Eric Swalwell, California Psycho
It’s hard to fathom how fast now-former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s star has faded. One moment he was the leading contender to be the governor of America’s largest state; the next, he had ended his gubernatorial campaign and resigned his congressional seat in disgrace.
After former Vice President Kamala Harris passed on running for California governor, a thoroughly uninspiring field of Democratic candidates seeking the office sprung up. However, California’s unique primary system meant that Democrats had to rally around somebody, and Swalwell seemed to be the guy.
Under the state’s jungle primary system, the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party. Existing polling showed at least a plausible chance that, because Democrats were fractured so badly, those top two candidates could have been Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. For example, in a hypothetical scenario in which Hilton and Bianco both got 15 percent of the vote and seven Democrats took 10 percent each, the general election would be between the two Republicans, even though 70 percent of the electorate opted for Democratic candidates.
The Democratic establishment was therefore compelled to pick someone to make sure a Democrat made it into the top two. Swalwell seemed to be the least unacceptable option to disparate left -wing interest groups. Former Rep. Katie Porter? Too abrasive. Billionaire Tom Steyer? Too rich. Biden HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra? San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan? Former Los Angles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa? Who are these people exactly?
Therefore, Swalwell seemed like the default choice. While he had a national profile from his high-profile advocacy against President Donald Trump, his abortive 2020 presidential campaign, and his associations with a Chinese spy, Politico reported that early on, Swalwell “was essentially a stranger in California’s political circles.” However, “as he courted political insiders, Swalwell’s blank slate became the pitch. People could see what they wanted to see — to progressive labor unions, he was an anti-Trump warrior, to business groups, he was a moderate ex-prosecutor. His campaign strategists would acknowledge to lobbyists he was light on policy, but argued that just meant he was still malleable.”
Of course, to say that it was too good to be true would be a massive understatement. The San Francisco Chronicle reported allegations of sexual misconduct, up to and including rape, against him. More allegations would follow in the subsequent days. According to another report from Politico, Swalwell had a reputation in political circles as a sex pest that was something of an open secret around D.C. Swalwell has denied all wrongdoing in relation to the allegations.
The reaction was immediate. Supporters raced to rescind their endorsements. Former allies castigated Swalwell in the harshest terms. Lest you feel any pangs of sympathy that the Democrat might have been railroaded, remember that Swalwell himself spoke against due process rights, both for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and for students accused of wrongdoing on college campuses. It doesn’t seem fair to extend to Swalwell the benefit of the doubt that he denied to others.
Furthermore, there’s a recognizable personality archetype here. Current California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced ridicule several weeks ago for comparing himself to Patrick Bateman, the serial killer and main character of the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho. While Bateman is the subject of a lot of memes and “media literacy” discourse from liberals who believe the story is a critique of the Right, it’s a bit more complicated than that. After all, it’s hard to read author Bret Easton Ellis’s views on feminism and political correctness and come away seeing him as a man of the Left. Bateman expressly uses liberal platitudes as a cover for his darker nature.
“Well, we have to end apartheid for one,” he says at one point in the film. “And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.”
Of course, Bateman doesn’t really believe any of that tripe. He’s just staying it to keep a respectable public persona and continue indulging his own impulses. While there (probably) aren’t any serial killers in Congress, that archetype is far too common in the real world. Don’t get me wrong: Newsom very much looks the part of Bateman. But it’s Eric Swalwell who seems to hide a seriously disturbed moral compass behind his shield of virtue signaling.
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