We just had one national “transformational” mixed-race Democratic politician with daddy issues: President Barack Obama. But another may be on the way, President Pro Tempore of the California Senate Kevin de León is primarying Senator Dianne Feinstein, up in 2018. Is this a sign that the Democratic elite is about to be devoured by its identity politics Frankenstein monster?
De León is also a rabid Hispanic nationalist (which is apparently OK, unlike white nationalism). He was the author of the recent bill, signed into law by Governor Brown, to make California a sanctuary state. He openly boasted that this was designed to thwart what he called Trump’s “perverse and inhumane deportation machine” (a.k.a. enforcing U.S. law) and grandly declared that the state is “building a wall of justice against President Trump’s xenophobic, racist and ignorant immigration policies.” He also declared President Trump’s law enforcement policies are built on “white supremacy” and “constant and systematic targeting of diverse cities and states” [Kevin de León says Trump law enforcement policy based on 'principles of white supremacy,' by Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2017].
This fury against the U.S. is a constant of De Leon’s career. As a state senator in 2014, he accompanied Governor Jerry Brown on a state visit to Mexico City, where he bashed Republicans although on foreign soil. Even though this was a year before Trump had even announced, while the GOP was still in full pandering mode, he told the media that “a group of far-right extremists (ultraderechistas extremistas) has kidnapped/hijacked the Republican Party and the hostages are the innocent immigrant children.” And the Mexican government appreciates his service.
Speaking in Mexico in 2015, Mexico’s very-European looking then-Consul to Los Angeles Carlos Sada (now Mexico’s Undersecretary for North America) described Kevin de León as “the second most important man in the politics of California.” Kevin de León has now set his sights higher. He is primarying Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has been in the Senate since 1992. He shouldn’t be counted out. Four supervisors in San Francisco (Feinstein’s home town) have already endorsed him [4 SF supervisors back de León against Feinstein in U.S. Senate race, by Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2017] (Of course, in the California Senate, De León is currently dealing with the sexual harassment case of fellow Senator Tony Mendoza—with whom he was actually sharing a house(!)—but it looks like the he will be able to survive [Senate leader Kevin de León announces new complaint policy, moves out of his house, by Taryn Luna, Sacramento Bee, November 12, 2017]).
As with Barack Obama, there are a lot of questions about Kevin de León—starting with where he is really from. In 2015, Mexican Consul Sada characterized De León as “a young man, Mexican-American, born in Tijuana and with a very important binational orientation.” But according to a recent profile in the Sacramento Bee, [The untold story of how Kevin Leon became Kevin de León, by Christopher Cadelago, February 21, 2017], although De Leon “identifies strongly with Mexican culture,” he was actually born of Guatemalan parents in Los Angeles in 1966—quite likely an anchor baby.
His mother was definitely illegal and probably his father as well. Both parents were Guatemalan, and De Leon revealed that his father was at least part-Chinese. Both his parents were married to other people at the time.
Young De Leon, whose original name was (and still legally is) Kevin Leon (Leon being his father's surname), was raised by his single mother, spending time on both sides of the border, in “Tijuana, Baja California, and Logan Heights in San Diego.” De Leon met his father only once. However, when he was asked by a classmate if he had a father, the question lingered:
From that point on, he said, he began writing “de” in front of his last name, “thinking that I would somehow connect with my father.” Adding two letters “was never a stretch,” de León said, because ‘de’ means ‘of’ in Spanish. Though he’s used the name—with an accent—for the last 30 years, de León never changed it on legal documents… “I didn’t want to be viewed as a bastard child,” he [Kevin de León] said. In his search for structure, and for roots, he added, the name “de León gave me that sense that I belonged to something, to somebody—even though at the end of the day I didn’t.”
A young man writes his surname differently to connect with his absentee father; very reminiscent of Obama’s Dreams From My Father obsessions. And by De León’s own admission hasn’t “reconciled his family issues and doesn’t know if he ever will.” Of course, we can have sympathy for children who have irregular family situations (ever more common nowadays). But we shouldn’t have bad public policy foisted upon us so people can work out personal issues. And if Kevin de León is elected to the Senate, he’ll be pushing the Hispanic Open Borders Agenda, big-time. He even openly defends lawbreaking. In testimony to the California Senate, De León complained:
Half of my family would be eligible for deportation under the executive order, because they got a false social security card, they got a false identification, they got a false driver’s license prior to us passing AB 60, they got a false green card, and anyone who has family members who are undocumented knows that almost entirely everybody has secured some sort of false identification.” [Senate Leader: ‘Half Of My Family’ Eligible For Deportation Under Trump Order, CBS, February 6, 2017]
Wait, did he really defend fake ID?
“That’s what you need to survive, to work,” he added. “They are eligible for massive deportation.”
But…shouldn’t they be? In the fawning Sacramento Bee story about his background, De León “clarified” he wasn’t referring to his family in the present, as they since have become “legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens.” (That’s a condemnation of our current policies if there ever was one.) They also have apparently had “U.S.-born kids.” Needless to say, this “clarification” doesn’t involve him changing his support for illegal immigration and fake IDs. Kevin de León’s incumbent opponent, Dianne Feinstein, has an F- from Numbers USA. There was a time when she made sensible noises about illegal immigration, but that was long ago. However, she did call for giving President Trump a “chance,” which led to outraged calls she should retire. [California Senate leader Kevin de León announces he will challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein, By Seema Mehta and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2017]. And De León’s real opponent, in his own mind at least, is not Feinstein, but Donald Trump. Soon after announcing his candidacy, De León thundered about the need for senator “fully resistant to Trump’s presidency” [California Senate leader Kevin de León announces he will challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein, by Seema Mehta and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2017] In his candidacy announcement, Kevin De León declared:
“We now stand at the front lines of a historic struggle for the very soul of America, against a president without one. Every day, his administration wages war on our people and our progress. He disregards our voices. Demonizes our diversity. Attacks our civil rights, our clean air, our health access and our public safety” [Kevin de León announces he’ll run against Feinstein for California Senate, by Maeve Reston, CNN, October 15, 2017]
So what can we learn from the Kevin de León challenge, National Question-wise?
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here ; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
