It is impossible to be too cynical (about the Democratic-legacy media axis)

Eric Swalwell has been (at best) an adulterer and sexual predator throughout his career in Congress. The Democratic Party didn't care, until he became a problem in the California governor's race.

Beware the overly jacked Congressdude.

Until last week, Eric Swalwell, who represents a deep blue district in northern California, was a leading Democratic candidate to become the state’s next governor. Now Swalwell, whose chin and shoulders suggest heavy steroid use, extreme self-regard, or both, is in what savvy political analysts call deep doodoo.

Turns out Swalwell — who is married with children — has been putting his, umm, representative in places he shouldn’t. On Friday, CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle ran investigations about his alleged misconduct. One former staffer claims he raped her. Other women claim he hit on them, sent them unsolicited pictures (and I don’t mean family photos), or otherwise acted like Matt Gaetz during sorority week.

The Matt Gaetz reference is deliberate. Let’s not pretend Democrats are the only ones guilty of this nonsense. Cory Mills and Tony Gonzalez would like a word as well. Congress these days appears to be split between drooling veterans of the War of 1812 and The Real Horndogs of Capitol Hill. Coincidentally, it is not exactly fulfilling its Article I responsibilities to the max. Sigh.¹

But I digress. Yes, it seems beyond doubt at this point Swalwell is a serial adulterer and sexual predator who at one point allegedly had an “improper” relationship with a Chinese spy with the too-good-to-be-true name of “Fang Fang.”

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Hey, everyone makes mistakes!

What’s fascinating, though, is that the Democratic Party’s grandees and their allies (bootlickers is such an ugly word) in the legacy media were apparently willing to, erm, overlook Eric’s wandering eye — until he became a political liability.

The women who have spoken out about Swalwell are either former staffers or other professional Democrats, like Ally Sammarco. Congressional Washington is a small place, and northern California’s Democratic elite is even more provincial. The Fang Fang allegations have been rattling around for years. Swalwell was far from discreet; he appears to have cast his net far and wide, even as his national reputation among Democrats grew thanks to his aggressive attacks on President Trump.

The idea that top Democrats or political reporters did not know what Swalwell was doing is frankly ludicrious.

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(Chin music: Eric Swalwell tries damage control. Spoiler alert: it’s not working.)

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So why have these allegations suddenly exploded now?

Well, California has a very unusual primary system for its gubernatorial race. On June 2 (or before, with early voting), all registered California voters can vote for governor in a single nonpartisan statewide primary, called a “jungle primary.” The top two candidates move to the November general election.

In theory, by allowing independent voters to cast ballots, a jungle primary can help produce more moderate candidates than separate party primaries would.

But Swalwell is just one of eight major California Democrats are running in the primary, compared to only two Republicans. And although California is a heavily blue state, Democrats are increasingly worried that they may split the vote so badly that both Republicans will advance, putting the nation’s largest state in Republican hands for the first time since The Terminator ran it.

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(I didn’t say it, USA Today said it)

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Forcing Swalwell out of the race would go a long way to solving this problem.

And so, after years of ignoring his misdeeds, media outlets and top Democrats are suddenly highlighting them, and calling for him to drop out of the California primary. Notably, Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, called in a post on X for Swalwell to quit the primary — but did not mention whether Swalwell should resign his House seat.

It is impossible to be too cynical.

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Or just donate! Eric Swalwell won’t thank you, but I will

1. Though Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Wilbur Mills might argue it’s ever been thus.