I’m off work today, so I hit the gym at Patrick AFB, Fla. for an early morning workout—little did I realize that my jaws would get the biggest workout as I had to clinch them tightly and bite my tongue over and over after hearing repeated criticisms of President Obama, Hillary Clinton and more surprisingly, Khizr Khan.
Seems like everywhere I went in the gym people were talking politics. Not surprising since the Republican and Democratic Conventions just ended.
This morning the Dems were the hot topic, and if the conversations I overheard are any barometer, older white military retirees are mostly die-hard Republicans and perhaps even racists, xenophobes and Islamophobes. However, if I’m being honest these things came as no surprise. But what came as somewhat of a surprise was how a couple of these retirees sided with Trump over Kahn, the immigrant Muslim father of a fallen American soldier.
His son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, died in the Iraq War more than a decade ago. In what I believe was one of the most powerful moments of the Democratic Convention, Kahn delivered a blistering rebuke of Trump.
“Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America,” he said. “You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
You’d expect the military guys to side with a bereaved father who lost a son in combat, defending America. But not the ones I heard at the gym today.
“I’m sorry for his loss, but this is what happens when you mix cultures and religions. But Trump gets it,” said one.
“Yeah, and I hope his son spoke better English than he does,” said his friend. “A big problem is they come here and do whatever they want. They don’t learn English or assimilate like they should. We couldn’t do that if we went to their country.”
Captain Khan was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, something these military veterans should respect and focus on, but instead they chose to focus on berating his dad.
”If he’s so angry why is he still here,” one of them continued.
”All of them hate America so much, but they’re all trying to get here,” said the friend. “Obama opened the floodgates and Hillary’s going to make it worse.”
Floodgates?
Mix cultures and religions?
Trump gets it?
Hadn’t come here in the first place?
Don’t learn English or assimilate?
Why is he still here?
On and on and on they went. I wanted to chime in, but decided not to. Even if they were older, it was so sad to hear fellow military veterans openly express such xenophobic attitudes. I had to hear that yang until I finished my set and moved on to another machine.
I thought I’d escaped the nonsense, until I overheard another older white guy talking to a young black woman.
He said, “I don’t care what color you are...purple, blue, green, (always a prelude to a racial insult) but if your group is disproportionately on welfare, that’s a problem. It’s freeloading and letting others who work take care of you. Republicans are the party of personal responsibility. We believe in earning what you have.”
I didn’t know if they were together or not, but she sat there looking pained and like she didn’t know what to do or say. I bit my tongue again, stopped my workout and left. It was more than I could stand.
Welcome to Trump World. Honestly, I’d rather share the gym and America with men like Khizr Khan and his son the military hero.