| | | | Trump's attack on soldier's parents draws GOP blowback | | Now 100 days from the election, Donald Trump is in what might be his riskiest public battle yet -- this time fighting with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an American soldier killed in action. Trump is responding in his standard fashion -- digging in, claiming he's being treated unfairly and counterattacking. This time, it doesn't appear to be working -- and GOP leaders are under immense pressure to condemn his response.
Trump is angrily responding to Khizr Khan's speech at the Democratic National Convention in which he lambasted Trump's proposed ban on Muslims (like his family) entering the United States, pulled a U.S. Constitution from his breast pocket and said Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one."
Trump tweeted this morning: | | Trump's response: Target a war hero's mother. In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos aired Sunday on "This Week," he said: "If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably -- maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."
That led to a stern rebuttal from Ghazala Khan, who wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that she was too emotional to speak. "Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?" Khizr Khan, meanwhile, said on CNN this morning that Trump has a "black soul."
The Republican pushback: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Trump "is going to a place where we've never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen. There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics -- that you don't do -- like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier even if they criticize you. If you're going to be leader of the free world, you have to be able to accept criticism. Mr. Trump can't. The problem is, 'unacceptable' doesn't even begin to describe it."
GOP congressional leadership weighed in this afternoon. House Speaker Paul Ryan said that "many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Capt. Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice -- and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan -- should always be honored. Period." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I agree with the (Khans) and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values."
Here's George W. Bush, via spokesman Freddy Ford: "President Bush isn't commenting on this presidential election. President Bush remains deeply grateful for the sacrifice of all Gold Star families, as we all should be. He thinks about them and prays for them each and every day."
Will all this matter? Trump has survived controversies that would sink any other politician -- but usually, his targets are either already well-known public figures or broad groups of people. This time, the move that would help most -- apologizing, letting the Khans have the final word and moving on -- just isn't in the skill set he's shown. It'll only deepen concerns about his temperament, particularly when compared to graceful responses from figures like Bush, faced with similar criticism. | | | Donald Trump's criticism of the Khan family drew rebukes from many Republicans on Twitter. Among them: | | Trump wants to move the debate dates | | In most campaigns since the Commission on Presidential Debates was established in 1987, it's been as simple as this: The nonpartisan commission sets the dates and locations, and the candidates show up and square off.
This year, not so fast. Donald Trump is objecting to the dates and times the commission selected. "I'll tell you what I don't like. It's against two NFL games," Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." "I got a letter from the NFL saying, 'This is ridiculous.'"
What does the Trump campaign want? Aide Jason Miller told CNN's Brian Stelter on "Reliable Sources" today that they'd like to see those two debates rescheduled.
Will the commission budge? In a statement this afternoon, it indicated no. "CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well," it said.
How's Hillary Clinton's campaign responding? Here's a tweet from campaign chairman John Podesta: | | About Trump's claim the NFL sent him a letter...
It doesn't appear to be true. An NFL spokesman said Saturday: "While we'd obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump." When Miller was pressed by Stelter on whether Trump lied about getting a letter, he said it's "semantics a little bit," and that Trump was "notified by a source close to the NFL." | | "I always have that look on my face. That's nothing new. I am not always the smiling kind of guy." -- Bernie Sanders, on CBS' "Face the Nation," on why he looked dour during Hillary Clinton's Democratic National Convention speech. | | | Another problem for Trump: Russia | | | In the ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos, Trump indicated at first he wasn't aware that Russia had already entered Ukraine. "He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want," he said, before Stephanopoulos reminded him about Vladimir Putin's 2014 incursion into Crimea. More on the interview. | | Koch on idea he'd vote Clinton: That's 'blood libel' | | | Billionaire conservative mega-donor Charles Koch moved to shut down speculation he could support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump today during his biannual donor summit at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs. "The first thing I want to do is correct the rumor that the media keeps stipulating -- and that is that I'm going to probably support Hillary," Koch said to laughs. "That is a blood libel." He added: "At this point, I can't support either candidate, but I'm certainly not going to support Hillary." From CNN's Theodore Schleifer. | | Why is Trump campaigning in blue states? | | From John King's "Inside Politics" forecast: Election Day is 100 days away, and so the candidates are getting more serious about where they spend their time and money. But there is still a bit of experimenting going on -- or in Trump's case, maybe a little bit of pride and stubbornness. CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson noted that Trump is campaigning this week in Maine and New York, two states that traditionally go blue in presidential politics. He'll also be in Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. But it's the two states he'll be in Thursday that are raising eyebrows among Republicans.
Maine makes sense because it's one of two states that can split its electoral votes, though that's never happened. Trump has also said he wants to play aggressively in his native New York, where some Republicans on the ground think he may do well in rural areas upstate. But other Republicans say it's not a good idea for him to spend any time at all in New York, which Hillary Clinton represented in the Senate for eight years.
Trump's path to 270 electoral votes: It's all about winning all three of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, write The New York Times' Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman. | | A Donald Trump adviser tells CNN's "Reliable Sources" Melania Trump nude photos are "a celebration of the human body." ... "The Simpsons" is mocking Trump with a video spoof called "3 a.m." ... North Carolina's voter ID law was struck down -- potentially a big boost to Hillary Clinton.
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