Democratic Rep Posts Names of Trump Donors

Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, brother of presidential candidate Julian Castro, tweeted out the names and businesses of donors to President Trump’s reelection campaign.

Joaquin Castro on Wednesday used his Twitter account to publish the names of 44 Texans who donated the maximum $2,700 to Trump, specifically calling out the owners of several prominent businesses in San Antonio, where the Castro brothers are from.

“Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders’,” the lawmaker tweeted.

Candidates are required to disclose these donors, and their names are available online for anyone to see.  However, it’s unusual, to say the least, for an opposing lawmaker to take it upon himself to publicize the names.

Here’s Castro’s tweet:

The tweet continues from there to list the 44 donors and their companies.

Trump’s campaign communications director, Tim Murtaugh, called Castro out.

“Democrats want to talk about inciting violence?” Murtaugh said.  “This naming of private citizens and their employers is reckless and irresponsible.  He is endangering the safety of people he is supposed to be representing.  No one should be targeted for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political beliefs.  He should delete the tweet and apologize, and his brother’s campaign should disavow it.”

Other prominent conservatives have also criticized Rep. Castro’s tweet.

If you want to talk about the rise of fascism in the United States, this is a better example than anything President Trump has done.  Maybe Castro’s goal here isn’t violence against these individuals; maybe he’s trying to get people to boycott their establishments.  It comes down to the same thing: an elected official basically just doxxed a bunch of people based on their political opinions – because he dislikes a politician they support.

That is not okay.