Trump vs. Outstanding Immigrant Khizr Khan - Cyrus D. Mehta

Cyrus D. Mehta, Aug. 5, 2016- "It is poetic justice that Khizr Khan, a Muslim and an immigrant, has been able to take on Trump and trounce him. Trump has derided both Muslims and immigrants with the objective of pandering to his base of white male voters. After Mr. Khan’s strong repudiation of Trump, he is no longer looking as invincible as he did before.

Mr. Khan, and his wife Ghazala Khan, are the parents of Captain Humayun Khan who was killed in combat in Iraq in 2004. After ordering his subordinates away from a suspicious vehicle, Captain Khan bravely ran forward 10–15 steps and was killed by a suicide car bomber. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Mr. Khan, with Mrs. Khan by his side, gave a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention. He rebuked Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims, and he famously took out a copy of the US Constitution from his jacket pocket and asked Trump whether he had ever read the document. Following the speech, Trump insinuated that Mrs. Khan did not speak because she may have not been allowed to do so as a Muslim. Mrs. Khan, who taught Persian at a college in Pakistan before immigrating to the United States and was perfectly capable of speaking, later explained that she was too grief stricken to speak about her dead son, but she still stood nobly by Mr. Khan’s side while he spoke in his honor. After Mr. Khan’s speech and Trump’s criticism of the Khans having backfired, Trump’s standing in recent polls has slumped. Mr. Khan has been able to achieve what no one else has been able to do as effectively, including the unsuccessful efforts of several outstanding Republican candidates whom Trump trounced in the primaries. When Trump spoke at a rally in Portland, Maine, on Thursday night, he was met with at least 50 protestors, inspired by Mr. Khan, who held pocket-sized constitutions."