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 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.
Well one thing Steele can be credited as too why a candidate like Tran would associate with the perverts on Anna Drive (AKA ORANGE JUICE BLOG). It’s because apparently Derek, like Vern believes sexual harassment is OK if it’s a man belittling/accosting/assaulting a woman.
Right back to the Julio Perez days where giving a 17 year old porno DVD’s was compared to a recipie by Greg Diamond.
“You can take the vermin out of the cesspool but you can’t take the cesspool out of the vermin”
IN WHAT WORLD IS THIS APPROPRIATE?