All is fair in love and war … and politics, according to U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, who made an appearance today on MSNBC to defend Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism of the Muslim American parents of an Army officer killed in Iraq.
Collins, the first member of Congress to have endorsed Trump’s presidential bid, said the war of words between Trump and the Khan family is “being taken out of context,” called Khizr Khan an “attack dog” for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and suggested that Khan is getting what’s coming to him.
“Twelve years after the fact, Hillary Clinton brings Mr. Khan on stage to basically attack Mr. Trump, suggest he doesn’t understand the Constitution, even wave a pocket copy in front of the cameras. At that point, I would say, Mr. Khan has entered the political fray,” Collins said.
“He’s got to take what comes back at him,” Collins added. “We all know Mr. Trump. You take a swing at him, he’s going to punch back.”
Collins’ opponent in the 27th Congressional District, Diana Kastenbaum, took issue with Collins’ statements in a post on Facebook, calling them “insensitive to the Khan family and self-serving.”
Kastenbaum stated that Collins “tried to diminish the death of Humayun Khan by saying it happened 12 years ago, as if somehow it was irrelevant. Well, the loss of a child has no expiration date for one’s grief.”
According to Kastenbaum, a Democrat from Batavia, “Chris Collins has only brought shame upon the Republican Party and the good people of NY-27 in his eagerness to support anything Donald Trump says and does.”
Kastenbaum suggests in her post that Collins is angling for a cabinet position in a potential Trump administration.
Collins’ full interview can be viewed below. Kastenbaum’s post on Facebook can be found here (link).