Dakota Meyer to Donald Trump: Apologize to Gold Star family

Marine veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer said Donald Trump needs to apologize to the parents of a U.S. soldier killed in combat if he wants to be the next commander in chief.

Meyer, who earned the nation's highest valor award after charging into a kill zone numerous times to save his comrades during a 2009 battle in Afghanistan, said there’s no justification for Trump's comments about a family that has sacrificed so much.

“[He is] going after a Gold Star family,” Meyer told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday. “What Trump doesn’t understand is that it’s a sacred family.”

Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American, was killed in Iraq in 2004. His father, Khizr Khan, criticized Trump’s proposal of freezing the entry of foreign Muslims during last month's Democratic National Convention, accusing the Republican presidential candidate of sacrificing “nothing and no one.”
Trump responded with criticism aimed at the Gold Star parents, suggesting Khizr Khan's wife, who stood by her husband's side during his speech at the convention, wasn’t allowed to speak because of the family's faith.

Meyer said Trump should expect to be critiqued as a public figure running for president. The Khan family, on the other hand, are private citizens, he said, and deserve better treatment.

“They can say stuff to him, and he [shouldn't] say anything back,” Meyer said.

Meyer, whose mother-in-law Sarah Palin has endorsed Trump, tweeted on Tuesday that if Trump wants to be the next commander in chief, "he needs to act like one." Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Meyer's statement.
The Marine vet also took issue with Trump's comment about "always [wanting] to get the Purple Heart" after an Army vet gifted him the medal this week.
“Not one person who has served wants that,” Meyer said. “It just shows his lack of understanding to this community who mostly supports him. He needs to get in touch with his supporters and back on his feet so he can be the great leader I know he can be.”

Meyer said there’s “no doubt” in his mind that Trump would be supportive of the military if elected, but he needs to show troops that he can be a professional leader.

“Nobody wants to vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said. “But what I want is a commander in chief who definitely understands the people he’ll be leading to protect this country.”