Trump, Khan(s) and the Democratic National Convention

S P SETH

The recent Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was electrified when the visibly aggrieved father of a son, who was killed on line of duty in 2004 during Iraq operations from a suicide bomb, berated Donald Trump for his ignorance and churlishness in smearing and attacking minorities and their sacrifices. Khizr Khan, with his wife standing by his side, talked about his son’s sacrifice as “a patriotic American Muslim with undivided loyalty to our country”--- for which he was posthumously awarded the the Purple Heart—and questioned if Trump knew what it meant to be an American hero. Khan said, “Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, and even his own [party] leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.” Indeed, under Trump’s plan to ban Muslims from the US, Khan’s son, Captain Humayun Khan, who arrived in America from Pakistan with his parents as a two-year old, would have been barred from entering the country. At one point on the convention stage, Khizr Khan seemed to be addressing Donald Trump directly to ask: “Donald Trump you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: have you read the US constitution—I’ll gladly lend you my copy.”

Trump just didn’t know how to respond, confronted with someone with such unexceptionable credentials and great emotional appeal for many Americans, notwithstanding their religion. Trump’s churlish and ignorant response was to highlight the supposed docility and servility of Captain Humayun’s mother in Islamic hierarchy, as her husband took the centre stage denying his wife the right to speak on the occasion in her own right. Ghazala Khan trumped him when she penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post, which said, “When Donald Trump is talking of Islam, he is ignorant. Donald Trump says he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means.” Coming from a mother who had lost her son in Iraq war, it was powerful stuff. Trump just tied himself in knots, as only Trump can do, questioning: “Who wrote [Khizr Khan’s] speech?” And wanted to know, “Did Hillary’s [Clinton] script writers write it?” He even implied that as Captain Khan died 12 years ago, it is no longer pertinent and everyone should move on.

It is true that the anguish of Captain Khan’s parents at the Democratic Convention gave boost to Hillary Clinton’s popularity, widening the gap between her and Trump. But it is important not to over-estimate its electoral importance. And this is for a number of reasons. The first reason is that the election is still a few months away and it will be difficult to maintain the traction despite its emotional and heartfelt intensity. Second, it will be difficult to translate one genuine story of a patriotic American Muslim into an entire community’s commitment when Trump and others like him are able to tarnish them with Islamic terrorism. It is important to remember that Trump represents and articulates-- if one can call it that-- the fears, anxieties, prejudices and bigotry of about 35 per cent of American voters that constitute his base. And then there is a significant section of floating voters closer to Trump’s way of looking at things, though not sure if he would be presidential. And considering that Hillary Clinton is not exactly a popular candidate and has a trust deficit with American people, the choice is turning out to be between two candidates as to which one will be the lesser evil. And on present reckoning, Hillary might look like a lesser evil according to opinion polls boosted temporarily by the Khan factor.

It is a comfortable feeling that someone like Trump, who could turn out to be a serious threat globally for all kinds of outrageous things he is and has been saying, might be put back into the box and stay there. But I wouldn’t be too sure that Hillary might trump him. Of course, on the face of it and with the kind of coalition she has stitched up, she should have no worries about electability. For instance, she is more popular with women, Afro-Americans appear largely behind her and she appears to have majority support among Latinos. Besides, while the Democratic Party is mostly united behind Hillary Clinton as its presidential nominee, the Republicans are deeply divided and/or ambivalent about Trump’s candidacy. Indeed, some even have indicated that they might choose Hillary over Trump. Against this backdrop of unusual odds lined up against Trump, forecasting Hillary’s victory should be a no brainer.

But it is this kind of stitching up against him that makes Trump going. He appears to be the kind of non-political and anti-establishment guy who is prepared to say things as they are and the way many people have felt now for a long time and didn’t have anyone brave enough to give words to their feelings. He is anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, enjoys dressing down ‘uppity’ women, talks about conspiracy theories, attacks media and believes that election will be rigged and whatever. He projects an image where he is seen as the greatest threat by political and establishment elites as they are out to get him. In other words, his supporters and others who believe in conspiracy theories, and the US is full of them, should beware of the ‘dangers’ and turn out to vote and mobilize others to do the same; because it is either Trump as the savior or more of the same and worst.

Amazingly, his campaign was able to raise $64 million in July from small donations, a testimony to his grass-roots support. In some ways, the more he is attacked for being so outrageous; the more he becomes a hero of sorts taking on the world at a time when many Americans are looking for a superman prepared to take on America’s enemies—right, centre and left. Which doesn’t mean that he will win the presidential election. What it means is that it would be foolish to right him off because he says such outrageous things, and that Hillary has the election stitched up with her carefully constructed coalition. 

Note: This article was first published in the Daily Times.