicans who have done likewise. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/219 "2016-08-03T18:13:56Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Thank you for posting that link. It’s an extraordinary story and photo. The very thought of losing one of my kids makes my heart pound with anxiety. I cannot imagine what agony it must be. I don’t know how people bear it. I understand the Khans hold annual barbecues for the cadets who graduate from the University of Virginia ROTC. I find that amazing. Their bravery and dignity is certainly beyond my abilities. I can see how it would be a way to cope, but gosh, I don’t know. If I lost one of my daughters I don’t know that I would even have the courage to visit her grave. I just do not have it in me. That picture breaks my heart. It brings tears to my eyes. That poor, poor man. I know exactly what he was thinking; “I would die a thousand times to bring you back.” If you cannot sympathize with someone like that and just back away when the subject is the death of their little boy, you’ve gotta be some kind of monster. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463/220 "2016-08-03T19:01:51Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > But it was a trap. The only good response to the Khan’s speech – if any response was required, which it wasn’t – was for Trump to say that he honored the Khan’s sacrifice. And shut up. The thing is, an intelligent person who had paid even a modest amount of attention to our political discourse over the last few decades would _know_ that was the obvious thing to do. What that says about Trump I leave as an exercise for the reader. 😉 Trump _still_ seems convinced that the media is keeping the story alive because they’re “out to get him”, when it should be obvious to anyone that the thing that’s keeping the story alive is _Trump_. The story isn’t “Gold star family is upset with Trump”, it’s "Trump verbally attacks gold star family, " and it’s a story entirely of his own making. > [@Donald Trump](#): > > Am I allowed to defend myself? No, dummy. Not when you “defend yourself” by ad hominem, not when it’s a gold star family, not when you’re seeking to be elected as our Commander in Chief. What part of the job did you not understand? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-survive-his-treatment-of-khizr-and-ghazala-khan/761463.md?page=12)