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Tag: humayun khan
#EndorseThis: Why Is Trump Always Feuding With Gold Star Families?

#EndorseThis: Why Is Trump Always Feuding With Gold Star Families?

Donald Trump has been insulting Gold Star families — those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice in uniform — since 2016 , when he began a feud with the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan.

The president’s lack of compassion for their pain, now demonstrated again in the case of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, is shocking even to someone — like Trevor Noah — who has learned to expect the worst from Trump.

As Noah puts it, these bereaved Americans may initially appreciate the solace of a phone call from the White House. But with Trump, they end up wishing they’d let the call go to voicemail.

It’s another fine mess: How does he keep doing this?

If ISIS Could Vote In Our Election, It Would Choose Donald Trump

If ISIS Could Vote In Our Election, It Would Choose Donald Trump

Countless foreign affairs experts (including plenty of Republicans) and weathered military brass all agree: Donald Trump is grossly unfit to be Commander and Chief. But in reality, it’s not just that Trump lacks presidential qualifications; is that he’s uniquely qualified to make things a lot worse.    

It’s already happening. ISIS is using Donald Trump as a recruitment tool, galvanizing support and boosting their momentum.

Think of it this way: if ISIS is a fire that we have to put out, having no access to water or a fire hose would render one unfit to fight it. However, the frightening truth is that Trump and his Republican backers are actively, willingly, and ignorantly throwing gasoline on the flames.  

If you don’t trust U.S. politicians, then at least trust U.S. enemies: ISIS is rooting for a Trump presidency because it gives them a leg up. But why?

First,  the ISIS worldview is simple: They see the world as believers vs. non-believers, divided between land governed by their version of Islam and the lands of its enemies. ISIS fears religious freedom and secular society, which is why their main goal is to “destroy the gray area of coexistence.” ISIS approves of Western Islamophobia, because it fuels their binary “us vs. them” doctrine; they gain power and support from the irresponsible and hateful brand of divisiveness Trump flings around when he solicits cheers for anti-Muslim rhetoric — like he did when he insulted the family of a fallen Muslim-American soldier.  

What’s more, scholars agree that Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. is outright illegal under U.S. and international law, citing the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause and the First Amendment’s doctrine of freedom of religion. It’s not just illegal, it’s also not possible:  there’s no ‘religion’ column on passports. So Trump’s nonsensical proposal has the sole effect of playing into ISIS’s narrative–basically doing their dirty work for them.

This isn’t all just theory, either. In a new analysis, Foreign Affairs magazine recently interviewed ISIS supporters, and according to a former ISIS fighter and self-identified jihadist, “We don’t need to convince Muslims in the Middle East that the West is against them … The next step for the Islamic State is to reach Muslims in America and Europe.” Another said, “Congratulations to us on the victory of Trump! Sit back and relax and watch the end of America at his hands.”

From the same Foreign Affairs analysis, another man who left ISIS said that ISIS wants to make the West an “incubator” for locally inspired attacks. ISIS is currently using video footage of Trump’s anti-Muslim sentiments around the attacks in Brussels and Orlando to recruit and galvanize support.

And since ISIS is losing ground on its home turf in the Middle East, they’re increasingly focusing their propaganda less on battles in the region and more on the Trump-type content that will encourage homegrown terrorism and lone-wolf attacks in the U.S. and Europe. Picture a room full of jihadi social media operatives splicing islamophobic Trump-isms into their recruitment videos, woven between footage of beheadings — what more do they need to justify their hateful narrative?

In an increasingly combative election, one of the few things we still all agree on is countering ISIS’s ideology and evil mission. Donald Trump, however, seems intent on designing”‘policies” and advancing an attitude that plays right into their hands, both ideologically and operationally. He claims that he alone can keep the country safe, but he’s actually singularly bad for our national security–and our enemies are taking notice, and using his rhetoric as fuel.

It all boils down to a simple question all American voters must ask themselves: If ISIS would vote for Donald Trump, why would you?

Kevin Samy is a political Partner at the Truman National Security Project and a communications strategy consultant. Views expressed are his own.

IMAGE: A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Will The Trump Campaign Ever Fire Their New York State Co-Chair?

Will The Trump Campaign Ever Fire Their New York State Co-Chair?

It’s a jarring headline: Who am I to suggest hirings and firings to a presidential campaign? But in the burgeoning pantheon of political outrage, the continued employment of Carl Paladino as Donald Trump’s campaign co-chair in New York must rank near the top.

On Friday, in an interview with Imus in the Morning‘s Connell McShane captured by Buzzfeed, Paladino spoke about Khizr Khan, the father of deceased soldier Humayun Khan who gave an animated speech denouncing Trump at the Democratic National Convention. Paladino reiterated his frequent claim that President Obama is secretly Muslim, and said that the Khans didn’t deserve to be honored as a gold star family because of Khizr Khan’s (non-existent) radical Islamist views.

“I don’t care if he’s a Gold Star parent. 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,” Paladino said. “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.”

Attacks on Khizr Khan’s patriotism began almost immediately after his DNC speech, including from Trump confidant and former Nixon “dirty trickster” Roger Stone — who alleged (baselessly) that Humayun Khan was an al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood double agent — and eventually, from Trump himself, who attacked Khizr Khan and implied falsely that his wife Ghazala was not allowed to speak at the convention because of religious restrictions on Muslim woman.

In an email to Buzzfeed on Sunday, Paladino doubled down on his comments, repeating the same baseless sentiments and accusations from the McShane interview, evidently without fear of any kind of consequences from the Trump campaign:

Hillary’s staff obviously wrote [Khizr Khan’s DNC] speech. She even bought him the pocket Constitution which he probably never read but also returned to the staff after the speech.

Hillary tried to get five other Gold Star parents to do the theatrics and they all said no and were paid handsomely to keep the request confidential.

In the following paragraphs (and paragraphs, and paragraphs), Paladino regurgitates many of the same spurious talking points found in the first conspiracy hit piece that Roger Stone published to his Twitter account about Khizr Khan.

Paladino, once a gubernatorial candidate in New York and a lifelong right-wing activist, has a bit of a reputation: In March, he sent an email to New York Republicans imploring them to support the Trump campaign, “and try to preserve what’s left of your pathetic careers in government.”

During an April interview with NPR’s Morning Edition, Paladino said, “People that get on this [Trump campaign] bus, on the Trump bus, are people that are very, very frustrated with their government.” He added, in what some said was coded racial language, “That’s the most important thing. It doesn’t matter what kind of person is the exterminator, OK? They want the raccoons out of the basement.”

He remains unapologetic about questioning Khizr and Ghazala Khan’s allegiances, and he continues in his position as New York co-chair for Trump.

All of this leaves us in a familiar place: What happens next, when a candidate doesn’t seem to care that a representative of his campaign spews vicious, hateful attacks? Does anyone care? Or has this kind of racist politics, seemingly picked out of the dustbin of history, make a comeback?

Jake Tapper confronted Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort about Paladino’s comments on Sunday. He was a met with a resounding “Meh.”

It goes to show: For every front-page controversy highlighting Trump’s slow motion car wreck of a campaign, there are 10 that slip under the radar. Consider the white supremacist “journalist” who was invited to the Republican National Convention — I still haven’t seen any explanation for James Edwards invitation to cover the convention as a credentialed member of the media.

So it goes. We will have to reckon with this eventually. But for now, we’re left with Paul Manafort’s reassurance to Tapper: “I’ll have to look into it.”

Photo: Carl Paladino at the 2012 Oneonta Tea Party Rally. Flickr user Sheryl J Thomas.

Country First: Why John McCain Must Dump Trump

Country First: Why John McCain Must Dump Trump

“Country first.”

That was the patriotic slogan of John McCain’s presidential campaign eight years ago, uttered by the Arizona Republican to express a higher purpose than partisan, ideological, or career motivations. Behind that brief phrase was the primacy of the nation — not necessarily above family or religion, perhaps, but certainly above party.

It is not an easy ideal to uphold, especially in our polarized national politics. For years the former prisoner of war could claim, more plausibly than most American politicians, that he has tried to live by those words.  

Not any more.

At the moment, McCain remains among the craven Republican officials who have endorsed Donald Trump for president, even though they know he is unfit to fill that office — and especially the role of commander-in-chief. By now, nobody expects principle above partisanship from GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan, but McCain was supposed to be different.

One of the earliest signs that Trump is unfit for command, ironically, was his slur of McCain, whom he disparaged for his captivity by the North Vietnamese, in a war that the real estate scion contrived to avoid because of “bone spurs.” When he said, more than a year ago, “I like people who weren’t captured,” he mocked the sacrifice of every soldier who ever suffered in a POW camp.

 That remark alone was enough to disqualify him from leading this country’s armed forces.  But he went beyond that offensive slur last week when he disparaged the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan, a hero whose death in Iraq has been dishonored repeatedly by Trump and his supporters. That too would have been enough to prove him unfit.

 But as everyone knows, Trump has said and done much more to demonstrate that he is the least qualified candidate for president, by character and temperament, not to mention profound ignorance, ever nominated by a major party.

Of special concern to McCain, perhaps, should be Trump’s enthusiasm for waterboarding and even more barbaric forms of torture, which he has vowed to order our soldiers to perpetrate, regardless of our treaty obligations, laws, and national traditions that date back to George Washington. Having spoken out against torture repeatedly, as both a victim of horrific abuse in North Vietnam and as a leading member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain must be repelled by Trump’s crude and stupid remarks on the subject. Those statements, too, show why he must never wield authority over the American military.

Then there is the strange and troubling relationship between Trump and the Russian authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin, whose mutual admiration suggests something more sinister than a desire for better relations — especially given the murky business and political relationships with Russia that surround Trump and his advisers.

Because he refuses to release his tax returns, voters have no way to know the extent of his financial connections with the oligarchs who now rule the increasingly aggressive Russian state. And he seemed to encourage Russian intelligence services to wage cyber warfare against his political adversaries — a reckless statement that was unimaginable coming from someone who proposes to defend this country against such an attack. The only question now is whether he is a witting or unwitting agent of a hostile and undemocratic power.

 As for Trump’s collected musings on foreign and security affairs, his policy remarks are so wild and harebrained as to verge on insanity — from his dismissal of “obsolete” NATO, the structure that has guaranteed peace in Europe for decades, to his musing aloud about the possibility of using nuclear weapons and allowing them to proliferate across Asia.

 McCain knows all this and more about Trump. He also knows Hillary Clinton from their service together in the Senate. He likes and respects her, and has betrayed no doubt that she is highly qualified, by experience and disposition, to serve as president.

 Yet he stands resolutely behind Trump, despite the insults that the Republican nominee continued to pour over him by refusing to even reciprocate his endorsement, as he finally did, grudgingly. Of course, McCain doesn’t really need that endorsement. What he needs is the support of Trump’s Arizona fans, as he tries to hold onto his Senate seat this fall. That is the sole reason he refuses to do what he knows is the only right thing.

 While his daughter Meghan blasts away daily at Trump on Twitter and his speechwriter Mark Salter tweets #ImWithHer, the old Navy pilot ignores their example.  Almost 80 years old, he is behaving as if he thinks his Senate career is worth all the undeniable dangers that a Trump presidency would portend for America and the world.

 “Country first” requires McCain to repudiate Trump, tell the truth about what he represents, and accept the political consequences. By refusing to make that choice, he is betraying himself, and us. He can still repeat those two words, but their meaning is gone.

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