Gang of Three: Michelle and Shawn Steel, with Vietnamese consul.

It just never ends, with these two Communist sympathizers and enablers, Shawn Steel and his Congresswoman wife Michelle. They just can’t stop, with all the Communism.

Many of us already know, and I hope all District 45 voters know, that soon after the Steels’ dear friend Donald Trump became President, Michelle’s svengali husband Shawn brought, as his special guests, several representatives of the Chinese Communist government to an invitation-only event with Trump in San Diego, to influence his foreign policy and then report back to their bosses in Beijing.

Shawn Steel did this in May of 2017, and he has never explained himself (or said whether the Chinese Communist government paid him for this or how much.) This was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2020, and then by the OC Register. If you can’t read the original WSJ article (subscription) we printed the most important parts of it on the Orange Juice Blog a couple years ago.

This is all old news to readers of this blog, but if you didn’t know, then NOW YOU KNOW.

Then THIS week, Jay Chen reminds us of something Michelle did as Supervisor in 2016 that caused a lot of outrage among the patriotic folks of Little Saigon: She publicly honored Ho Xuan Son, the Consulate General of Communist Vietnam, with a certificate of recognition:

And these two dare to Red-Bait American Patriots?

Shaped by the McCarthyite 1950’s, and either not bothered by irony or (more likely) enjoying it, Commie-coddling Shawn Steel likes to call his and his wife’s political opponents “Communists,” just as a lazy way to discredit them. This is especially true now that his wife has been running in Little Saigon, where so much of the community has traumatic memories of having to leave their homeland when it fell to Communism.

The Steels think the patriotic folks of Little Saigon are fools whom they can easily manipulate, just by dropping the C word.

Just look at what they did to their opponent Jay Chen two years ago – Jay, a Navy Commander who actually spent time in Korea defending Michelle’s homeland from Kim Jong-il’s Communists of the North, AND whose parents came from Taiwan, which broke off from China over Communism!

But Taiwanese are “ethnic Chinese,” and THE STEELS ARE ALSO RACIST! So they turned the diverse Asian-American enclaves of the district against each other, by convincing Koreans that they couldn’t trust Jay because he was somehow “China’s Choice,” and counting on Viets to reject anyone they claim is “Communist.” Sadly that-all worked two years ago.

This year the Steels must be tearing their hair out, trying to figure out how to red-bait Derek Tran! Not only is Derek ALSO a veteran (of the Army,) he is the son of Vietnamese Boat People who risked their lives in the 1980’s fleeing from Communist Vietnam – just like thousands of Little Saigon citizens! Oh, what will Shawn and Michelle do now? Well, we can definitely count on them to do the one thing they do best: “LIE – CHEAT – STEEL®!”

But WHY do the Steels love Communists so much?

It’s a good question, and we should include the Steels’ favorite President in it – why do the Steels and Trump love Communists so much? We’re sure they have nothing but disdain for the original idea of Communism – a more equitable distribution of resources. And of course Communism in most places devolved from that ideal long ago, to simple anti-democratic authoritarianism. And THAT is what attracts both Donald Trump and the Steels, like flies to you-know-what.

It’s the authoritarianism, friends. The notoriously unfiltered Trump drools scandalously over dictators of the “right” and “left,” whether it’s Putin, Xi, Orban, Erdowan, Kim Jung-il, or the “Democratic People’s Republic of Vietnam.” And the commie-coddling Michelle and Shawn Steel drool scandalously over the wanna-be autocrat Trump.

Above all, you can do business with a dictator. They don’t need to worry about going home and dealing with a parliament or Congress or courts or a voting population. They have their people UNDER CONTROL. What connects the Steels and Trump with these autocrats “right” or “left” (aside from the brute “strength” that makes Trump sport mini-wood) is their shared contempt and hatred of democracy, whether it means leading an insurrection to overturn an election you don’t like or stuffing ballot boxes in Little Saigon.

And when these autocrats get together, you should feel – we should ALL feel – like the animals left out of the farmhouse gathering at the end of Orwell’s Animal Farm, looking in through the windows:

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm.

And here is the Derek Tran press release that occasioned this Fathers’ Day meditation:

For Immediate Release: June 13, 2024
Contact: press@derektranforcongress.com

Michelle Steel Honors Vietnamese Communist Officials

Michelle Steel Honors The Communist Regime That Derek Tran’s Family Fled

Local activists have condemned Steel for this blatant contradiction, pointing out her cozy relationship with the very government she publicly condemns. This scandal adds to the ongoing controversy surrounding Steel’s ties to corrupt foreign governments. Reports from the Wall Street Journal and the Orange County Register alleged her husband, Shawn Steel, was linked to efforts by Chinese foreign nationals to influence the Trump administration through political donations Shawn Steel facilitated.

“Not only does the Steel family peddle access to Communist officials — Michelle Steel honors them with recognition,” said campaign spokesperson Sean Gregory. “Derek Tran’s family fled the communist regime in Vietnam and he joins Vietnamese community leaders in condemning Michelle Steel’s actions.”

Michelle Steel’s corruption is particularly egregious given that she represents the 45th District, home to the largest Vietnamese community in the country. Her consistent votes against the interests of middle-class Southern California families, local pay-to-play schemes and sweetheart deals beneficial to her wealthy campaign donors, and extreme anti-abortion crusades have made her one of the most corrupt and vulnerable Republican members of Congress.

Derek Tran, the Democratic challenger for the 45th District, brings a stark contrast to Steel’s corrupt practices. As the son of refugees who fled the communist regime in Vietnam, Derek Tran knows firsthand the dangers of such governments. After serving in the U.S. Army, Tran dedicated his life to public service, fighting for justice and accountability.