As Democrats continue their sharp turn towards the left and a new generation of extremists ascends to party leadership positions, the American people seem to be on the cusp of sending yet another powerful message to the DNC in this year’s midterm elections; and Democrats are running scared. In recent weeks we’ve seen politicians once thought to be unbeatable, like Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, running ads claiming she isn’t one of ‘those crazy Democrats’ in a desperate attempt to distance herself from the Andrew Gillum’s of the party and reach out to the moderates who sent her to Washington in the first place. We’ve seen Senator Joe Manchin, once a one-man political machine in his home state of West Virginia, reduced to just another politician fighting for his political life in a brutal re-election campaign, and longtime power brokers like Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey on the verge of total collapse. Let’s be honest, 2018 won’t be a good year for Democrats, especially in the US Senate, where Republicans are not only poised to maintain their current majority but expand it. In a political atmosphere like this it comes as no surprise that Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, the former running mate of Hillary Clinton, has tried his damndest to tone down the rhetoric and trick independents and moderates into giving him 6 more years in Washington.
In a recent campaign ad, Senator Kaine proclaimed himself the national defense candidate, blasting his opponent Corey Stewart over his vocal opposition to this year’s trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill, claiming that because of his opposition to deficit spending Stewart is a ‘danger’ to national security and must be stopped. In another ad, Kaine highlighted his support for a return to vocational education, a common sense idea supported by Virginians on both sides of the aisle. During the ad Virginians are told of Kaine’s own vocational background, and that because of his unique skill set he was able to travel to Honduras on a Catholic mission trip and offer his services to the local population. On the surface, Kaine’s participation in a mission trip to a 3rd world country appears both relatable and admirable, but this was no ordinary mission trip.
In 1980, as US-backed governments in Central America waged bloody civil wars against Marxist guerrillas, a 22-year-old Tim Kaine arrived in Honduras, beginning what the New York Times has referred to as both a ‘spiritual and political awakening.’ Soon, the young Kaine became immersed in liberation theology, a radical fusion of Jesuit teachings and Marxist doctrine promoted by the Soviet Union and strongly opposed by the Vatican. Traveling city to city, town to town, Kaine networked with fellow adherents to liberation theology, and for all intents and purposes became radicalized. Anti-Americanism was on the rise in Honduran Jesuit communities, and Kaine bought it hook, line, and sinker. ‘It was a very politicizing experience for me,’ Kaine has said of his time in Honduras. ‘Because the US was doing a lot of bad stuff. It made me very angry. I mean, I still feel it.’
After becoming radicalized, Kaine set his sights south, taking a short trip to Nicaragua and seeking out Father Jim Carney, a Jesuit priest from Chicago who had been expelled from Honduras in the early days of Kaine’s stay due to his close ties to Communist insurgents. Though little is known of Kaine’s time with Father Carney, what is known is that only three years later Carney was part of a 96-man, Cuban-trained invasion force that entered Honduras by way of Nicaragua in hopes of triggering a Communist revolution with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the US-backed Honduran government. The invasion force, led by Jose Reyes Mata a former comrade of Che Guevara, was swiftly defeated. Although Father Carney was killed as a result of the invasion, the exact circumstances surrounding his death have been called into question, with some claiming he died in combat, and others claiming he died after being captured, tortured, and thrown from a helicopter by members of the Honduran military.
While Americans may expect the minds of public servants to have been shaped by men like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, or Roosevelt, Senator Kaine has made it clear that despite coming of age in a nation where freedom of the individual is valued above all else, his mind was shaped deep in the jungles of Central America by Father Jim Carney and his comrades. It should come as no shock that as a result of this ‘political awakening,’ Kaine has spent his career acting as a political wolf in sheep’s clothing; running for office as a moderate but championing causes of the radical left upon inauguration. Much like his former running mate Hillary Clinton, who came of age as an all American girl and supporter of Barry Goldwater before being introduced to works of Saul Alinksy, Kaine has hidden his radical background behind a veil of centrism, patiently waiting for the pendulum of the Democratic Party to swing far enough to the left to finally reveal his true colors. The pendulum has swung, and in 2018 there is no more pretending. Tim Kaine is a left-wing extremist, and he governs like one. He doesn’t represent the values of everyday Virginians or everyday Americans. In the words of Claire McCaskill, Tim Kaine is ‘one of those crazy Democrats.’