I am sad to see KELO Radio’s Greg Belfrage resort to the snowflake term “doxxing” to criticize Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro for posting public information about big Trump donors in San Antonio.
For the record, Rep. Castro said exactly this:
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’ [Rep. Joaquin Castro, Tweet, 2019.08.05].
Rep. Castro accompanied that tweet with this list of donors:
Belfrage supports his outrage by posting criticism of Castro from a variety of media outlets, but they are all wrong.
Rep. Castro bears zero moral fault here. He published campaign finance information, just as I have here and frequently do about South Dakota’s political players. Our laws make the names of individuals and organizations public knowledge because the public has a right to know who is spending big money to back certain candidates and proposals. Such information helps us track who has influence with our elected officials, who might be getting special favors from elected officials, and who might be making bad decisions with their money.
The moral fault lies with people foolish or mean enough to not only vote for Trump but to spend money to help his cancer spread through the body politic. Supporting Donald Trump and all the damage he does to this nation should cause shame. You don’t get to take a $5,600 punch at the general welfare by supporting Archie Bunker for President and not face people who rightfully ask, “What were you thinking?”
Giving money to a candidate or a ballot question is and should be a public statement, as public as standing on a street corner and shouting, “Impeach Trump!” or wearing the nice blue “Make America Proud Again” cap that my friend John Cunningham gave me. If you don’t want to be criticized for making such a statement, you need to keep your statement and your money to yourself and stay out of the public arena.
Joaquin Castro didn’t “dox” anyone (and that’s a term I’d like thrown out of our vernacular). He simply directed our attention to citizens who, despite all their disposable wealth, don’t want to face criticism for their political statements.
Tump supporters fear being boycotted. As we found out during the civil rights era, boycotts work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/us/politics/castro-trump-donors.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Congress needs to right this malicious wrong immediately, and protect the protected class from having their widdle feelers hurt. Is nothing sacred?
Trump stiffed the city of El Paso for over $500,000 for his last political rally there, maybe some of those donors Castro named would like to get together and pay off another one of Trump’s debts.
David, I wonder what Trump supporters are really afraid of: people acting as fully informed participants in the free market to spend their money as they see fit and to avoid diverting their money toward things they don’t support? What could be more American or capitalist than consumers making fully informed purchasing decisions? Laissez rouler le marché libre!
If they’re afraid of letting people know they support Trump, they must deep down feel ashamed.
Good grief, this is such a bad comparison. “Doxxing” is when someone digs up personal, private information on someone and publishes it with the intent to harass them. Women in particular have been subject to doxxing on social media by having their name, home address, phone number, etc. published with the intent of internet randos stalking them, sexually harassing them, and making death threats. Publishing the names of a person’s family and pets, or their daily routine, with obvious intent to intimidate, silence, or harass — that is doxxing.
If publishing readily available public records is “doxxing,” then so is publishing the minutes of the county commission meeting, and who applied for building permits. If a person’s political contributions bring him or her embarrassment, that’s unfortunate — but it’s not doxxing. Non-Republicans in South Dakota know very well that political contributions are public record, and are very careful not to make any that would harm their business or professional relationships. This is not a new thing.
People need to be less gullible and not fall for mendacious false equivalences out of a well-meaning desire for “civility.”
Exactly. Public records are public specifically because everyone can and should know about them to make informed civic choices. The fact that you spend money to support a candidate should never be a secret.
I think shame is a big part of it for most of these big Trump donors. These are people who want their tax cuts and deregulation, but aren’t the haters. Some of them might even be called RINOs. This is the third basket of Trump supporters, the one Hillary didn’t get around to mentioning. This third basket contains the leftovers of the old Republican Party: greedy swamp dwellers and upscale urbanites and suburbanites. These are the people who can afford to give the maximum contribution and don’t care to associate with or to be associated with the basket of deplorables, in which basket I would place Belfrage.
I am reminded of ‘The Dixie Chicks’. The apologetic statement about being from Texas as was President George Bush. They complained about having freedom of speech rights and people shouldn’t be boycotting their concerts. Spending my money is my freedom of speech right so I don’t need to conduct a business transaction with everyone or anyone, that is my right. People have freedom of speech, yet not freedom from the consequences of that speech
Francis, what in the world was so upsetting about a woman from Texas claiming she was ashamed the potus was from her home state? Is that treason? Is it subversive? Is it as bad as Drumpf egging followers to hurt protesters and he would pay their legal bills?
Did the Chicks run around whining that people who disagree with them are enemies of the state? They are anti American for not likingb the ladies?
I’m assuming that all the donors are screaming foul because they want “plausible deniability” for the day when having been a Trump supporter will be a liability in future political campaigns. Or future anything.
mfi,
I am not saying anything about the political nature of anything said. I was attempting to point out that knowing someone’s views on topics allows me the decide where I will spend my money. I believe Jouquin Castro was simply informing people the views of some they were doing business in order to make informed decisions about their spending. I maybe shouldn’t have posted from the ER.
I may have misinterpreted your comment, Francis, and if so I offer my humblest apologies.
Why would anyone care about anything Belfrage has to say on any subject? This a joker talking to himself and a few shut-ins whose only source of information is from Fox. I guess he fancy’s himself as the Sean Hannity of this rural area of the US. Hey Greg, you may become more popular if you get a trump dummy and take your ventriloquist show on the road.
Joaquin Castro didn’t “dox” anyone. As Chris S. said, that’s not doxxing. As others have said, Malicious MAGAt supporters don’t want to hurt their businesses, they’re ashamed, etc. Hence the GOP love for PACs and other means of hiding their IDs.
Supporting Malicious MAGAt is a shameful act due to his cruelty and rank incompetence.
Trumpy went off his rocker about this, today. He senses big money will stay away if it becomes common to have your name released by Dems. Do it, every time and in every state, from now on.
Donald Pay, good job identifying the inner shame afflicting those Trump donors. They know they’ve gotten into bed with an incompetent racist jerk, a guy they’d never do business with or hire in their own companies but who promised to give them their tax cuts and deregulation. They know they’ve sold their souls for their petty selfish interests. Some part of them feels deep shame for doing that. They’re not worried that some liberal isn’t going to come buy shoes or or groceries or whatever at one of their stores; they just don’t want to be held accountable for their own lack of integrity. They don’t want any public reminder of the fact that they’ve forfeited their moral authority for personal gain.
Francis, you’re right: don’t tweet from the ER! Get better first!
The comparison to the Dixie Chicks isn’t all bad. Francis fairly reminds us of the point that Joaquin Castro is making: with First Amendment rights come First Amendment responsibility. If you want to support or criticize the President, you have to recognize that some people will criticize you for taking that position. Own your speech.
The extent to which we want our political disagreements to inform or dictate our personal economic activities is up to each of us. I’ve played mini-golf at Wylie Park, and the Novstrups got some of that money. Oh well—my family likes mini-golf.
My friend DeLon Mork backs Republicans with his money, but he runs the best Dairy Queen in South Dakota, and I’ll never turn down a chance to eat there just because he and his Retailers Association and I disagree on certain candidates and a few important public policies… and I hope he’ll never turn down an opportunity to take my money and hand me a tray of Blizzards just because I want to tax his business income.
But backing Donald Trump is more than a political disagreement. It’s a sign that one is willing to put aside evidence, rule of law, and concerns about competence and basic human decency just to get what one wants and keep outsiders from getting it. Supporting Donald Trump is a sign of social pathology. If I hear a certain business is a big Trump backer, and if I have reasonable alternatives available in the marketplace, I will happily and publicly deny that Trumpist threat my money and encourage others to join me in that effort.
Folks who don’t like the Dixie Chicks music or politics are welcome to do the same. The Dixie Chicks, the San Antonio business community, and everyone else who counts on public trust and goodwill to make a buck is welcome to decide the extent to which they want to comment on public affairs and take a chance of alienating customers.
Indeed, Debbo: Trumpists appear to have trouble understanding certain terms, like “dox,” “political correctness,” “First Amendment,” “white supremacy”….
39 year old vet picked up 13 year old who would not remove his hat or stand for National Anthem, breaking the kids skull.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/montana-man-slams-13-year-old-breaks-skull-hat-national-anthem.html
His excuse is he was following Drumpf’s orders. But the Dixie Chicks were ashamed. Did somebody body slam Texas and I missed it?
Mike, I read about the vicious attack on the boy who was exercising his 1st amendment rights. I hope the scumbag that perpetrated that malicious child abuse spends years in prison.
I don’t believe the Dixie Chicks were ashamed of what they’d done or the position they’d taken. I do know that those who loved GWB, Darth Cheney and their war mongering did their best to heap shame upon the Chicks and run them out of the country/western music business.