On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan, father of fallen Muslim-American war hero Army Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan, delivered perhaps the most moving speech of the entire convention.
Humayun sacrificed his life to save his fellow soldiers. Khizr, with his wife, Ghazala, next to him, spoke of their son’s bravery, and in the most memorable moment, pulled out a copy of the United States Constitution and told Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to “look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law.’”
The following day, Khizr Khan delivered what he called “the other half” of his speech MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Khan urged Republican leaders to take a stand against Donald Trump and prove that they are not the party of bigotry and hatred:
“Nobody has been able to convince this candidate from the highest office of this exemplary democracy in the world to not violate the Constitution of United States. We have quietly watched his speeches, his bullying – schoolyard bullying – and we have said some intelligent people like yourself and others have commented, yet, nothing has made the difference.
[…]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – what a patriot, decent human being, what a leader he is. And then Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House – leading the majority in the United States House of Representatives – what a patriot, decent human being he is. But isn’t this time to repudiate Trump? What he has said? What he has threatened to do? This is moral imperative for both leaders, to say to him that enough. You are about to sink the ship of patriot Republicans. Republicans are as patriotic as Democrats are. They are half of the goodness of this beautiful country, half of this political process that the rest of the world watches enviously, learns from it.
They have disagreed with his practices, his threats to minorities, disrespect to the legal systems, legal institutions. I want to ask them: if your candidate – and I wish this would get to their ears, and I will continue to ask this question – if you candidate wins, and you governs the way he has campaigned my country, this country, will have constitutional crises [like] never before in the history of this country, and my conscience compels me under these very difficult circumstances…
There is so much at stake, and I appeal to both of these leaders, this is the time. There comes a time in the history of a nation where an ethical, moral stand has to be taken regardless of the political costs. The only reason they’re not repudiating this – his behavior, his threat to our democracy, our decency, our foundation – is just because of political consequences.”
Reporter Todd Zwillich brought up the fact that Paul Ryan has been asked about why he won’t reject Donald Trump, given that Ryan himself has stated that Trump’s rhetoric violates the principles of the Republican Party:
http://twitter.com/toddzwillich/status/759250258421514244
Ryan, along with Mitch McConnell and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, have bent over backwards to explain how they could possibly support Donald Trump if they oppose his bigotry. The answer is depressingly simple. As Vox’s German Lopez said, it is because “Republicans care more about tax cuts than racism.” Lopez wrote:
“House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday condemned Donald Trump’s comments that the federal judge in the Trump University case should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage and Hispanic ethnicity. As Ryan put it, ‘Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sorta like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable.’
But Ryan had a caveat: ‘Do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not.’ He went on, suggesting he and Trump ‘have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her.’
Let’s be clear with what Ryan is saying here: A presidential candidate making blatantly racist remarks is regrettable, but tolerable as long as he supports massive tax cuts for the wealthy, reforming Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, and changing welfare programs. Those are generally the focuses of Ryan’s agenda, and the last item was the point of his press conference in the first place.
This is what economists sometimes call a ‘revealed preference.’ If you just asked an elected Republican whether he cared more about holding the line on racism or taxes, you might not get a real answer. But Trump is forcing those choices to actually be made, and tax cuts are winning.”
Khizr Khan’s plea to Republican leaders is filled with patriotism and optimism. Unfortunately, his question has already been answered multiple times. The priorities of top Republicans have been made clear.
Donald Trump responded to Khizr Khan’s DNC speech by suggesting that Ghazala Khan was unable to speak up because Muslims forbid women to speak. The truth, as stated by Ghazala and Khizr multiple times, is that it was too heartbreaking for her. Instead, she coached her husband and helped him prepare the speech. But of course, all Trump could see was the validation an Islamophobic stereotype.
Yet still, Republican leaders refuse to disavow him.
Watch Khizr and Ghazala Khan’s full MSNBC interview here:
