Trump vs Khan is not the first...
Not the first person to be smeared by right-wingers.
Trump vs. Khan: How Smearing Everyday Americans Became A Right-Wing Media Tradition
Who picks a campaign fight with Gold Star parents who have paid the ultimate sacrifice?
Thats the dominant campaign question being asked from so many different quarters as Donald Trump continues his jaw-dropping public feud with Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala. The Khans have been the subject of a series of attacks from Trump following Khizr Khans speech at the Democratic National Convention last week with his wife by his side. During that speech, Khan recounted how their son Capt. Humayun Khan had died in 2004 in Iraq as he tried to save fellow American troops, and then forcefully admonished Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering America.
The Republican nominee has received some right-wing media support in his misguided campaign to discredit the sympathetic mother and father, but not much political support. Indeed, Trumps strategy appears to have been a political blunder, with the nominee being denounced on many sides.
Regardless of the outcome, the sad spectacle exemplifies a right-wing tradition where players dont hesitate to smear their opponents, including everyday Americans who happen to stand up to or question the GOP orthodoxy, whether its parents like the Khans, or injured schoolboys, caring husbands, gunshot victims, health advocates, or the father of a U.S. prisoner of war. Theyre people often suffering from loss or trauma in their own lives. People who deserve to be treated with respect, instead of being battered around politically.
But nobody has been immune from the intimidation tactics.
Heres a look at previous, disturbing examples of when conservatives adopted Trumps Khan strategy and unleashed coordinated, and unjustified, personal attacks against vulnerable Americans who stood in the way of GOP messaging.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/08/02/trump-vs-khan-how-smearing-everyday-americans-became-right-wing-media-tradition/212094