Gold star father Khizr Khan says President Donald Trump’s “life is a testament to selfishness” after a bombshell report from The Atlantic, citing sources close to the president, revealed Trump had denigrated dead American troops as “losers.”
“A former senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed to The Washington Post that the president frequently made disparaging comments about veterans and soldiers missing in action, referring to them at times as ‘losers,'” The Atlantic reported. “In one account, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion.”
Khan responded earlier today.
“That is not who we are,” Khan said during a call hosted by Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. “When Donald Trump calls anyone who places their lives in service of others ‘a loser,’ we understand Trump’s soul. By his accounting, self-sacrifice does not make sense, love does not make sense. According to Trump, the winners in life are those that put themselves before all, and the losers are those that don’t.”
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Khan is the father of Humayun Khan, a Muslim American Army captain who was killed in Iraq in 2004. He made international headlines for criticizing then-candidate Trump during an impassioned speech during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
“Our son Humayun had dreams … of being a military lawyer, but he put those dreams aside the day he sacrificed his life to save the lives of his fellow soldiers,” Khan said at the time. “Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son ‘the best of America.’ If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America.”
He then held up a copy of the United States Constitution and continued speaking.
“Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy,” he said. “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 [the] United States of America. You’ll see, all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
