The Swalwell Scandal — One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

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Even though Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) hasn’t announced yet that he will end his gubernatorial campaign in the wake of reports that he sexually assaulted one staffer and has been accused of various types of sexual misconduct by three other women, the writing is on the wall.

Many of his most prominent supporters, such as Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), withdrew their endorsements, and senior Democrats, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), called for him to drop out.

Although Swalwell vowed to fight on in a video posted Friday night*, in light of the weight and the number of accusations, we believe that his political career is finished.

And it should be.

On Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle was first out of the gate with a report that Swalwell, who is married and has three kids, had two nonconsensual sexual encounters with a former aide.

The woman, who was 21 at the time of the first alleged assault, told reporters that he had invited her for drinks and that she became so intoxicated she did not remember anything that happened until she woke up naked in his hotel room the next day and felt the effects of intercourse.

Five years later, the two of them attended an event together and met for drinks afterwards. She again got so drunk that she remembers very little of what happened next. However, she did recall that she pushed Swalwell away and told him “No” when he tried to force himself on her.

According to a report from the Monterey Police Department, a nurse notified the authorities after an unnamed woman requested a sexual assault exam. She stated that the victim believes that something might have been slipped into her drink because she could “not remember most of the night’s events.” The woman did, however, say that she was sexually assaulted by a man who prevented her from leaving his room.

Oh, wait! That was the police report concerning the alleged sexual assault that former Fox News morning show host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth settled for $50,000.

That’s a forgivable mistake on our part, of course, because the two incidents are so similar.

Back to Swalwell: Not long after the story from the Chronicle was published, CNN came out with its own report that included the account of the first accuser as well as the stories of three other women who alleged that Swalwell had engaged in different types of sexual misconduct. For example, they said he sent unsolicited nude photos and engaged in nonconsensual physical contact.

One of the sources for the story told CNN that she was shocked when Swalwell tried to kiss her in public. 

Here is the account of a woman who described how she was tightly hugged and kissed against her will… and there are many more.

Ooops! Our bad again. That last account was by one of the many women who have accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting them — behavior that he has admitted to on camera.

One of the shared aspects among the stories of the women whom CNN interviewed for its Swalwell story is that they were flattered that someone famous was paying attention to them. This is a common theme when it comes to sexual assaults committed by celebrities — political or otherwise.

Here, for example, one woman said she was “absolutely enchanted” by a chance meeting with her predator. However, things quickly turned from playful to criminal when he put his fingers and then his penis in her vagina.

That, also, is not the story of a Swalwell accuser; it’s the testimony of writer E. Jean Carroll describing her encounter with Trump that resulted in the president being found liable for sexual abuse.

And, obviously, these aren’t “honest mistakes” on our part.

Instead, they illustrate how differently Democrats and Republicans treat allegations of sexual abuse.

Even if Swalwell stays in the race, which we doubt, he isn’t going to win. Staffers and donors are already fleeing his gubernatorial campaign and, in light of the speed with which top Democrats are turning on him, we wouldn’t be surprised if he resigns from Congress before the end of his term.

The point is, no matter how this plays out, his political career is over — a mere 24 hours after the allegations first surfaced.

What a contrast to the GOP.

Keep in mind that, while Swalwell’s accusers offered corroborating evidence to back up their accounts, there is no police report (yet) as in the case of Hegseth, who won Senate confirmation for a job he wasn’t qualified for in the first place, with all but three Republicans supporting his nomination. 

There is also no record of a $50,000 settlement to keep the matter quiet.

We are not saying that the women accusing Swalwell of sexual assault and other misconduct shouldn’t be believed because there is no police report or because, when he allegedly communicated with them, he was savvy enough to use an app that automatically deletes messages.

We are saying that the woman accusing Hegseth should also have been believed.

In the case of Trump, things are even more clear-cut. He was found liable of sexual abuse and was even recorded bragging about touching and kissing women without their consent.

And yet, in spite of the credible accusations from multiple victims, Republican voters made him their presidential nominee three times and Americans elected him twice.

Obviously, the GOP and Democrats are divided by some stark policy differences these days. However, the gulf between the behavioral and ethical standards they each demand from their leaders may be even more pronounced.

While Republicans are cloaking themselves in Christian morality, they have shown that they will back anybody, no matter how much evidence of their criminality or depravity there is, as long as they offer a path to power.

It’s a different story for the Democrats.

In the coming days, there will be a number of Swalwell supporters who will say that these are merely allegations and that their candidate is being judged too harshly. They will point to the example of former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who many Democrats feel may have resigned in haste during the height of the #MeToo movement.

But this case is much more serious, with more accusers and corroborated allegations.

Others will point to Trump’s behavior to absolve Swalwell.

That is even more misguided because, apart from serving as a model for how not to behave as president or as a human being, he should not serve as an example of anything for anybody.

Morality should not be a race to the bottom, and we believe that, by applying a higher standard to their leaders, Democrats will benefit in the long run — not least because they believe the women who are making these credible accusations.

*According to the Chronicle, Swalwell’s attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to the main accuser, saying that she exhibited “the conduct of a loyal and supportive colleague, not a victim,” and that her account was “fatally undermined by [her] voluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years following the period in question.”

In his video, Swalwell suggested that the stories were politically motivated and vowed to fight the accusations, which he called “absolutely false.” The lawmaker did allude to “mistakes in judgment” that he made in the past but said those are between him and his wife.