Who was Beto O'Rourke? We still don't know.

SAN DIEGO -- Bye bye, Beto. Or, as they say in the universe of cultural appropriation, adios.

Last week, Robert Francis O'Rourke -- who had been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, profiled in an HBO documentary and featured on the cover of Vanity Fair declaring that he was "born" to make a White House bid -- announced that he was leaving the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

O'Rourke is the epitome of cultural appropriation. Not since Elvis Presley borrowed his songs and his swivel from lesser-known black performers in the 1950s -- i.e., "Hound Dog" from Big Mama Thornton, "Don't Be Cruel" from Otis Blackwell, etc. -- have Americans seen such a brazen grab at diversity born of entitlement.

During his short-lived presidential bid, which never caught fire and never should have been launched at all, O'Rourke displayed this odd tic. In debates, he liked to answer questions in Spanish -- even when the subject had nothing to do with Latinos.

How absurd. In a primary process where the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white, here is this Texan speaking to, well, whom exactly?

The quirk caught the attention of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who thought it was "humorous" that the answer in Spanish often didn't match the question in English.

The language gimmick seemed phony, just like O'Rourke.

In his lyrics, Bruce Springsteen has described himself as a "rich man in a poor man's shirt."

That's Beto. A former English major at Columbia University who once played in a punk rock band and worked as a male nanny for a family on New York's Upper West Side, O'Rourke has a father-in-law who is a billionaire. He also has a personal net worth estimated at about $10 million.

Half of that amount came from real estate holdings he inherited from his father, Pat O'Rourke. The businessman and politician once told reporters that he gave his son that ethnic nickname because he thought it might help if the boy ever wanted to enter politics in the heavily Mexican American city of El Paso.

Robert Francis O'Rourke was also a symbol of white male privilege. Sure, it's good to be king. But it's even better to be part of society's most-favored demographic.

In a 2018 Texas Senate race, O'Rourke raised more than $70 million to run against incumbent Ted Cruz, one of the most unpopular politicians in America. And he still lost. No worries. The Democrat is a master of failing up, parlaying a defeat into what looked to his supporters like a victory.

After the election, the former congressman did what most average Latinos do after a setback: He spent a few months not working but wandering through America to find himself.

Then, apparently on a whim, he jumped into a crowded presidential field, where he enjoyed support from white liberals who want to feel like they voted for a Mexican candidate without actually doing so. On the menu of Democratic choices, he was the chimichanga -- a fake Mexican dish born in the USA that is not too spicy.

My Texas friends who are Democrats tell me to give the poor guy a break. But, I'm curious. As a real-life Mexican American, what part of The Ballad of Beto O'Rourke is not supposed to offend me? Besides, I've seen my pals on the Latino left get bent out of shape by a lot less. They're just used to giving Democrats a free pass.

An autopsy is in order. What killed O'Rourke's campaign? In a word: guns. His greatest moment was when he left the campaign trail and returned to El Paso, after a white male went on a hunting spree for Mexicans and Mexican Americans and murdered 22 people, while wounding 24 others.

O'Rourke was right to call out the media for being reluctant to connect the violence that wrecked his hometown to anti-Latino vitriol oozing out of the White House. But he was wrong to get carried away and threaten to go door to door and confiscate high-powered rifles, aka people's personal property.

Now we know. In this game, it's OK to make a grab for Mexicans' nicknames, language and culture. Just don't try to grab a gun zealot's weapon of war. That, you cannot do.

O'Rourke is returning to El Paso, but says he is not interested in running in another Texas Senate race in 2020 against Republican John Cornyn.

I predict the Irish Catholic will get out of politics. He might even drop the "Beto" and become "Robert Francis" again. Then, in keeping with his sense of entitlement, I bet he'll enter the priesthood and try to become pope.

========

Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.