When Mr. Trump renewed his call for NFL players to “stand during the national anthem to show respect for Our Flag and Our Country”, I can’t help but recall Mr. Trump’s disrespect when he belittled Khizr Khan and his wife, the Gold Star parents of a slain Muslim soldier killed in a car bombing in 2004 in Iraq while serving in the U.S. military.
Trump implied that “the soldier’s mother had not spoken because of female subservience expected in some traditional strains of Islam,” that “many American Muslims have terrorist sympathies“, and “that he (Trump) thinks that he made sacrifices equivalent to the Khan Gold Star family because he has worked very, very hard and created thousands of jobs.“
Or have we also forgotten Trump’s disparaging criticism of Sen. John McCain, a decorated war hero imprisoned during the Vietnam war who has a distinguished career as senator from Arizona, by stating he (McCain) does not deserve respect “because I only like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump’s a hypocrite and is using NFL players as pawns in a wedge issue to divert attention from real issues that need attention. Trump should be held accountable for his comments and twitter bluster regarding the Khan family and McCain.
In my opinion, Trump has shown disrespect for our flag and our country, he is a chicken-hawk patriot and is guilty of making slanderous comments about the Khan family and McCain. Trump has no credibility when he criticizes NFL players and athletes that peacefully protest to draw attention to police killings of unarmed black people during the national anthem.
Frank Mandigo, Millcreek