Republican leaders in the United States are distancing themselves from Donald Trump, the Party's Presidential candidate, after he spent a third day attacking the parents of a slain American soldier.
The solder, a Muslim, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
His parents have challenged Donald Trump over his proposed ban on Muslims, saying they have "undivided loyalty" towards the United States.
Mr. Trump won't leave the issue alone, and as our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports, many of his fellow Republicans are now deeply fearful about the future of his campaign.
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It almost got lost last week amid all the attention being paid to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and all the rest…..but on the final day of the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, there was a deeply moving appearance by the parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq.
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Kihzer Khan, flanked by his wife, told the story of their son, Captain Humayun Khan….a Muslim American now buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
They said Hillary Clinton was right to define him as the "best of America"….said they had undivided loyalties to the United States….and they challenged Donald Trump over his proposed ban which would stop Muslims immigrants like them from entering the country.
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It brought the house down at the Convention…..but there it might have lain, had it not been for Donald Trump.
He has now spent three days engaged in a rhetorical battle against the Khans that has outraged millions of voters….baffled most of his fellow Republicans….and enraged veterans groups.
Here he is on ABC over the weekend intimating that Mrs. Khan - who says she was too upset to speak publicly about her son's death - might have been silenced by her faith.
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He's also taken to Twitter excoriating the Khans for what he called their "vicious attack".
"Am I not allowed to respond?" he asked.
Well, not in the way he has responded according to the 1.7 million-strong advocacy group Veterans of Foreign Wars.
It now says "no amount of wordsmithing" by Donald Trump can make up for his comments.
Former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain said Mr. Trump does not have "unfettered license to defame" military veterans.
And there was this from former defense Secretary William Cohen, also a Republican.
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As Republicans raced to distance themselves from their own party's Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton asked where does it all end?
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That is a good question….and it is so difficult to answer because Donald Trump's actions since last Friday are politically suicidal.
And it could all have been so different.
Saturday's Wall Street Journal, in a banner headline, reported that America's economic recovery is the weakest since the 1940s…..a political gift, you'd think, to the Republican Presidential candidate.
But not Donald Trump….he chose to speak instead about the Khans, who evidently got under his skin with their appearance at the Convention last week.
They surely could never have imagined that their speech…and the reaction to it….would start raising questions not just about Donald Trump's fitness for the Presidency…..but about his mental stability as well.
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