Trump lashes out at Joaquin Castro as the ‘lesser brother of a failed presidential candidate’

President Trump attacked Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) on Wednesday, a day after the lawmaker was widely criticized for tweeting the names of prominent San Antonio-area Trump donors.

In a tweet Wednesday night, Trump referred to the Texas Democrat as the “lesser brother of a failed presidential candidate (1%) who makes a fool of himself every time he opens his mouth.”

An initial tweet misspelled Joaquin Castro’s name, though Trump posted a corrected tweet a few minutes later. Joaquin Castro’s brother is Julián Castro, a former Housing and Urban Development secretary and mayor of San Antonio who is among the roughly two dozen Democrats running for president.

I don’t know who Joaquin Castro is other than the lesser brother of a failed presidential candidate (1%) who makes a fool of himself every time he opens his mouth. Joaquin is not the man that his brother is, but his brother, according to most, is not much. Keep fighting Joaquin!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2019

Julián Castro responded in his own tweet, vowing that he and his brother would “keep fighting” against Trump’s “hate” and “corruption.

“Joaquin and I will keep fighting. The American people will fight every day for our nation, against your hate, your corruption, and your ego. And we’ll win. #AdiósTrump,” he tweeted.

Joaquin and I will keep fighting. The American people will fight every day for our nation, against your hate, your corruption, and your ego. And we’ll win. #AdiósTrump https://t.co/nC0haWRydr pic.twitter.com/mMneHqXyT5

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) August 8, 2019

The tweet comes as members of Trump’s campaign, including his communications director, Tim Murtaugh, criticized the Texas Democrat and chairman of his brother’s 2020 presidential campaign for tweeting out the names of some donors to the Trump campaign in the San Antonio area.{mosads}

“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, apologize, and his brother’s campaign should disavow it.”

Trump visited Texas on Wednesday to meet with local officials and victims of Saturday’s deadly mass shooting at a Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, where 22 people were killed by a shooter who had expressed anti-immigrant and racist sentiments online in a manifesto.