A San Antonio real estate business owner said he is not fazed by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) outing him as a Trump supporter in a tweet that was apparently intended to shame him and 43 other donors.
“I don’t have any objections to his tweet, I am proud to be a conservative and a Trump supporter,” said Don Kuyrkendall, owner of Kuyrkendall & Co Realtors Inc.
He said he has only received supportive calls and emails. “The people of San Antonio know who we all are, and what we have done for this city,” he said.
“All of the people on this list are pillars of the community and have given time and resources for many years whenever we are asked,” he added.
He said his attorney also reminded him that he contributed to Castro’s brother and 2020 Democrat candidate Julian Castro when he was the mayor of San Antonio.
“He left that out,” he said.
He said he also noticed there are no Hispanics on the list.
“I will assure you they contribute to President Trump also,” he added, questioning if Castro would also consider them racist.
Castro, who is the campaign manager for his brother’s presidential campaign, tweeted out a graphic on Tuesday with the names and employers of 44 Trump campaign donors, accusing them of “fueling a campaign of hate.” Eleven were listed as retired.
Castro later defended his tweet by saying the information was publicly available, no private information was included, and it was not a “call to action.”
Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump — the owner of @BillMillerBarBQ, owner of the @HistoricPearl, realtor Phyllis Browning, etc.
Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’ pic.twitter.com/YT85IBF19u
— Joaquin Castro (@Castro4Congress) August 6, 2019
Castro has faced calls to retract his tweet, particularly after two mass shootings, one of which appeared to be politically motivated.
Political journalists from the New York Times, Washington Examiner, Politico, and Huffington Post have also questioned or criticized his tweet.
Castro later claimed it was a “lament.”
My post was a lament – that so many people in my overwhelmingly Hispanic hometown would give large money to a President who is using it to target Hispanics as ‘invaders’.
No one was doxxed — no private address or phone #s were shared. I’ve never engaged in that.@Morning_Joe pic.twitter.com/DgdX3wkJWI
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 7, 2019
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