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Over the last decade or so, I've heard the name Eric Swalwell a few times.
First, because he got caught up in a Chinese Honeypot, then because he obliquely threatened to nuke me.
He has reappeared in the news recently, not only as a California gubernatorial candidate, but also as an alleged rapist. Fox news is reporting that he will step down.
The balance of power in Congress will likely remain unchanged, as GOP congressman Gonzalez will also be stepping down, though the impact on California politics may be notable.
Historically, California's executive branch has been a powerful feeder into future presidential races. The fall of Swalwell will cause a localized power vacuum that may have unexpected repercussions.
As someone who is not a California resident, I have no special insider information here. Would any locals care to weigh in on how this is impacting things within the state?
Personally I’ve yet to see anything out of these accusations that looks all that convincing. The major accuser who went on the record first said she hooked up with Swalwell many times and continued to text him, and had to tack something on at the end to imply some kind of date rape. (She didn’t remember getting that drunk!) there was one accuser who basically accused Swalwell of choking and almost killing her, but that seems wildly implausible without more evidence that he was into that.
This is like when Dems chased out Al Franken or Andrew Cuomo, there’s a noose tightening now around straight heterosexual male sex. I see a lot of conservacons cheering but this seems longhoused to me.
I also always wonder at the extent of this activity in Congress. I’ve heard rumors of sex parties and orgies and such, but it’s not clear to me how much of that is rumoring from people who don’t know anything. It’s Washington DC, it’s a major American city, of course someone somewhere is having an orgy. And Hill staffers can get up to quite a lot in private (I’ve “dated” quite a few myself). But the Congressmen? The Senators? The people who actually matter? For every Swalwell running around I imagine there’s an Elizabeth Warren not getting up to anything (I imagine, I hope, I imagine I tell myself). And what Swalwell seems to have verifiably done so far (drunkenly kiss a girl who is not his wife on camera) is not much worse than what I could find my friends doing in the groupchats.
What I mean is, supposedly there are Illuminati rape bacchanal orgies happening in Washington to blackmail the politicians and that’s one of the reasons a story like this gets so much interest but I never see the evidence. This topic gets a lot of debate from among my friends.
That took a weird turn. I mean, I wouldn't be too surprised about anything like that happening in Washington, given as we're ruled by reptilians, who knows what they do behind closed doors. But Swalwell's case, as many other cases before him and I have no doubt many more will be after, is absolutely classic "powerful man uses his workplace as a harem, and some women are not overly enthusiastic about that, especially when it's not within the polite-courtship-leading-to-marriage framework". It's absolutely bog standard story that we have heard dozens of times. You don't need weird sex orgies for that. You just need a man who is not limited by a moral framework that precludes pursuing female coworkers (which a lot of powerful politicians fit) and some attractive women around him. And yes, if a particular woman does not see how it'd be for her own good to engage with this prime specimen of humanity, the same moral framework will permit to apply some persistence. And maybe some alcohol. Once in a while, a lot of alcohol (and individual tolerances vary, too...) And then the woman wakes up in the morning, and realizes she had been added to the list, and she's not sure she consented to that because alcohol, and surely regrets it now. Very common, unfortunately.
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