The father of a Muslim US Army soldier killed in Iraq rebuked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as an “embarrassment to the US” barely two days ahead of the November 8 election.
Khizr Khan, who came into prominence at the Democratic National Convention earlier, on Sunday campaigning for Clinton in Manchester of New Hampshire retold the story of his son Humayun Khan, the Washington Post reported.
The younger Khan was killed in a 2004 explosion while trying to save his company and inspecting a suspicious car Baqubah in Iraq.
Waving and raising a fist in the air before introducing Clinton, Khan praised her experience and temperament.
He told the supportive crowd at the rally that following his debut convention speech and Trump’s attack on him as a Democratic shill, he and his family had received thousands of letters and messages of support.
“This election will decide the future of America and the future of the world,” Khan said reported the Washington Post.
“On one hand, we have Donald Trump and his policies of hate, exclusion, intimidation and division,” he said. “On the other hand, we have Hillary Rodham Clinton and her lifelong public service to the country.”
{{/usCountry}}“On one hand, we have Donald Trump and his policies of hate, exclusion, intimidation and division,” he said. “On the other hand, we have Hillary Rodham Clinton and her lifelong public service to the country.”
{{/usCountry}}Khan is an unlikely political star, a middle-aged Pakistani-born lawyer, but his convention speech is one of the most memorable moments of the 2016 campaign. It is seen as turning point, with Trump’s angry reaction setting off weeks of disarray.
Trump recovered politically since, but Clinton’s campaign sought to keep the powerful story of Khan and Trump’s willingness to attack the dead soldier’s parents at the centre of the political contest.
Clinton on Sunday gave a subdued version of her stump speech focussing largely on the threat she said Trump poses to American values and national security. She pledged to work for “healing and reconciliation” after the election.