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This entire presidential campaign has been the most astonishing display ever of a Teflon Candidate, one who puts Slick Willie to shame. No matter what was said, no matter how outrageously the media portrayed it, or how far outside the Overton Window it might be, Donald Trump's poll numbers simply rose, against all predictions, for a year straight.
And what a change he has wrought! It seems strange, but merely a year ago, nobody in public life would ever, ever suggest that Muslim immigration simply be banned! Now it's talked about everywhere and polls show a majority of American voters approve.
Similarly, only the most far-right extremists talked about seriously building a real wall and attempting to deport all illegals, and nobody even suggested that Mexico might pay for it. Now the idea is everywhere and, again, to wide public support.
For all that time, the mainstream media and conventional politicians scratched their heads, trying to figure out Mr. Trump's secret. On the other side, Trump supporters reveled in the "home truths" being publicly spoken for the first time in many, many years.
This week has marked a change. For the very first time, Donald Trump seems to have smashed into an iceberg that did him more damage than he it, in the form of the Khan family.
At the Democratic National Conventions, amongst the speakers was one Khizr Khan. Mr. and Mrs. Khan hail from Pakistan, but their son Humayun Khan died a hero's death in American uniform. As such, that makes the Khans a Gold Star family - one which has sacrificed a child to American military service. The Khans are all naturalized American citizens, as well as devout Muslims.
Mr. Khan could well have said many worthy, patriotic things - his gratitude for the opportunity granted him by America, say, or his son's love of country that led him to his sacrifice, beyond the brief nod to these truths in his opening paragraph. His life presents an obvious "Only in America" story which would have been well-received by all Americans.
Instead, alas, he spoke before a convention that only moments before had booed a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient - even more a hero than the late Captain Khan - with nary a rebuke. And the substance of his words was even worse, and better dramatized:
Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities -- women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.
Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words "liberty" and "equal protection of law."
As a graduate of Harvard Law school, even without a Constitution in his pocket, Mr. Khan knows this is a bald-faced lie: the Constitution simply does not apply to foreigners, and only applies to resident aliens on our sufferance. Even less does it apply to illegal aliens who have no civil rights whatsoever and only posses the bare minimum of human rights granted them by their Creator.
But, in keeping with decades of Democrat practice, Mr. Khan intentionally concealed the truth with a brazen falsehood, to thunderous applause, riding on the back of the heroic death of his son.
Lest you think this was an aberration, the intervening weeks have revealed that Mr. Khan's career has been dedicated, not merely to importing as many Muslims into our country as possible, but arguing for the imposition of barbaric and un-American Sharia law! He wrote in an academic paper:
The invariable and basic rules of Islamic law are only those prescribed in the Shari’ah. All other juridical works… must always be subordinated to the Shari’ah.
At the very least, this disqualifies Mr. Khan from any public office. How can you swear to defend the Constitution when you plainly believe that a completely opposing work outranks it? We would argue that this is, by definition, unAmerican as well, and is strong proof that the oath they swore at their naturalization was a fraud. Obviously their son's was genuine, and he proved it in the most serious way possible, but a foundational American principle is that every man stands on his own actions and beliefs independently.
These facts deserve to be made known to the American people. True, the Khans have sacrificed a son who died nobly in American service. Does that forever protect them from criticism of their un-American views?
Let's consider an analogy - what would the media say if the Republican Convention had featured a neo-Nazi couple whose son had died honorably in American uniform? The question answers itself. Yet, as we've long argued, Islam and Nazism are functionally equivalent.
Donald Trump, let it be clearly stated here because it won't be elsewhere, had nothing but good to say about the late Captain Khan:
Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero.
This is exactly what he should have said. What else is there to say?
Then Trump continued,
But this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it!
Even this wouldn't have been a big deal if he'd left it at that. Unfortunately, he then attacked the living Khans - not on the grounds of their anti-American religious practices and actions, but on vague stereotypes.
His wife, if you look at his wife she was standing there, she had nothing to say. Probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say, you tell me, but plenty of people have written that.
This wasn't an unreasonable guess - Mrs. Khan was indeed fully dressed in the Islamic garb of our sworn enemies who prefer women to be neither seen nor heard - but it was clumsy, unPresidential, and in the event, turned out to be wrong. Mrs. Khan, despite appearances, is perfectly capable of talking and does not shy from doing so.
Since then, as is his wont, Mr. Trump has refused to back down despite the growing firestorm of criticism. Attacking a mother! Of a hero soldier! Who died in our nation's service! As if Democrats haven't run entire movements on similar perfidy in living memory.
Trump's steadfastness in his incendiary beliefs is a major reason why downtrodden working-class Americans admire him. The problem here isn't that Trump won't back down when he should.
The problem is, for reasons unknown, he is failing to attack hard enough! If all you hear is what the media tells you, you'll naturally think Trump is a cad and an oaf. You certainly won't hear one word about the absolutely legitimate grounds for severe criticism of the anti-American Khans - the parents, that is, not the hero son.
So why won't Trump use his megaphone to tell the truth? If he won't go backwards - and he shouldn't - then he needs to go forward with all speed!
Meanwhile, the wound festers and the media's false narrative becomes more firmly entrenched. Donald Trump became the Republican nominee because he was best able to wrongfoot the biased media and punch his message through their smokescreen, but his abilities seem to have mysteriously abandoned him. He needs to find them again, and fast.