Ghazala Khan, mother of fallen U.S. soldier: Trump 'doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means'
Ghazala Khan, mother of fallen U.S. Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, has something to say about Donald Trump.
"He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means."
Ghazala stood on stage with her husband, Khizr Khan, at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, as he gave an impassioned speech decrying Trump's comments about Muslims and praising the heroism of their son, who was killed in 2004 in Iraq by a suicide bomber.
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Later, the Republican presidential nominee drew criticism after an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. In response to Khizr Khan's accusation that Trump had "sacrificed nothing" for the United States, the billionaire politician claimed that he had made "a lot of sacrifices" by creating "thousands and thousands of jobs" and building "great structures."
He then implied that Ghazala Khan might not have been allowed to speak at the DNC.
"If you look at his wife, she was standing there," Trump said. "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."
Ghazala responded on Sunday in an op-ed for the Washington Post.
"Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention," she 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 went on to tell the story of her son, who signed up for the ROTC before 9/11 and later went to Iraq and died trying to stop a car bomber driving toward his base.
"Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?" she wrote, after explaining the deep pain she felt after losing her son.
"Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything. That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not."
She ended by criticizing Trumps' comments about sacrifice.
"Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices," she wrote. "He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means."
Topics Donald Trump
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
