Jones: Trump's lack of empathy is alarming

AS A FATHER, my heart aches each time I watch the speech that Khizr Khan delivered at the Democratic National Convention last week in Philadelphia.

With his wife Ghazala, standing at his side, Khan, a Muslim-American who emigrated from Pakistan, spoke of losing his 27-year-old son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed while serving in the Iraq War in 2004.

"If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America," Khan said of his deceased son, adding that the Republican presidential nominee "wants to build walls and ban us from this country."

Khan then pulled a copy of the Constitution from his pocket and referenced Trump directly. "Let me ask you: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy."

Trump responded by verbally attacking Khan's wife and the Muslim faith in interviews and on social media. More than that, Trump attacked a Gold Star family - one that had lost a child in defense of this country. Then, as a political firestorm erupted, Trump said the conversation should not be about Khan's family, but instead should focus on radical Islamic terrorism.

I fervently disagree. This moment is not about a single family, a single faith, a single act of heroism or a single act of terror. This moment is about a single man - Donald Trump. Because if Trump, the father of five children, cannot empathize with Khan's loss of a son, he will never empathize with the everyday losses Americans face.

Khizr and Ghazala Khan stood before the world and shared the unspeakable grief that comes with a child's death. Yet Trump couldn't see his own son in the face of Capt. Khan. Instead, he saw a Muslim, an outsider, an unwelcome interloper in the America Trump has portrayed as a "divided crime scene."

That's a shame, because in truth there is only one crime here: Donald Trump has been robbed of his fatherly instincts by his own selfish ambition.

Capt. Khan was a son who would make any father proud. He proved it on the battlefield in Baquba, Iraq, in 2004, when he sacrificed himself by running toward a suicide bomber after telling his men to take cover. For that, Khan earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and his family earned the gratitude of this nation.

But, as Trump proved last summer, when he insulted Sen. John McCain, a war hero who was captured and tortured in Vietnam, gratitude is a foreign concept for him. So, too, is decency. How else to explain Trump's response to Khan's assertion that Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one" in service to this country?

"I think I've made a lot of sacrifices," Trump said in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot."

As a father, I am troubled by that response. No, I am disgusted, because I would give anything in exchange for the life of my son. Buildings don't equate to him. Riches don't compare to him. Success is empty without him.

But for Donald Trump, creating jobs in pursuit of wealth is a sacrifice equivalent to the life of a child. For Trump, his own "tremendous success" is a sacrifice that is tantamount to the life of a child. For Trump, building great structures can somehow be compared to the life of a child.

What kind of father believes such a thing? And what kind of president would he make?

If, as a father, Trump does not value the lives of children above material things, then how can he place the lives of the American people before his personal ambition?

Based on Trump's lack of empathy for Khizr Khan's loss, I don't think he can.

Men learn the meaning of sacrifice as fathers. We teach the meaning of sacrifice to sons. We watch the example of sacrifice in leaders.

But if Donald Trump can't see himself in the pain of Khizr Khan, then Trump has neither learned nor taught the meaning of sacrifice, and he is therefore unqualified to lead.

Solomon Jones is the author of 10 books. Listen to him mornings from 7 to 10 on WURD (900-AM).

sj@solomonjones.com

@solomonjones1