Santa Maria Veterans and Muslims React to Donald Trump’s Recent Remarks

Veterans and the Muslim community in the Santa Maria Valley are reacting critically to Donald Trump’s comments.

” I’ve been involved with every race, gender, creed,” veteran Michael Stadnick Jr. said.

Retired Air Force Captain Michael Stadnick Jr. is a 44 year veteran and founder of the Santa Maria Valley Veterans Honor Guard.

“Once you go into the military and especially if you’re in combat areas, you lose everything, it’s just your buddy,” Jr. said.

Stadnick says many veterans have not agreed with how Trump has responded to the Khan family.

“What happened with Captain Khan really hurts us veterans who have served and seen our comrades be killed in action,” Stadnick Jr. said.

Stadnick noted that Captain Humayun Khan’s sacrifice on the battlefield makes his family a “Gold Star” family – parents of a fallen soldier.

“We should be honoring these veterans and not disparaging them,” Stadnick Jr. said.

“What he did was very unpatriotic, unconstitutional,” Imam of the Central Coast Islamic Center Mohammad Mohabbat said.

Mohammad Mohabbat is the Imam at the Central Coast Islamic Center in Santa Maria.

“Making fun of heroes and Muslims and beautiful patriotic people, it falls right into the lap of Isis so they can pick at that and run the ball,” Mohabbat said.

Mohabbat says no matter what your background, if you serve this country, you’re a hero.

“What if his own son had been fallen in that war and somebody made fun of him and his wife, how would he have felt?” Mohabbat said.