We’ve said it before – no, wait, that was everyone else who said it – that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” And surely Michelle and Shawn Steel are a couple of old dogs, are they not? And thus nobody should be surprised at them trying again, against Derek Tran, what worked four years ago on Jay Chen. Surprised, no; stunned and sickened, yes.
It was absurd and gross in 2020 when Steel “Red-Baited” her opponent Naval Commander Jay Chen, who’d actually spent time defending Michelle’s country of birth, South Korea, from their Communist neighbor in the North (but it worked with some just because Jay was ethnically Chinese.) It was doubly outrageous and perfectly ironic coming from a woman whose husband Shawn had taken money to hook up ACTUAL CHINESE COMMUNIST OFFICIALS with the incoming Trump team.
But surely, many thought, they wouldn’t have the gall to try the same thing on Army veteran Derek Tran, whose family fled Communist Vietnam, and went on to serve our country? Well, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” so it was only a matter of time. Especially now that the Steels are getting desperate as they lose ground in the polls. Well, look at me going on – here’s Team Derek:
For Immediate Release: October 7, 2024
Contact: press@derektranforcongress.com
Outrage Explodes in CA-45 as Vietnamese Community Condemns
Michelle Steel’s Despicable Red-Baiting Attack on Derek Tran
Steel’s Attack On The Proud Son of Vietnamese Refugees Backfires
Garden Grove, CA — Vietnamese American leaders and community members are condemning Michelle Steel after her latest campaign mailer accused Derek Tran, a U.S. Army veteran and the son of Vietnamese refugees, of communist sympathies. The attack has sparked widespread outrage, with over 100 people gathering in Little Saigon this weekend to protest Steel’s false and hurtful claims. Local leaders are demanding an immediate retraction of the mailers and an apology from Steel for her deceitful attacks.
Steel’s mailer [which we reprint below – OJB] accused Tran— whose family fled communist Vietnam, lost loved ones in the war and its aftermath and proudly identify as Boat People —of being sympathetic to the very regime they escaped. The community is calling this attack not only offensive but deeply harmful to the Vietnamese families who have suffered under Communism.
Local Vietnamese-language media is widely covering the community’s response [translated]:
- TD Media: Protest against Michelle Steel Appropriating the Republic of Vietnam flag in the Election Season,
- Nguoi Viet Chanel: Citizens of Little Saigon protest Congresswoman Michelle Steel appropriation of the Republic of Vietnam Flag, (The) Labeling of her Opponent (As a Communist)
- Minh Giang- Truc dien TV: Little Saigon Quakes as Protestors rally against Michelle Steel: What do the protesters say?
- Pho Viet Media: Orange County citizens organize to boycott Representative Michelle Steel with what reasoning? (Protesters) Simultaneously Support Candidate Derek Tran
- Pho Viet Media: Dr. Ngo Ba Dinh analyzes why the community is rejecting Michelle Steel, supporting Derek Tran
- Nguoi Viet Daily News: Large numbers of Vietnamese Americans protest Representative Michelle Steel
- Pho Bolsa TV: Protest on Bolsa opposing Representative Michelle Steel
The 45th District is home to the largest Vietnamese community in the United States, many of whom are refugees after fleeing the Communist regime after the Vietnam War in 1975. In 2016, local activists condemned Steel for honoring members of the Vietnamese Communist government with official certificates of recognition from her position as Orange County Supervisor.
More recently, Steel has come under intense scrutiny from Wall Street Journal and Orange County Register reporting that the Congresswoman’s husband and former business partner was caught trying to sell political access to Chinese Communist Party officials. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Orange County Register, donors with ties to the Chinese Communist Party gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s re-election campaign in exchange for access – efforts facilitated by Shawn Steel, Michelle’s husband. Michelle Steel made her fortune as a business partner to her husband, and the money Shawn Steel made peddling influence has now apparently found its way into Michelle Steel’s campaign coffers through her massive loans – once again raising serious questions about her commitment to opposing communist governments.
Steel also was caught trying to mislead her Vietnamese constituents about her own immigration story, claiming that her family “fled communism too”. In reality, records show that Steel, who was born after the Korean War, was the daughter of diplomats posted overseas for most of her upbringing, far from the struggles endured by true refugees.
With Steel’s favorability ratings dropping due to concerns over her extreme efforts to ban abortion nationwide as reported by the New York Times, and four national political forecasters– Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, FOX News, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball– recently moving this race in Tran’s favor, it’s clear that Tran has the momentum and is well-positioned to flip this critical seat in November.
Army Veteran Derek Tran is a DCCC Red To Blue candidate running in California’s 45th Congressional District which encompasses portions of Orange and Los Angeles Counties in Southern California. A majority-minority district, the District has the second largest AAPI population (36.97%) of any Congressional District, and the largest Vietnamese community in the country. President Biden won the current district lines by +6 points and it has a +6 point Democratic registration advantage. It includes all or part of the Cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Cerritos, Buena Park, Placentia, Hawaiian Gardens, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Artesia, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Brea, Lakewood, and Fullerton, as well as the unincorporated community of Rossmoor.
Use of Derek Tran’s military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Dept. of Defense or U.S. Army.
OK, finally, here’s the offending mailer:
(“Why does a member of the Communist Party support Derek Tran?” Paid for by Michelle Steel for Congress – not even hiding behind an I.E.!)
Translation: “Is supported by a member of the Communist Party of the United States – doesn’t talk about opposing China or Viet Nam is his platform – a representative of socialist ideology in the democratic party – Derek Tran – representative of extremist socialist ideology” WHATEVER. I guess the nugget of truth here is that some obscure Commie writer, Richard Green, thinks Derek is better than Michelle. So does most of the district and the nation. Fuck these people.
Michelle Steel is just a mail order bride. A puppet. Cut her some slack.
Nobody hated Knucklehead Smith or Jerry Mahoney