HUD’s Castro: My Opinion of Trump Has Not Changed

Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Julian Castro sent a very mixed message in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, standing by his previous negative statements over President-Elect Donald Trump, while questioning his victory and preparedness for his new job.

In an interview on “CBS This Morning,” Castro defined Tuesday’s results as a “shuffle the deck kind of election” fueled by “frustration with Washington, D.C.” He complained that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was hobbled by the “constant barrage on the email issue,” although he continued to praise her efforts as a candidate.

But when asked about his statements from earlier this year that Trump was unfit for the Oval Office, Castro was anything but gracious to the next president.

“My opinion about whether he should be president hasn’t changed from last night to today, but I do think that it’s up to up to all of us as Americans to do what we can to unite the country,” he said. “It’s up to (Trump) more than anybody to make sure he approaches the presidency differently from how he approached the campaign. Being president isn’t like being a campaigner. One of the things he benefited from is very, very low expectations.”

Castro also balked at reports that Trump attracted more Hispanic voters than Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, noting that Trump “lost 70 percent of Hispanics” while adding that a strong Hispanic turnout “made the difference in states like Colorado.”