Scarborough to Trump: ‘Stop knocking’ the Khans

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says Donald Trump must “back off” his attacks on the parents of a Muslim U.S. solider who died fighting in Iraq.

“He is a hero,” Scarborough said Monday of Army Capt. Humayun Khan on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “He is an American hero. Back off.

{mosads}“If you want to be our commander in chief, stop knocking his family,” Scarborough added. “Stop fighting, stop debating and stop tweeting at a Gold Star mother and a grieving father.

“Is there no one around him that can say, ‘Even if you don’t have it within you, show a little graciousness towards a father and a mother who lost their son?’ You have basically spit on an entire band of brothers.”

Scarborough said Trump’s war of words with Khan’s father, Khizr Khan, and his mother, Ghazala Khan, distracts from the struggles facing voters.

“He could be saying every day on the campaign trail, ‘This is the slowest recovery, if you want to call it a recovery, since 1949,’ ” the former Republican congressman said.

“He hasn’t said a word about it because he’s picking on the parents of a dead American soldier who’s a hero,” Scarborough added of the GOP’s presidential nominee.

Scarborough additionally slammed Republicans for not abandoning Trump over his battle with the Khans.

“[He’s] once again making Republicans on Capitol Hill have to twist in the wind having to criticize his comments,” said Scarborough. “And yet, nobody on Capitol Hill [is] being able to repudiate their endorsement of him, which I would have done light years ago.”

Khizr Khan challenged Trump’s rhetoric toward Muslims during last week’s Democratic National Convention.

“Have you even read the Constitution?” he said, directing his speech at Trump and brandishing a pocket-sized copy of the document during his address in Philadelphia.

Trump responded by insisting Khizr Khan “has no right” to criticize him and his presidential campaign.