VFW, Gold Star Families, President And Parts Of GOP Rail Against Donald Trump For Attack On Parents Of Killed U.S. Soldier

The Veterans of Foreign Wars and former POW John McCain joined families of military personnel killed in action, taking aim Monday at Donald Trump for belittling the parents of a fallen American soldier. Trump struggled to gain any public sympathy as criticism continued for a fourth day with no sign that the GOP nominee is inclined to apologize for seeking to discredit a Gold Star family through insults and bigotry.

Republican leaders, even those who have endorsed Trump, sought to distance themselves from their nominee's comments, while Democrats seized on his remarks as another example of a temperamental bully with no sense of proportion.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the country's oldest and largest veterans group of former presidents, generals and wartime grunts alike, offered perhaps the strongest condemnation in a statement Monday.

“Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” Brian Duffy, the group's leader, said in the statement.

“There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of word-smithing can repair once crossed,” he continued. “Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.”

McCain, one of the country's most high-profile military veterans and now locked in a battle for his U.S. Senate seat, released a lengthy statement condemning Trump's remarks.

"In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service," the statement said. "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates."

McCain, who was the subject of one of Trump's earliest campaign controversies when Trump said he preferred soldiers "who don't get captured," did not go so far as to rescind his endorsement of Trump.

Addressing the National Convention for Disabled American Veterans on Monday, President Obama spent several minutes responding to some of Trump's anti-military rhetoric without mentioning him by name.

"Let me say this: No one — no one — has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," Obama said. "They represent the very best of our country. They continue to inspire us every day, every moment. They serve as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America. We have to do everything we can for those families, and honor them, and be humbled by them."

Early Monday morning, Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, attempted to put an end to the ordeal by offering a statement in support of Khan and his family, calling their son "an American hero."

"Donald Trump and I believe that Capt. Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American," Pence said in the statement.

Khan said he was "heartened" and "grateful" for the words Pence offered to his son.

However, Trump has yet to offer an apology for any of the offensive comments he has made throughout the campaign season. He did not mention the family in a Monday afternoon rally and declined to take reporters' questions about it beforehand.

Instead, Trump reignited the back-and-forth Monday morning in his preferred fashion: a tweet storm.

During the Democratic convention last week in Philadelphia, Khan — with his wife, Ghazala, standing quietly by his side — gave a moving tribute to their son, Humayun, who received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004.

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Khan told the convention that Trump, who avoided the Vietnam War draft, had "sacrificed nothing" in terms of military service, drawing a sharp response from Trump, who said they had "no right" to criticize him on anything.

Trump implied that Capt. Khan's mother was not permitted to speak about her son publicly because she is a Muslim.

She did not speak at the DNC, she explained later, because she chokes up whenever she sees a photo of her son, who was shown on a screen above the stage during the duration of her husband's talk.

A joint letter published Monday through VoteVets was signed by family members of 11 service members who were killed in Iraq and the family of Col. Norman Eaton, who was killed during the Vietnam War.

"Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us," the open letter states. "When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice."

"You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost," the families wrote, adding, "We feel we must speak out and demand you apologize to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments."

In contrast to McCain's statement on Monday, Republican leaders in the House and Senate offered rather tepid statements over the weekend, refusing to call Donald Trump out directly.

"America's greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it," House Speaker Paul Ryan's statement read. "As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it.

"Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice — and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan — should always be honored. Period."

"Like all Americans I'm grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement. "All Americans should value the patriotic service of the patriots who volunteer to selflessly defend us in the armed services.

"And as I have long made clear, I agree with the Khans and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values."

Trump's comments have made for plenty of Democratic fodder on the campaign trail.

"He was kind of trying to turn that into some kind of ridicule," Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said of the way Trump spoke to and about the Khan family while campaigning over the weekend. "It just demonstrates again kind of a temperamental unfitness. If you don’t have any more sense of empathy than that, then I’m not sure you can learn it."

Former President Bill Clinton, who was also at the event, said, "I cannot conceive how you can say that about a Gold Star mother."

Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich, who skipped the Republican convention in his home state because of his lack of support for Trump, took to Twitter to protest the New Yorker's comments, saying: "There's only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family."

"I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures," Trump said on Sunday, before turning to Khan's wife.

"If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me," Trump said, in an interview aired on Sunday with ABC's "This Week."

In The Washington Post, Ghazala Khan responded to Trump, writing that she didn’t speak because she's still overwhelmed by her grief and can’t even look at photos of her son without crying.

"Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention," Khan wrote. "He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart."

She added: "I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I haven’t been able to clean the closet where his things are — I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it. Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?"

On Sunday, groups of visitors gathered at Arlington National Cemetery near the grave of Khan, in a show of solidarity with the soldier and his family.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons