The resignation of Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was accompanied by one of the most spectacular downfalls in political history. Just days ago, Swalwell was the leading Democratic candidate for governor of California and positioned as one of the two final candidates, with the other being a Republican. He expected that California Democrats, regardless of his unpopularity, would never vote for a Republican.
Now Swalwell has withdrawn from the race, quit Congress and even thrown out of the home of a billionaire who crashed him there during the scandal.
Swalwell continues to deny the allegations against him and has vowed to fight them.
To be clear, I have been one of Swalwell’s most outspoken critics over the past decade. But while I am not surprised by the allegations, I am surprised by how quickly Swalwell was abandoned by his political patrons in Congress and the unions.
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In Washington, Harry Truman advised politicians that if you want a friend in this town, get a dog. But even Swalwell’s dog, Penny, has yet to appear in public with him. She probably consults with her own dog crisis team.
Swalwell has spent his entire career protected by an enabling establishment and a liberal media machine. He was a made man in Washington, and those who made him protected him despite years of rumors and accusations of wrongdoing.
The media is content to call Swalwell a monster without delving into who created and released that monster. Swalwell is not a self-made man. He is a made man of the Democratic establishment.
He has never been a real legislator. A 2025 investigation found that he was outvoted in Congress by a colleague who had died months earlier. His value was his cruel instincts. He was always the first in a crowd. When Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, received death threats, it was Swalwell who mocked her. When he ran for governor, he promised not only to arrest ICE agents, but to deny them driver’s licenses and jobs. He sold unadulterated rage to a nation of rage addicts.
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His biggest patron was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who single-handedly saved Swalwell’s career when it emerged he had had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. She told the media: “I’m not worried about Mr. Swalwell.” That was enough for most of the media, and they slunk away.
When critics tried to remove him from the Secret Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, Pelosi shocked many by insisting he remain in the sensitive position, lashing out at those who “tried to make an issue out of this.”
Now Pelosi and her media allies are gone. Even Swalwell’s friend, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has been transformed into Claude Rains’ character, Capt. Louis Renault in the classic film “Casablanca,” saying he is “shocked” by the allegations.
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Gallego, who served as national campaign chairman for Swalwell’s 2020 presidential campaign, was pictured with him in a 2021 photo showing both men. bare-chested and sitting on camels during a luxury junket financed by Qatari business interests.
The photo has not aged well for Gallego, nor has his earlier lament that the Democratic Party “used to be the party of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Leaving Swalwell is a known move of political triage. By allowing Swalwell to succumb to the scandal, Pelosi and others hope to shield the Democratic establishment from any backlash after years of enabling his career. The media obeys as usual.
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The media will report on a scandal involving a leading Democrat if there is no real alternative. What’s interesting is how the Democratic establishment is now signaling that they want to destroy Swalwell quickly and surgically.
The media is content to call Swalwell a monster without delving into who created and released that monster. Swalwell is not a self-made man. He is a made man of the Democratic establishment.
The congressman’s alleged victims have lashed out not only at Swalwell, but at many in the establishment. They claim they were rebuffed when they tried to present their allegations to reporters.
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An independent reporter said he had made similar allegations about Swalwell to California Democrats since before Swalwell was elected to Congress. He too was rejected.
Swalwell was useful, and that made his ‘lust’ irrelevant. If even half of these accusations against him are true, it is a testament to the sense of debauchery that Swalwell developed in Washington for years.
He lost this political immunity this week and now faces real legal liability. That doesn’t mean Democrats won’t try to control the damage. They want Swalwell to make a deal to avoid investigations that will draw other Democrats into the vortex of the scandal.
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They’re counting on prosecutors in New York and California to produce the kind of controlled explosions seen in the construction industry, bringing down a hotel without damaging neighboring buildings.
The problem is that Republicans may not simply accept his resignation as a final act. They could call the women accusing Swalwell of crimes to testify and even call some of his congressional friends who have taken trips and partied with him. They could cite Swalwell himself for demanding such total transparency from others.
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Swalwell’s dismissal on Tuesday may indicate that he is now fully aware of what lies ahead. With a criminal investigation announced in New York and an investigation expected in California, any competent attorney would advise Swalwell to jettison every irrelevant concern, from his career to his office to his law license. Swalwell must fight for his freedom if these women are willing to give statements not only to the media but also to the police.
In both New York and California, the statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault have been lifted. The publicized allegations, from raping drunken women to leaving victims with bruises and bleeding, would likely comply with these laws if identified by police.
Ironically, Swalwell will now join Hunter Biden as a political refugee. (Swalwell was known for his support of defying a congressional subpoena.) Like Hunter, Swalwell lost both his influence and ability to make money when he fell from power this week. Hunter is now reportedly millions in debt and remains in South Africa.
Swalwell may have to burn his wealth to fend off these criminal investigations in multiple jurisdictions. If any of the charges are proven, he will likely lose his law license and ability to make a living as a lawyer.
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Ultimately, this is not a morality tale because there are no more moral figures, from Swalwell to those who created or protected him. It is a Washington story in which morality, like villainy, is measured by proximity to power.
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