The Daily Signal - Democrats’ Jungle Primary Boomerang Hits Swalwell Hard | Victor Davis Hanson

Starting point is 00:00:00 Don't miss the Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters. Merrill Street, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are back. In light of the recent scandal, I'm here to restore your credibility. I did not hire you, and all I need to do is bide my time until you fail. On May 1st, icons. I'm going to make something of this job. Rain. Be the bridges.

Starting point is 00:00:18 I burn. Night my way. Forever. I just love my job. Get tickets now. The Devil Wears Trotter 2 in theaters, May 1st. Directed by David Frankel. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Here in California, we're having a primary coming up in June since 2010 ballot initiative. We have jungle, so-called jungle primaries, where the top two vote getters, regardless of their party, will face off in the November election. Because we have an overwhelming Democratic registration, a majority, the Democrats pushed this 2010. ballot initiative with the idea that you would only have Democrats in the general election. And that's happened. And that happened with Eric Swalwell. So I'm going to talk a little bit about Eric Swalwell. He's been a six-term congressman from Northern California.

Starting point is 00:01:24 He grew up in Dublin. He's a lawyer. He was in the first jungle primary, and he defeated the incumbent Representative Stark, I think his name was. And he's been there for almost well over six-term. now, who is he, he was very controversial. He's sort of rambunctious. He cuts these commercials about himself as an athlete. He was very vocal in Russian collusion, and he pounded that day after day that Donald Trump was a puppet of Vladimir Putin. He was on the House Intelligence Committee.

Starting point is 00:01:58 He was a bitter foe of the chairman, Devin Nunes. He, if you remember, he allegedly got involved in a personal relationship with a Chinese consular official, or at least an ad hoc Chinese spy political activist here in California. And he was on the House Intelligence Committee, not only got involved with Fang Fang, as we knew her, but he hired one of her associates on his congressional staff. So he was under a lot of controversy. And finally, his partisanship and his dubious reliability to maintain secrets while on the House on Intelligence Committee, after having this relationship with Fang Fang of some sort, he was removed. And now we see him.

Starting point is 00:02:48 He's back in the news and he's running for governor. And he is polling either third or fourth. The top two, believe it or not, are Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, the sheriff from Southern California. And then Eric Swalwell in many polls is third or his neck and neck with Stephen Hilton. And suddenly the perceived favorite, Kathleen Porter, another House representative, she had kind of imploded because of videos that showed her as a bully and screaming and yelling at various staff members and pretty much becoming on film an unsavory character.

Starting point is 00:03:28 So what happened to Eric Swalwell? Well, on April 10th, his world blue. up because suddenly out of the blue some of his congressional staffers, all female, came forward. And one of them said that she was raped by Eric Swalwell while intoxicated on two occasions. Another one said she was sexually assaulted. Another two or three said that he had a bad habit of forcing congressional women, many of them 20 years younger than he was, to sign non-discipline. disclosure forms so that they could not voice what he had done to them. And he had chronically, insidiously, sexually harassed them. Now the latest bombshell is people on his

Starting point is 00:04:16 gubernatorial campaign staff have said that they believe that these charges are true, and some of them have resigned. And this made a, there were other, this made a great controversy the last few days in California. There were other even more disturbing. In Anthony Wiener style, there were women who had been receiving text from Eric Swalwell allegedly showing his genitalia, something like Anthony Weiner did that destroyed his congressional career. There were also stories that he was using campaign funds for his own child care. He's been, he has been married twice, his present second wife. They have three children, but reportedly he was improperly using camphrine. funds. Why did this come up right now? Why did this is some of the stuff dates back to 2015 and 16

Starting point is 00:05:08 and apparently it was widely known among California Politicos both nationwide and in California that he had been a serial sexual harasser and yet no one came forward. The answer is analogous to Joe Biden. People knew in 2020 that he was non-compos Mentez but they used him as a wax and effigy because the other candidates were not viable. And once he was elected by staying in the basement, the Obama era of Politicos took over his government, and we essentially had the most left-wing administration in modern history. And we called it the Biden administration. Today, you can't find any legitimate person who believes that Joe Biden was fit to serve. Then they said he was fit as a fiddle, sharp as attack. So what's going on?

Starting point is 00:05:59 Eric Swalwell is threatening to break up the Democratic field. There are more Democratic, viable candidates than there are Republicans. The Republicans really only have two viable Republican candidates, and they are at the top. And the way that the primary voting looked like, you would probably see two Republicans only in the general election, kind of a boomerang to the Democrats who dreamed up and pushed this jungle primary over a decade ago. And so they got together, I imagine, somebody got together and said, is it Swalwell or Porter? And they said, well, Swalwell has more baggage. Maybe it could leak out.

Starting point is 00:06:40 He's kind of a loose cannon. And somebody began leaking this. But my point is, if Eric Swalwell had been way ahead in the gubernatorial race, I don't think that any of this would have surfaced. It would have been analogous to Joe Biden. he would have been a useful vessel, and he would have won the governorship, and the Republicans wouldn't have had a chance. It would have been Eric Swalwell versus probably Steve Hilton, and the Democratic vast majority in registration would have ensured that.

Starting point is 00:07:14 But once it was clear that he and Porter had split the vote, along with two other Hispanic candidates, Villaguerosa and Bacera, it looked like the fragmentation would give the gubernatorial, race to a Republican. And so then these leaks surfaced. And they're not just leaks. They come from a representative who was one of the most vocal critics of Harvey Weinstein, of all of these people who were caught up in the Me Too movement, and more importantly, of Eric, excuse me, of Judge Kavanaugh. Eric Swalwell was very criticized of Kavanaugh and said he was unfit to be on the Supreme Court. So there's a sense of nemesis, irony, karma, and all of this.

Starting point is 00:08:03 But the wider point I'm making is the Democratic Party who brags that it doesn't let democracy die in darkness, and it's the guardian, the protector of democracy, has a bad habit. When they feel that something is politically antithetical to their agenda, whether it's removing a president, basically, Joe Biden, they said, you're not going to run for re-election, and then anointing a new person, Kamala Harris, without, who had not one single delegate in 2024. She hadn't won a single delegate, and she was annoyed it without an open vote, at least initially. This isn't very democratic.

Starting point is 00:08:43 She was the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States who had never won a single delegate. She was appointed because suddenly Joe Biden, after his disastrous debate performance, went from sharp as attack to a buffoon and embarrassing, and he can't be on the ticket. Same thing as happening with Eric Swalwell. There was a decision made that some of the Democrats had to be thinned out, willed out, when, you know, got rid of, God, Caput. And they chose Eric Swalwell once these allegations suddenly were untenable in their secrecy. They couldn't suppress it anymore. But the point is that I'm making, they knew about this.

Starting point is 00:09:21 People in California are on record that Eric Swalwell had a reputation for being reckless in his personal life and untoward toward women's staffers. Very ironic given his advocacy for women's rights and his Me Too activity. And so as the Democrats always do, they made a decision that he should go out. And as I speak, he's being pressured to step aside and consolidate the Democratic vote apparently behind Kathleen Porter. And it's typical for the Democratic Party of today to talk about democracy, but make these decisions who candidates are who will face the voters on backroom politics.

Starting point is 00:10:01 Thank you very much, Victor Davis-Hansson, for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansan.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.

The Daily Signal - Democrats’ Jungle Primary Boomerang Hits Swalwell Hard | Victor Davis Hanson

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