Today in Campaign 2016
As we predicted this morning, today’s campaign news cycle was largely dominated by the lingering fallout - oh, who’re we kidding, the lingering Level 7 nuclear meltdown - from Donald Trump’s sustained attacks on the family of Army captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq.
While Trump himself remained mum after tweeting about the conflict, which was sparked after he implied that Khan’s mother was silent during her husband’s address to the Democratic National Convention last week because of her Muslim faith, his critics grew louder throughout the day. From former political opponents to putative allies to the president of the United States, seemingly every politician and military figure in the country issued rebukes - veiled or explicit - of Trump’s assertions.
Trump, meanwhile, was focusing on serious policy initiatives, like the construction of a $100m ballroom in the White House:
Donald Trump mocks Hillary Clinton for wanting to build schools, declares he wants to build a $100 million ballroom for the White House.
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) August 1, 2016
Here are the major headlines from the campaign trail today:
- Arizona senator John McCain issued a lengthy rebuke of his own party’s presidential nominee. McCain, a former Republican presidential nominee who spent five years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, did not, however, revoke his endorsement of Trump’s candidacy.
- “In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents,” McCain said in a statement. “He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States - to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement.”
- US warplanes have attacked the Islamic State militant group in Libya, the Pentagon has confirmed, in the opening of what US officials indicated will be a sustained offensive against Isis outside Iraq and Syria.
- Two of Donald Trump’s top advisers - including the co-chair of the campaign’s national veterans’ coalition - have accused the father of an army captain who was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq of being a “Muslim Brotherhood agent”. The advisers, longtime ally Roger Stone and veterans adviser Al Baldasaro, both tweeted an article published on Shoebat.com, a far-right conspiracy site maintained by a man who has called for American LGBT people to be executed and for Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted for witchcraft.
- A pocket version of the US constitution has become a bestseller on Amazon after Khizr Khan flashed a pocket constitution and offered to lend it to the Republican presidential candidate. The 52-page booklet printed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies sells for $1 and was in the Top 10 bestselling books.
- Speaking at a town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, Donald Trump announced that his campaign had raised $35.8 million last month. “We have raised, with the small donors, $35.8 million,” Trump said. “I believe it’s 517,000 donors - think of that; it’s in a month. The average price of a donation was $69. How incredible is that?”
- America’s first family has finally weighed in on the upcoming presidential election. No, not the Obamas, who made their feelings plain at the Democratic convention last week – the Simpsons. The longrunning Fox comedy show released a short clip on YouTube late on Sunday night, showing Homer and Marge Simpson watching a political advertisement on late-night television in order to settle who they plan to vote for.
Donald Trump announced $35.8 million haul
Speaking at a town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, Donald Trump announced that his campaign had raised $35.8 million last month.
“We have raised, with the small donors, $35.8 million,” Trump said. “I believe it’s 517,000 donors - think of that; it’s in a month. The average price of a donation was $69. How incredible is that?”
“And to me, it’s not the money - it’s the concept - and Bernie Sanders did that,” Trump continued. “He knew that the trade deals were ruining our country.”
“And in addition we’ve raised money that hasn’t been tabulated yet.”
Donald Trump’s first remarks in Columbus, Ohio, are complaining about the fire marshal.
“They turned away thousands of people - look at the size of this place - they turned away thousands,” Trump said. “Is the mayor a Democrat? Is he a Democrat? That’s what I heard. You oughta be ashamed of him.”
“It’s very sad. You know, it shouldn’t be so much about politics.”
Donald Trump holds rally in Columbus, Ohio
Before you tune in, check out what Donald Trump shouted at the press down a hallway at the Greater Columbus Convention Center:
Just want to tell you: We’ve had thousands of people outside, thousands. They were turned away by - for political reasons, purely for political reasons. They said in this massive building you’re not allowed to have any more than a thousand people. And that’s nonsense. We could’ve had four, five, six thousand people. They’ve all been turned away. It’s a disgrace.
So that’s for political reasons, they were turned away. And that’s too bad. So we have a thousand people in there, they won’t allow any more. The fire marshal said he’s not allowed to allow any more even though the building holds many thousands of people, so I just want to tell you that. That’s politics at its lowest - you oughta check it out. But it’s really politics at its lowest.
*Except Corey Lewandowski.
CNN will soon be the least trusted name in news if they continue to be the press shop for Hillary Clinton.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016
One of Donald Trump’s key supporters on the campaign trail has dismissed Arizona senator John McCain’s rebuke of the candidate’s remarks insulting the mother of an Army captain killed in the line of duty, saying that the former prisoner of war is only upset because he is worried about reelection to his senate seat.
“There is nobody who admires John McCain more, and wants him to be reelected more, than me,” Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and onetime presidential candidate, told the Washington Post. “But I think you’re hearing a guy who’s worried about whether he can be reelected in Arizona. John wouldn’t be saying this if he were running two years from now. He’d just keep his mouth shut.”
McCain challenged Trump this morning “to set an example” and said: “I cannot emphasize 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.”
The senator was referring to an interview on ABC’s This Week that aired on Sunday, in which Trump implied that Ghazala Khan, the mother of Army captain Humayun Khan, was silent during her husband’s address at last week’s Democratic National Convention because of her Muslim faith. Ghazala Khan has said repeatedly that she finds seeing images of her dead son too upsetting to speak publicly about him.
Giuliani defended Trump’s comments, calling Khizr Khan’s “highly politicized and personal attack” a legitimate reason for the would-be commander-in-chief to get “upset.”
“My advice is he should be battling with Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said. “There is no question they were being politically exploited by the Democrats but if you leave them unanswered and get off the subject, I don’t think there will be much political impact. Ignore it and let it go off into that part of politics that is forgotten.”
Fareed Zakaria has dropped the BS-bomb on CNN, calling Donald Trump’s tactics of lying about obvious and well-known matters of record “the mode of a bullshit artist.”
Fareed Zakaria, discussing Trump on CNN: "This is the mode of a bullshit artist." pic.twitter.com/WXsgeegGFS
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 1, 2016
Addressing the 95th National Convention of Disabled American Veterans during a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, President Barack Obama implicitly lambasted Donald Trump’s attacks on the family of an Army captain who was killed in action in Iraq.
“As commander-in-chief, I’m pretty tired of some folks trash-talking America’s military and troops,” Obama said, to cheers.
“Our commitment to our veterans is a sacred covenant - and I don’t use those words lightly,” he continued. “It is sacred because there is no more solemn request than to as someone to risk their life, to be ready to give their life, on our behalf.”
“If there is ever a breach in this covenant, then leaders in this country have to work hard to regain our trust,” Obama said. “But upholding our covenant has to be the work of all of us.”
Obama, in mentioning “trash-talking,” was likely referring to Trump’s repeated comments attacking Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, whose son, Army captain Humayun Khan, was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq in 2004. In an interview with NBC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired on Sunday, Trump mocked Khan’s wife and suggested she was blocked from paying tribute to her dead son at last week’s Democratic national convention because of her religion.
“Don’t just talk about standing with veterans - don’t just talk about me,” Obama said, addressing his critics. “Do something to support our veterans. That’s what you need to do.”
Donald Trump’s defenders, few and far between as they seem today, are still trying:
Hate to spit in the politically correct punchbowl but getting shot or blown up in the line of duty makes you a soldier, not a hero.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) August 1, 2016
Trump campaign advisers: Khizr Khan is a 'Muslim Brotherhood agent'
Two of Donald Trump’s top advisers - including the co-chair of the campaign’s national veterans’ coalition - have accused the father of an army captain who was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq of being a “Muslim Brotherhood agent”.
The advisers, longtime ally Roger Stone and veterans adviser Al Baldasaro, both tweeted an article published on Shoebat.com, a far-right conspiracy site maintained by a man who has called for American LGBT people to be executed and for Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted for witchcraft.
Mr. Khan more than an aggrieved father of a Muslim son- he's Muslim Brotherhood agent helping Hillary https://t.co/mJuUYw60nK
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) August 1, 2016
Read the truth about your hero, Mr Khan who used his son as Political Pawn @CNN @FoxNews @hooger123 @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Nrt7CEU3ua
— Rep Al Baldasaro (@Al_Baldasaro) August 1, 2016
The article, titled What The Media Is Not Telling You About The Muslim Who Attacked Donald Trump: He Is A Muslim Brotherhood Agent Who Wants To Advance Sharia Law And Bring Muslims Into The United States, cites a book at the article’s authors confess to not having read (“they charge and we do not want to support this evil agenda”) to “prove” that Khizr Khan, Humayun’s father, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The article also speculates that Humayun Khan, who emigrated to the United States at the age of two and was awarded the Bronze Star after his death, was a “Muslim martyr” who was only killed “before his Islamist mission was accomplished.”
The migration of the attack from the darkest fringes of the Islamophobic corner of the internet into – in Baldasaro’s case – one of Trump’s official campaign mouthpieces comes as the candidate is besieged by criticism following his own attacks on the family of Humayun Khan.
Updated
Submitted without comment: Physically aggressive former Donald Trump campaign manager and current well-compensated cable news talking head Corey Lewandowski telling a female co-panelist “don’t touch me.”
In a story that quite neatly encapsulates the 2016 presidential campaign, the co-author of the Republican party’s post-2012 “autopsy” has officially left the party, saying that the party is “at a crossroads and have nominated a total narcissist - a misogynist - a bigot.”
In an email interview with CNN, Sally Bradshaw, a top adviser to fallen presidential candidate Jeb Bush and a longtime Republican, vowed to vote for Hillary Clinton if Florida appears close to swinging for Donald Trump. “This is a time when country has to take priority over political parties,” Bradshaw said. “Donald Trump cannot be elected president.”
Citing Trump’s attacks against the mother of an Army captain who was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq, which Bradshaw called “despicable,” the former Bush operative said that the current direction of the Republican party and its leadership is putting the GOP on the road to perdition.
“Donald Trump belittled a woman who gave birth to a son who died fighting for the United States,” Bradshaw said. “If anything, that reinforced my decision to become an independent voter.”
“I’ve been considering the switch for months. Ultimately, I could not abide the hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump and his complete lack of principles and conservative philosophy,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t make this decision lightly - I have worked hard to make our party a place where all would feel welcome. But Trump has taken the GOP in another direction, and too many Republicans are standing by and looking the other way.”
Updated
Campaign co-chair: Trump was 'thinking about something else' during answer on Crimea
Donald Trump’s campaign co-chair has offered up a novel excuse for the candidate’s comments during an interview that Vladimir Putin’s Russia would not invade Ukraine: He was thinking about something else at the time.
“I think, you know, I’ve run for office and I would - the phenomena I thought of when I was listening to the interview, Mr. Trump was thinking about something else and he answered the question when he was thinking about something else,” Sam Clovis told MSNBC.
“I’m not trying to offer an excuse,” Clovis continued. “But I will say, this is the, this is - the circumstance sometimes that, that, that happens. I think what was really at the heart of this.”
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week, Trump said that Putin wouldn’t venture into neighboring Ukraine in the hopes of claiming territory, apparently forgetting the 2014 invasion of Crimea by Russian forces and subsequent annexation, which has been rejected by both Ukraine and the majority of the international community.
“He’s not going into Ukraine, okay? Just so you understand,” Trump said. “He’s not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want.”
“Well, he’s already there, isn’t he?” Stephanopoulos responded.
“Okay, well, he’s there in a certain way,” Trump continued. “But I’m not there. You have Obama there. And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama with all the strength that you’re talking about and all of the power of Nato and all of this. In the meantime, he’s going away. He takes Crimea.”
US launches airstrikes against Isis in Libya
US warplanes have attacked the Islamic State militant group in Libya, the Pentagon has confirmed, in the opening of what US officials indicated will be a sustained offensive against Isis outside Iraq and Syria.
Isis positions in the strategic port city of Sirte were hit by manned aircraft and drones on Monday, after a request from the UN-backed unity government, the Pentagon said.
Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary, said “additional US strikes” against the group in Sirte were to come, in support of Libyan ground forces backed by the Government of National Accord.
Their goal, Cook said, will be to enable local US allies make a “decisive, strategic advance” on Sirte, which has been the site of fierce fighting between Libyan government forces and Isis fighters.
Mac Thornberry, House Armed Services Committee chair:
I am dismayed at the attacks Khizr and Ghazala Khan have endured after they spoke about their son’s service and sacrifice... I believe that each of us are called every day to show our deepest respect and gratitude to all of those who protect our freedom and their families.
The commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, America’s oldest and largest organization for war veterans, has issues a strong condemnation of Donald Trump’s sustained attacks on the parents of slain Army captain Humayun Khan, declaring that the VFW “will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member.”
“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,” said Brian Duffy, the newly elected commander of the 1.7 million-strong organization. “There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. 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.”
Earlier today, Arizona senator John McCain, a longstanding member of the VFW, issued a lengthy rebuke of his own party’s presidential nominee, condemning comments made by Trump this weekend implying that the mother of a slain war hero was “not allowed” to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday because of her Muslim faith.
America’s first family has finally weighed in on the upcoming presidential election.
No, not the Obamas, who made their feelings plain at the Democratic convention last week – the Simpsons.
The longrunning Fox comedy show released a short clip on YouTube late on Sunday night, showing Homer and Marge Simpson watching a political advertisement on late-night television in order to settle who they plan to vote for.
The ad in question follows the format of Hillary Clinton’s famous “3am” spot from the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, with a severe voiceover asking the animated couple “who [they] want answering the call”.
In one version, the proverbial 3am call is answered by former president Bill Clinton, who is ruefully forced to admit that the call is for his wife.
“From now on, it’s always for me,” the former secretary of state snaps at her husband.
But the most scathing humor of the spot is saved for Donald Trump, portrayed as a pasty, bald autocrat reading a book of Adolf Hitler’s speeches when the call comes in.
“Not now – I’m on Twitter!” Trump says, before mocking Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he apparently has exiled from the United States. After instructing his lackeys to put his name on the Lincoln Memorial, disband Nato and “make Chris Christie eat a worm just for laughs”, Trump finally answers the phone call requesting his immediate presence in the situation room, but requires a pit crew of beauticians to attend to his appearance before he leaves.
Eight-and-a-half hours later, after a spray tan, collagen injections, the application of large prosthetic hands and the placement of a small dog on his head, Trump is finally ready – but too late to stop the advancement of Chinese military vessels.
“Just build another wall!” Trump commands. “Yes, in the ocean – loser.”
Following the ad, paid for by “Americans Who Are Really Starting to Miss Obama,” Homer and Marge both decide to vote for Clinton – although oafish Homer still has his doubts.
Updated
A pocket version of the US constitution has become a bestseller on Amazon after Khizr Khan, whose son was killed while serving in Iraq, flashed a pocket constitution and offered to lend it to the Republican presidential candidate,Donald Trump, during a speech at the Democratic national convention.
The 52-page booklet printed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies sells for $1 (75p) and was in the Top 10 bestselling books on Amazon.com on Saturday afternoon. The site produces an hourly list of its bestsellers.
The version Khan used at the convention did not appear to be the same as the one that became popular on Amazon.
John Oliver customarily keeps his cool when drolly eviscerating targets on Last Week Tonight, his Emmy-winning HBO late-night program. But on Sunday’s episode, dedicated to recapping the Democratic national convention, the British satirist’s temper notably flared when addressing Donald Trump’s recent controversial remarks concerning the emotional DNC speech made by Khizr Khan, the Muslim father of a US army captain, killed in the Iraq war.
Updated
Reminder: Donald Trump called for 'total and complete shutdown' of Muslim immigration
As Donald Trump’s five-day feud with the Muslim parents of a 27-year-old Army captain who was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq continues - complete with a sarcastic “Nice!” directed at the war hero’s father - many of his surrogates have taken to the airwaves to deny that Trump’s immigration plan would ban Muslims like Humayun Khan from entering the United States.
Republican congresswoman Marcia Blackburn called accusations of a blanket ban on Muslims “incorrect” on CNN. Former governor Mike Huckabee told Fox News that Trump’s “it’s not just an outright or a permanent ban.” In an op-ed for The Hill, conservative commentator Charles Hurt wrote that “has made perfectly clear time and again that he does not want to ban all Muslims. He wants to simply perform thorough and complete background checks on all immigrants coming from countries presently in the grips of violent Islamic terrorism.”
This is incorrect.
We direct you to the concisely titled “Donald J. Trump Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration”:
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.
If the phrase “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” is too ambiguous, Trump added a personal comment to the release:
“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension,” Trump wrote. “Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.”
John McCain issues blistering statement on Donald Trump
Arizona senator John McCain issued a lengthy rebuke of his own party’s presidential nominee, condemning comments made by Donald Trump this weekend implying that the mother of a slain war hero was “not allowed” to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday because of her Muslim faith.
McCain, a former Republican presidential nominee who spent five years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, did not revoke his endorsement of Trump’s candidacy.
“In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents,” McCain wrote in the statement, referring to Trump’s repeated comments attacking Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, whose son, Army captain Humayun Khan, was killed in a truck bombing in Iraq in 2004. “He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States - to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement.”
In an interview with NBC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump mocked Khan’s wife and suggested she was blocked from paying tribute to her dead son at last week’s Democratic national convention because of her religion.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ghazala Khan repeated what she had said numerous times regarding her silence at the DNC: that she finds it too upsetting to see photographs of her dead child to speak publicly about him. “What mother could?” she asked. “Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?”
In the statement, McCain implored Trump to rise to the level of discourse expected of a presidential nominee, and implied that patience is running thin.
“It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party,” McCain concluded. “While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.”
Read John McCain’s full statement:
The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan.
I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me.
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. 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.
Make no mistake: I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family, and have my own record of service, and have stayed closely engaged with our armed forces throughout my public career. In the American system, the military has value only inasmuch as it protects and defends the liberties of the people.
My father was a career naval officer, as was his father. For hundreds of years, every generation of McCains has served the United States in uniform.
My sons serve today, and I’m proud of them. My youngest served in the war that claimed Captain Khan’s life as well as in Afghanistan. I want them to be proud of me. I want to do the right thing by them and their comrades.
Humayun Khan did exactly that - and he did it for all the right reasons. This accomplished young man was not driven to service as a United States Army officer because he was compelled to by any material need. He was inspired as a young man by his reading of Thomas Jefferson — and he wanted to give back to the country that had taken him and his parents in as immigrants when he was only two years old.
Captain Khan’s death in Iraq, on June 8th, 2004, was a shining example of the valor and bravery inculcated into our military. When a suicide bomber accelerated his vehicle toward a facility with hundreds of American soldiers, Captain Khan ordered his subordinates away from the danger.
Then he ran toward it.
The suicide bomber, striking prematurely, claimed the life of Captain Khan - and Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice, saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters.
Scripture tells us that ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’
Captain Humayun Khan of the United States Army showed in his final moments that he was filled and motivated by this love. His name will live forever in American memory, as an example of true American greatness.
In the end, I am morally bound to speak only to the things that command my allegiance, and to which I have dedicated my life’s work: the Republican Party, and more importantly, the United States of America. I will not refrain from doing my utmost by those lights simply because it may benefit others with whom I disagree.
I claim no moral superiority over Donald Trump. I have a long and well-known public and private record for which I will have to answer at the Final Judgment, and I repose my hope in the promise of mercy and the moderation of age. I challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent.
Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.
Lastly, I’d like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. We’re a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation – and he will never be forgotten.
Video: Highlights from Khizr Khan’s address in front of the Democratic National Convention last week, in which he condemned Donald Trump’s moves to ban Muslim immigration into the United States, telling Trump that “you have sacrificed nothing, and no one.”
Campaign blog: 99 days to go ...
Good morning, and welcome to the Guardian’s campaign liveblog. It’s 1 August 2016, and there are 99 days to go until election day – the same number of cents it costs to buy one of Green party nominee Jill Stein’s songs by her folk-pop band, Somebody’s Sister.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s feud with the family of a fallen war hero has entered its fifth day. The candidate’s typical playbook in responding to self-inflicted controversies – blaming members of the press, ridiculing his opponents, implicitly tying those criticizing him to fundamentalist terror – have only resulted in more damage, with members of his own party coming out in droves to deliver some of the strongest condemnatory statements of a historically divisive campaign.
The strongest remarks yet come from Arizona senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war and previous target of Trump’s ire.
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. 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.
Citing his own family’s long and storied military history, as well as his decades of advocacy for veterans and their families in Congress, McCain challenged Trump “to set the example for what our country can and should represent”. His tepid endorsement of Trump, however, apparently still stands.
Trump’s surrogates are grasping at floating debris: unofficial surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes told CNN that Trump had sacrificed “two marriages” for his country; campaign co-chair Sam Clovis declared that “Trump wouldn’t abandon you on a battlefield” and declared that “not once, not ever” did Trump call for a ban on Muslims entering the US. (We refer you to this position page on Trump’s campaign website in which he calls for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.)
We’ll likely be covering Trump’s fight with the parents of 27-year-old army captain Humayun Khan for the duration, but here’s what’s on the docket for the rest of the day:
- Hillary Clinton will hold an organizing event in Omaha, Nebraska, at Omaha North High magnet school. The event will start at 5.30pm ET (4.30 local), with doors open at 3.30pm ET.
- Tim Kaine will hold his own organizing event at a high school in Richmond, Virginia, starting at 5pm ET.
- Trump and Mike Pence will hold two campaign events apiece. Trump will be holding a town hall at the Greater Columbus convention center in Columbus, Ohio, at 3pm ET, and a 7pm ET rally in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Pence will be holding a town hall at the Carson Nugget in Carson City, Nevada, at 6pm ET (3pm local) and a rally in Reno at 10pm ET (7pm local).
Updated
