Senator McCain,
We don’t agree on a lot of things. You’re pro-life, I’m pro-choice. You’re against gun control, I’m for it. We don’t see eye to eye on many political fundamentals, but that should not, and does not, matter to me. You have fought to end the partisanship and gridlock present in our government today. You have treated everyone you have met -- from President Obama to Bernie Sanders -- with respect, regardless of political ideology. But, most importantly, you have valiantly fought for liberty and justice as a captain in the U.S. Navy. Today, I just wanted to thank you for all the sacrifices that you have made for our country.
I view you with the highest regard for your courage, compassion, and respect for others -- these traits are hard to find in any politician these days. Unfortunately, our current Republican presidential nominee possesses none of these values. I don’t think I need to remind you about what he said about you at a conference last year in July -- “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.” While you have nobly forgiven him for his crude statements since then, the wound is still fresh for your family members, your fellow veterans, and the rest of the country.
Then, just a few weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan, joined by his wife Ghazala, described how their son, Captain Humayun Khan, had sacrificed his life for his men in Iraq and defined what a true American looks like. He then questioned the Republican nominee, attacking his xenophobic rhetoric and asking him if he had ever read the Constitution. While you were imprisoned in Vietnam, Donald Trump had dodged the draft five times, despite his unblemished medical record and penchant for athletics -- four times for his education and once for “bone spurs in his heels.” He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, inside this tiny bubble of wealth and abundance. How would he know what you and Captain Khan have been through? How would he know what true pain, loss, or sacrifice looks like?
Now, any respectable candidate for president would have either praised the fallen soldier for his heart-wrenching sacrifice or stayed silent about the incident altogether. Instead, Trump diminishes Captain Khan’s death by not only deprecating the value of the Purple Heart but also belittling the fallen soldier’s parents, intimating that his father gave the entire speech because his mother was not “allowed” to speak due to her religion. Ghazala Khan, however, has spoken about her son on screen countless times. A mother who lost her dear son to war, a mother who can’t even enter a room where his pictures are hung up without bursting into tears -- how can anyone imagine what she felt when she saw her son’s face behind her on the screen in Philadelphia? But, the silence of a Muslim woman screams much louder than the hate and ignorance Trump spews when baited with a tweet.
I just want to reassure you and your fellow veterans that, unlike Donald Trump, the rest of us value your service in the military. The rest of us understand that this is not the way a Gold Star parent is supposed to be treated. You protect us, you fight for us, you preserve our rights to liberty and justice. You have sacrificed so much so that we don’t have to sacrifice at all. You really are the best of America, and when a fellow American is slain, we must all shed a tear.
For five years, you were imprisoned so that we could be free. You were shot, tortured, and gravely wounded. To hear someone belittle the sacrifices that soldiers and prisoners of war make every day should be a slap in the face to every American.
On behalf of our Republican presidential nominee, we apologize to you, Captain Khan, and the entire United States military. And, we thank you for all that you have done for us.
Regards,
Your fellow Americans
