Saul Loeb—AFP
In apparent reference to Republican candidate Donald Trump, U.S. president praises sacrifices of Gold Star families.
President Barack Obama tore into those “trash-talking” the U.S. military and disrespecting the families of fallen soldiers on Monday, in a thinly veiled attack on Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump.
“As commander-in-chief, I’m pretty tired of some folks trash-talking America’s military and troops,” Obama told a Disabled American Veterans convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Trump, who is vying with Democrat Hillary Clinton to succeed Obama, has called the U.S. military a “disaster” and caused outcry by repeatedly disparaging the family of a slain Muslim American soldier.
Khizr Khan—whose son Humayun was killed in Iraq in 2004—accused Trump of smearing Muslims and having “sacrificed nothing” himself. That met a barrage of criticism from the Manhattan real estate mogul, who claimed he was “viciously attacked.”
Trump’s response has prompted outcry from fellow Republicans, who have praised so-called “Gold Star families”—those who have lost loved ones in war.
Democrats have been quick to seize on the comments as evidence Trump is ill suited to be commander-in-chief.
“No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families,” said Obama. “Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. We have to do everything we can for those families and honor them. And be humbled by them.”