Trump Campaign Renews Horrific Attacks on Fallen Soldier’s Family

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to Gold Star Father Khizr Khan: ‘Shame on You’

Donald Trump’s campaign has apparently decided to renew its horrific attacks on the Muslim family of a fallen U.S. soldier — which were widely seen as the beginning of the GOP nominee’s disastrous post-convention slide. 

Former Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry, a two-time failed presidential candidate who now serves as an adviser to Trump, slammed Gold Star father Khizr Khan on Tuesday for criticizing Trump’s anti-Muslim views during his remarks at the Democratic National Convention. 

In a move that drew widespread bipartisan condemnation, Trump responded by questioning why Khan’s wife didn’t speak at the convention and suggesting the family had no right to criticize him. But Perry, who serves on Trump’s agriculture advisory team, told CNN that Trump’s attacks were justified because Khan “is the one who went out and struck the first blow.”

“In a campaign, if you’re going to go out and think that you can take a shot at somebody and not have incoming coming back at you, shame on you,” Perry said. “We love our veterans. We love our Gold Star families. But the fact of the matter is, Mr. Khan politically used his time on that stage to go after Donald Trump.

“Why in the world that he thought he was going to get a free ride with that is beyond me. He shouldn’t get a free ride when he’s going to inject himself into the political arena,” Perry added. “Because he had a son that was lost in this war against terror, I mean that gives him a free ride to say whatever he would like against a candidate that he’s not for? That’s not proper, that’s not correct.”

During the GOP primary, then-candidate Perry called Trump “a cancer on conservatism.” But since then Perry has said he’d be interested in serving in Trump’s administration.

Politico notes that Perry isn’t the only Trump surrogate who’s renewed the campaign’s attacks on Khan. Last week, Trump’s New York co-chair Carl Paladino wrote in an email to BuzzFeed that Khan had dishonored his son and accused him without evidence of harboring terrorist sympathies.

“Allowing himself to be so controlled by Hillary that he would dishonor the memory of his heroic son shows the man’s lack of character and backbone,” Paladino said. “I am certain that most Gold Star parents would despise Mr Kahn’s [sic] attempt to politicize his son’s loss. Hillary should be ashamed and pillaged for encouraging the Kahn’s [sic] to so tragically make fools of themselves.”