Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, the Texas congressman who posted the names and employers of Trump donors via his social media account, was criticized on Wednesday for what they called a “ridiculous” stunt and, in interviews with Fox News told reporters that Trump supporters are “fueling a campaign of hate” against Hispanics.
Things got awkward, though, as one of the outed Trump donors revealed that he has also been a supporter of local Democratic lawmakers — including Rep. Castro himself — and doesn’t appreciate his actions at all.
Real Estate developer Wayne Harwell’s name was on the list of names of Trump donors that Castro shared on social media on Monday night. He told Fox News that he did indeed donate money to Castro’s congressional campaign. However, after Castro outed him in an effort to shame Trump supporters, he will not be supporting Castro’s efforts any longer.
“I was also on a list of people that gave to Castro and if he dislikes me enough that he wants to put my name out there against Trump, I’m not going to give money to him,” Harwell told Fox News. “Obviously Castro feels pretty strongly against me.”
It looks like Castro’s plan to shame Trump supporters via his social media account backfired on him. According to Federal Election Commission records, Harwell did donate $1,000 to Castro’s campaign in September 2011, so Castro has lost a supporter and contributor.
“I’m pretty independent, but I support Trump,” Harwell explained.
The list compiled by Castro included Harwell and an additional 43 other prominent donors in San Antonio who have contributed to President Trump, and was posted on Twitter by Castro, who is the campaign chairman for his brother Julian Castro, a 2020 presidential hopeful. It was the intent of the congressman to link them to a “campaign of hate”, taking advantage of the high emotions of everyone due to the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
“Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump,” Castro posted on his social media account. “Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’”
Harwell rejected the allegation saying, “I think some of the Democratic rhetoric is more hateful than some of Trump’s rhetoric. I think the San Antonio community needs to take a real deep look at what Castro is doing. Why is he doing this? If he wants to play in Washington, he needs to move to Washington. If he wants to play in San Antonio, he needs to at least be sensitive. The rest of the community is sensitive. We’re sensitive to both Republican and Democrat views. A lot of us here in San Antonio are independents.”
Meanwhile, Republicans, including the Trump campaign, accused Castro of “targeting” private citizens. The Trump campaign told Fox News that they reported Castro’s tweet to Twitter, arguing that it violates the platform’s abusive behavior rule stating users cannot “engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so.”
Castro did not respond to multiple requests from Fox News for comment, but did post a message on his social media account saying that he would “love to have a conversation with @Twitter and @Facebook about how I use their platforms versus how the President uses them.”
