Donald Trump suffers self-inflicted wounds from his attacks on the Khan family

Many think that Donald Trump is stupid - he doesn't.

Lessons abound. It was in the 2004 post-convention hiatus that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was hit by, and never recovered from, the "Swift Boat" attack that destroyed his "war hero" campaign narrative. And four years later, Sarah Palin wrote herself out of contention as a Republican vice-presidential candidate with that wonderful claim that she understood Russia because she could see it from Alaska.

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Obama tired of 'trash talk'

US President Barack Obama made indirect reference to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his recent criticism of one 'Gold star' family at the DNC.

But, try as they might, pundits have yet to come up with a half-intelligent explanation for the self-inflicted wounds caused by today's Republican presidential candidate so bizarrely stepping up his senseless attacks on the family of a Muslim American who died heroically while fighting for the US in Iraq in 2004.

At Arlington National Cemetery, a stream of visitors has begun stopping at the grave of 27-year-old Captain Humayun Khan, whose white granite headstone records the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart he was awarded posthumously - and a crescent moon and star denote his Islamic faith. They leave flowers and other offerings.

Reeling under a wave of condemnation that now has the force of a Bondi dumper, Trump bleats that what was an eloquent speech to last week's Democratic convention by the soldier's father, Khizr Khan, was a "vicious" attack on him - and that he's entitled to "counterpunch". 

In the latest of a slew of tweets against the Khan family, Trump showed no remorse, hectoring on Monday morning: "Mr Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same. Nice!"

It didn't seem to occur to Trump that in picking Khan as the sole target for his fury from among dozens who had spoken at the Democratic convention, he has inadvertently selected a formidable figure.

Speaking on NBC's Today show on Monday, Khan fought back again as he had through the weekend: "This candidate amazes me - his ignorance. He can get up and malign the entire nation: the religions, the communities, the minorities, judges. And yet, a private citizen in this political process, in his candidacy for the stewardship for this country, I cannot say what I feel?

"That proves the point: he has not read the constitution of this country."

And as the pocket copy of the constitution, which Khan held aloft and offered to Trump during his convention speech, became an Amazon bestseller, Trump's surrogates doubled down absurdly. They denounced Khan as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and his late son as a jihadist who wormed his way into the US Army - charges for which they have produced no proof - and claimed that, indeed, Trump is a patriot because "creating jobs caused him to be at work, which cost him two marriages".

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama weighed in - telling a convention of disabled war veterans that he was "pretty tired of some folks trash-talking America's military and troops".

Two of Trump's close advisers, Roger Stone and Al Baldasaro, have been tweeting an article from a fringe Islamophobic website that claims Khan is a Muslim Brotherhood agent who wants to impose Islamic law in the US and that his son died in a suicide bomb attack "before his Islamist mission was accomplished".

The strongest condemnation of Trump has come from former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, another war hero mocked earlier this year by Trump because he had been captured in the Vietnam War.

McCain said: "Captain Khan, through his selfless action and sacrifice [in 2004], saved the lives of hundreds of his brothers and sisters."

Stopping short of revoking his endorsement of Trump, McCain said in a statement: "He has suggested that the likes of [the Khans'] son should not be allowed in the United States - to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasise enough how deeply I disagree with Mr Trump's statement."

Members of the McCain family weighed in more stridently than the senator, who has made it clear that he feels obliged to support Trump only because he is locked in a close fight to hold his Arizona Senate seat.

McCain's daughter Meghan tweeted: "I would ask what kind of barbarian would attack the parents of a fallen soldier, but oh yeah it's the same person who attacks POWs."

And in a blog post, his granddaughter Caroline charged: "A competent commander-in-chief must respond to threats to the republic, but Trump only responds to threats to his ego."

An adviser to defeated Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush announced that she was quitting the party, which she said was "at a crossroads, [having] nominated a total narcissist - a misogynist - a bigot".

Describing Trump as "despicable", Sally Bradshaw, who was one of the authors of the party's autopsy report following its 2012 election defeat, declared: "This is a time when country has to take priority over political parties - Donald Trump cannot be elected president.

"I didn't make this decision lightly - I have worked hard to make our party a place where all would feel welcome. But Trump has taken the GOP in another direction, and too many Republicans are standing by and looking the other way."

Alluding to the combat honour awarded to Khan's son, Brian Duffy, who heads the Veterans of Foreign Wars, America's oldest and largest organisation for war veterans which has 1.7 million members, defended Khan's right to challenge Trump.

"Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," Duffy said.

"There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of word-smithing can repair once crossed - giving one's life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard."

The Khan brawl has dominated the campaign for five days, in which Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has surged in polls, again overtaking Trump who, following the Republicans' Cleveland convention, had gone ahead of her for the first time - albeit by just 0.9 of a point in the Real Clear Politics average of national polls.

By Monday, four days after the Democrat's Philadelphia convention, Clinton was leading by 3.9 points, which is within the margin of error for most polls. And, more importantly, Clinton's "favourability" rating improved by eight points, while Trump's fell by three points.

Trump and his surrogates belatedly sought to reposition the debate, claiming it was about national security and terrorism, but talking heads in the media, Republicans and others, stayed focused on what the onslaught on the Khans says about Trump's suitability to be president.

"Trump is inevitably going to get worse, not better, as his poll numbers get worse," Tim Miller, a former adviser to Jeb Bush and a frequent Trump critic, told The Washington Post.

"When he's being criticised and his back is against the wall, he's going to act out and become more extreme and despicable. Every time we think he's gone as low as he's going to go, he manages to sink even lower. There is no argument for waiting until he behaves better."

If Miller is proved right, Republican leaders could find that they will have painted themselves into a corner by failing to challenge Trump's crazy talk earlier.

To the extent that Republicans have been calling out Trump, it has been conservative intellectuals and former GOP officials who have rejected his admiration for dictators and autocrats, his rejection of Republican orthodoxy and his overt racism.

The likes of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate leader Mitch McConnell, recently stopped short of condemning Trump's conduct, which some analysts argue will leave them looking opportunistic rather than principled if, in the future, they are seen to disown Trump because they figure he's going to lose the election rather than because he needs to be called out for his crass style of politics.