Everyone by now has seen the claims that Rep. Eric Swalwell sexually harassed women and allegedly raped at least one of them.
Did he do it? I’m not going to pretend to be really surprised if he did it. Looking at a picture of Swalwell or watching him speak, he would probably be voted ‘Most Likely to Commit Drunken Rape’.
But the alleged rape happened in 2024. It wasn’t reported and no one had a problem with Swalwell until he became the gubernatorial frontrunner in California. Some have pointed out that the allegations appear to have originated with political allies of former Rep. Katie Porter whose unlikability and unelectability run side by side, but who has a mean streak almost as wide as… well her.
There are two basic possibilities here.
1. Former Rep Porter’s allies are setting Swalwell up
2. Swalwell did it, but some of those same allies sat on this information until it was politically useful, creating a firestorm and manufacturing a demand for a female candidate. (Even though Porter is notorious for mistreating female staffers.)
When allegations emerge just in time to sideline a candidate, it doesn’t mean the party takes sexual harassment seriously. It means it covers up sexual harassment and even sexual assault until it’s politically useful.
