Donald Trump Jr. Slams Beto O'Rourke as an 'Irish Guy Pretending to Be Hispanic'

Democratic Senate candidate and current Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas is an "Irish guy pretending to be Hispanic" and thus lacks authenticity, according to Donald Trump Jr. on Monday.

Trump Jr., who campaigned earlier this month for O'Rourke's Republican opponent Senator Ted Cruz, was citing an Associated Press report about the upstart O'Rourke and Democrats around the country craving authenticity in candidates.

"What's authentic about an Irish guy pretending to be Hispanic? Asking for some friends [in] Texas," the president's eldest child tweeted.

Trump Jr. has increasingly taken aim at Democrats and his father's political foes ahead of the crucial 2018 midterm elections. After blasting O'Rourke, Trump Jr. sniped at Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and the release of a DNA test earlier on Monday revealing strong evidence of Native American ancestry.

"Amazing. As if having to bring in other genetics (read the actual article) and still only ending up with only 1/512th wasn't enough of a joke," he tweeted.

Trump Jr., who reportedly may have his own political aspirations, spoke in favor of Cruz at a rally in Wichita Falls, Texas, on October 3 as a Republican who had supported his father throughout the president's first term in office. He has also made other appearances on Cruz's behalf.

"He's fought alongside of my father ever since on every major vote, for every policy piece, for everything," Trump Jr. said, according to The Texas Tribune. "He put aside any of those differences and he did what's right for you because that's his job and he is doing it."

O'Rourke has been referred to by the Hispanic nickname "Beto," rather than his legal name of Robert, since his childhood growing up in El Paso. Still, Cruz had used the name change to deride his competitor in a radio ad: "Liberal Robert wanted to fit in, so he changed his name to Beto."

O'Rourke explained the nickname to The Late Show host Stephen Colbert and showed a picture of himself depicting the name on his sweater when he was a 4-year-old.

"Just in case I forgot, my mom had it stitched on my sweater," O'Rourke said in September.

While Trump Jr.'s implication that O'Rourke was going by the nickname in order to gain more Hispanic votes is false, the Democrat does have a decisive edge among the demographic. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, O'Rourke led Cruz 61 percent to 37 percent among Hispanic voters. O'Rourke also garnered support form 97 percent of black voters to Cruz's 3 percent, but Cruz received 69 percent support from whites and O'Rourke only 30 percent.

Overall, O'Rourke has trailed Cruz by as much as 10 points and as little as two points this year, but had yet to take a lead despite a massive fundraising effort. O'Rourke pulled in $38.1 million in campaign contributions during the third quarter, crushing Cruz's haul of $12.1 million in the same quarter.