Now he’s out of the governor race. Good. I wish we could now wait for the House Ethics Committee and/or courts to do their work.
According the Swalwell’s fifty past staff members:
Don’t they read a daily newspaper? If they did, they would know that U.S. presidents are above the law.
It is true that a member of congress is not above the law. Many have gone to jail. Perhaps Swalwell will be added to list. This does not require Swalwell’s fifty past staff members to pile on.
In the past, there was a norm where you could retain your existing position in congress while your guilt was being adjudicated. The proposed new norm – push the member to resign before it goes to court, or even is completely investigated by the Ethics Committee, just so long as the accuser is a woman claiming sex-related violation of law, is going to come back to bite Democrats. There are going to be future cases, where a woman is asking to be believed, that aren’t as clear-cut as this one – perhaps because the accusing women all seem to be Republicans. Republicans will then say the Democrats are hypocrites – and be correct.
Then the Democrats are going to want to go back to the old norm of waiting for the House Ethics Committee and/or the jury, but the old norm will be gone.
Someone will say that the Republicans will attack the Democrats regardless. This is true. But there are some voters who respect a consistent approach. Saying that there is a presumption of innocence during investigation and trial is a consistent approach. Believe women is not a consistent approach because that is an impossible criteria to apply without giving the Republicans a veto over which Democratic men remain in congress.
Getting Swalwell out of congress is not an emergency.