We Asked Trump Supporters About the Khan Controversy. Here’s What They Said.

They also weighed in on whether Hillary Clinton is the devil.

 

Donald Trump’s feud with the family of a fallen soldier may be generating near-universal condemnation from fellow Republicans in Washington—and throwing his campaign into chaos—but supporters of the GOP presidential candidate in a nearby suburb on Tuesday seemed to think Trump was justified in his attacks on the family. Some even repeated conspiracy theories that the late soldier’s father is part of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mother Jones surveyed Trump backers at a rally in Ashburn, Virginia, for their views on Trump’s ongoing fight with the Khan family, following Khizr Khan’s emotional Democratic National Convention address about his late son, Humayun, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Did Calvin, an attendee who declined to give his last name, take issue with Trump’s handling of the controversy, which included suggesting that Ghazala Khan had stood silently next to her husband during his speech because “maybe she wasn’t allowed to speak”? He acknowledged that Trump’s response was “very poorly worded,” but he said it didn’t affect his opinion of the candidate. “Hillary is 10 times worse than Donald Trump,” he said.

How about Christopher Abel, who was handing out business cards at the rally for the Vocal Citizens super-PAC? “My view starts with, everyone has a right to defend themselves,” he said of Trump.

Along with the Khan controversy, Trump supporters also weighed in on the GOP nominee’s recent remarks that Hillary Clinton is “the devil.” Check out their responses in the video above.

 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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