CNN's Josh Rogin: Khizr Khan's Speech Was A “Nod To Those People Who Have Been Othered Or Demonized” By Trump

Rogin: The Muslim-American Community “Is Patriotic” And “Serve[s] Our Country”

From the July 29 edition of CNN's New Day:

Video file

CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): Let's put up the picture of who they were talking about, their son, a vet. Died in Iraq, posthumously, given two different Medals of Honor. He was walking toward a car that they believed was going to be an IED situation, and he kept walking toward it to slow it down and create a barrier between them and other innocents, and wound up being detonated and killed. That's who they were talking about last night. But what was the impact? 

ERROL LOUIS: Look, it's extraordinary. And let me take sort of a bit of a dissenting view at both the Republican and Democratic conventions. There were the parents of people who have been killed, whether they were service members, whether they were police officers, the Mothers of the Movement, these were people who were killed by police under controversial circumstances and so forth. I get a little uncomfortable with that, in part because I think we know and we know that there are political strategists who are scripting every word of that, who are scripting the image, telling them what to wear, what color to wear, how to say it, why to say it. 

[...]

JOSH ROGIN: But here's the thing. Muslim-Americans, not very well represented either in Congress, in public life. They don't organize politically for some pretty obvious reasons. Right? This is a rare opportunity to take a look at this community, and we all know that is patriotic, that does serve our country, that does die for our country. Three million Muslim-Americans in the United States. By 2050, eight million Muslim-Americans. Do you think any of them are going to vote for Republicans after what we've seen this cycle? This is not only a nod to those people who have been othered or demonized by Donald Trump, but also a recognition that they play a role in our society, an important role, and the reason that we don't have more terrorism from Muslim-Americans is because they haven't been disadvantaged in some of the ways they have around the world.

CUOMO: And did it speak to something a little bit more subtle? I know, as being the grandchild of immigrants to this country, there was such a pride in coming to America and becoming American. Italian-American. They were so proud to say it. It's the same for Muslims. These guys, Pakistani, this family that came here. And that's what I took from it, that they give their son to service. He gets killed, and now they have people looking at them like the problem? Like somehow they're less than? That was what I thought made it so akin to the “have you no decency” moment with McCarthy, where someone finally looked at him and said, “Do you know what you're doing to this country?”

Previously

Fox News Plays Benghazi Commercial Over Khzir Khan's Anti-Trump Speech At The Democratic National Convention

NBC's Chuck Todd Presses Trump On Whether Muslim Ban Would Include France

Watch A Professor Shred A Fox Host's Defense Of Trump's Racist Call To Ban Muslim Immigrants