I think Patricia Smith deserves much more respect than she’s gotten from Hillary Clinton, and I think the parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan deserve much more respect than they’ve gotten from Donald Trump. I’m told this makes me “disingenuous,” but that’s my sincere opinion. The families of Americans who serve their country aren’t infallible or above criticism, but they do deserve our respect.
They deserve better than what you’re about to see.
Chandler Gill, Washington Free Beacon:
A mother of an Air Force serviceman was booed at a rally while asking Donald Trump’s running mate Gov. Mike Pence (Ind.) a question concerning Trump’s recent attacks on Khizr Khan and his family.
“Time and time again, Trump has disrespected our nation’s armed forces and veterans,” the mother said Monday in Reno, Nevada. “The disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that…”
The crowd of Trump supporters then interrupted the audience member with boos, but she continued with her question.
This is America (for now), so this woman has the right to say what she wants. The stupid, angry people booing her have the right to do so. When Mike Pence is asked about this disgraceful moment in an already-disgraceful campaign, he has the right to point out that he had no control over the crowd’s reaction.
And I have the right to shake my damn head at a crowd of ostensible Republicans treating a military mom like I’d expect a crowd of Democrats to treat her. They take it personally when someone stands up to their Dorito-hued godling, and they lash out like babies. They’re desperate to submit themselves to the will of Trump. That’s what being a Republican means in 2016, and I want no part of it. I rejected the cult of personality that gave us Obama, and I’m not about to join this new one just because “Hillary’s worse.”
Pence handles it about as well as can be expected, after a sympathetic figure tells him the truth and gets booed for it. Sure, he tells a big fat lie — Trump is devoted to no one but Trump, and Pence knows it — but at least he sounds calm and sane. At least he pays lip service to free speech, which Trump wants to “open up the libel laws” to abolish.
It’s too bad Pence has destroyed his political career, because he might’ve made an okay president.
Now, as for you: If you don’t like what you just read and you want to yell at me, go ahead. I thrive on the opprobrium of morons. Fortunately for me, it’s an inexhaustible resource.