Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly was the latest to implore GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to back off his counterpunching style when it comes to people like the Gold Star parents who attacked him over his proposed Muslim immigration moratorium.
In O'Reilly's opening segment on Tuesday's "O'Reilly Factor," he suggested that the appearance of Khizr and Ghazala Khan at last week's Democratic National Convention where Khizr Khan talked about the loss of his son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, in the Iraq War, was orchestrated by the party to hurt Trump. But, O'Reilly said, Trump shouldn't have fired back, instead saying nothing like Democrat Hillary Clinton did when attacked by the mother of a Benghazi victim who spoke against her at the Republican Convention.
When Trump joined him by satellite, O'Reilly explained he could take shots at more powerful people, but should leave grieving parents alone.
O'Reilly noted that Trump had once suggested he needed a psychiatrist.
"You can fight me. You can come at me," O'Reilly said. "But if there is some little Muslim woman who loses a son you can't. You just can't. No matter what she does. She can set you on fire. You can say, 'Thank you, I hated those trousers.' Just got to let it go."
Trump stuck to his standard defense that he was "viciously attacked" by the father.
O'Reilly agreed that the left will "never stop" in their attacks on him, but added, "It wasn't wise to bring the mother in."
Trump suggested she didn't speak because she wasn't allowed to as a Muslim.
The father "was obviously hired by the Clinton campaign to do that," O'Reilly said. "The mother is just sitting there. And for you to bring her in, that gives him the opportunity. Opens the door for them to come in and hammer you as this mean kind of guy."
O'Reilly said afterward in a segment with contributor Kirsten Powers that Trump's body language showed he knew he shouldn't have attacked the mother for not speaking
O'Reilly also asked Trump about a report by The Washington Post that he has no plans to support the re-election efforts of fellow Republicans House Speaker Paul Ryan or Sen. John McCain.
Trump said he is undecided on backing either, but attacked McCain, a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, for not doing enough to help veterans.
"He should have grabbed that issue. That's his issue," Trump said. "He should have grabbed it. I have never been happy about that."
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