Donald Trump Jr. said the list of donors to President Donald Trump tweeted out by Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro was reminiscent of the “kill list” that was made by the man who allegedly killed 9 people, and injured 26 others over the weekend in Dayton, Ohio.
“With the Joaquin Castro craziness. Putting out a list. That list screams like the Dayton, Ohio, shooter’s list, right?” Trump Jr. said Wednesday on Fox & Friends.
The show’s co-hosts pushed back, pointing out the difference between the lists.
“Just to reiterate. The hit list from the guy from Dayton. That was a kill list. The Castro list was a list of donors,” co-host Steve Doocy said.
Trump replied that while the two lists were not the same, Castro’s list could emboldened people on the fringes.
“You have fringe crazies on all sides,” Trump Jr. said. “They see that. Now you’re going after ordinary citizens.”
Before the tragedy, alleged shooter Connor Betts had been expelled from school after school officials found a list of people he wanted to “rape, kill and skin.”
Castro came under fire Tuesday after posting the names and businesses of San Antonio donors to Trump on his Twitter account. (RELATED: Donald Trump Jr. Calls Anti-Israel Sentiment Among Democrats ‘Deeply Troubling’)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) speaks during a news conference about the resolution he has sponsored to terminate President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration February 25, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“When a radical left-wing politician polling 0% does this for either attention or a call to action, it is pretty scary,” Trump Jr. said. “That was same thing that the Dayton, Ohio shooter did. People should be fed up with this nonsense.”
Trump Jr. may have been referring to Castro’s twin brother Julian, who is in the midst of a long-shot campaign for president.
Castro’s list was seen by some as potentially dangerous, given the heightened political tensions of the moment. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise issued a sharp rebuke Tuesday to Castro, saying that individual citizens shouldn’t be targeted for their political beliefs.
“People should not be personally targeted for their political views. Period. This isn’t a game. It’s dangerous, and lives are at stake. I know this firsthand,” Scalise said.
Scalise himself survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017 that was allegedly carried out by a former Bernie Sanders’ campaign volunteer as part of a mass assassination attempt targeting Republican members of Congress.