Go to Hell, Swalwell.

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors — the audio is the record.

0:00:10 Thomas: Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments. This is Vapid Response. It's number 28 somehow. I'm Thomas. That over there is real life attorney Matt Cameron. How are you doing, Matt?

0:00:18 Matt: Number 28 uh great no doing good doing good I've really been doing video for that long unlike

0:00:23 Thomas: Apparently, that's, I mean, numbers are pretty simple. Like we just go up one every time, but I'm amazed. I'm as amazed as you are. Like I'm trying to figure out how we could have messed this up yeah they seem to just go up by one each time and yet we're at 28 seems impossible that's that's like 28 weeks or more we skip weeks sometimes I guess

0:00:31 Lydia: How did we get here yeah who knows well I will say when we first started this I was still recording on my closet so that was quite a while ago I don't know yeah I've been recording out not in my closet um for for some time 26 weeks probably

0:00:48 Thomas: That was a while ago wow yeah she's in the garage now no she's in the bathroom and I'm trying to think yeah now lydia's set up nicer than I am pretty much room it's cozier uh and of course lydia how you doing

0:00:59 Lydia: Better airflow flow, regardless of where I am. Yeah. Yeah, yep. Hello, I'm happy to be here today to talk about a piece of shit. I can't wait. It's my favorite thing in the world. Let's talk about men sucking.

0:01:19 Matt: Uh you know that that wonderful man jeffrey epstein that we can't get enough of a

0:01:23 Lydia: Yeah, I know. It is true. We do talk about a lot of pieces of shit, this is an alive piece of shit so yes

0:01:28 Matt: Living one yes that's true big distinction living shit that's

0:01:34 Thomas: Yeah, this is not good. Not good. But we're gonna be talking about Swalwell. And on one hand, it's horrifying. There seem to be be new horrors every day. On the other hand, I do like that the response was pretty immediate and thorough. Like he's out. Not only was he like his campaign was suspended, then he's out of Congress. You know, it's good. It's oh,

0:01:55 Lydia: I I will say there was a period of time where it wasn't that um and it was right before it was when the content creators that were given this information from all the survivors were sharing that information prior to the report coming out in the corporate media. And we had folks like Ruben Gallego basically say that these were people who were paid off by Roger Stone and MAGA, and then trying to say that it was like Katie Porter, you know, is a political operative from Katie Porter's team or Tom Steyer's team trying to take down Eric Swalwell. And they were all lying. So, you Know, I

0:02:20 Thomas: Yeah, that guy sucks. I don't like Ruben Kagan.

0:02:33 Thomas: That's a good point. We got to keep track of that shit because it's like you get to just lie and smear victims and then just pretend it didn't happen.

0:02:41 Lydia: Yeah, Yeah. I just posted on Ruben Gallego's video today. I was like, hey, you apologize to Mrs. Frazzled yet? Has that happened yet?

0:02:46 Thomas: Yeah, that's I don't know who who that is, but yeah. Is she a victim or is she just a content?

0:02:48 Lydia: The content creator behind it. Well, she's just a content creator. And we'll get into it towards the end. But I do want to call that out. Also, another content creator just want to highlight this because I thought this was a great point from the speech prof, if you guys ever follow his stuff. But he was basically calling attention to this and saying progressive misogyny is still misogymy. Excuse it like we say we believe women we we actually have to like walk that walk um if we're going to talk that talk so shout out to those folks I

0:03:18 Matt: Right and I agree though I mean the swiftness

0:03:19 Thomas: Don't know if there is such a thing as progressive misogyny. He was doing it really wokely.

0:03:21 Lydia: Mean I I think misogyny can exist with yeah within

0:03:24 Thomas: He was like respecting pronouns.

0:03:19 Matt: Of this I've

0:03:25 Lydia: The progressive movement I guess well I mean

0:03:28 Matt: Certainly seen it yeah

0:03:28 Thomas: I hear you. Yeah it's like it's like I guess I don't even think in that terms. It's like these are just predators or predators. I mean give a shit which party doesn't matter. Like I'm I this This one, I got to, I

0:03:35 Lydia: Well because you're principled I think is the the thing and I think some of these people are not yeah

0:03:42 Thomas: Can't, this one is so much worse than I would, like, I can't. The thing that just came out today that I posted, it's like, seems literally criminal. Like, absolutely. It's like Bill Cosby stuff. Like, I really didn't see that coming. I'll be honest.

0:03:49 Lydia: Bill cosby yeah yeah Yeah.

0:03:58 Thomas: I didn't think it was going to be that bad. I mean, wow. My bar is low for Congressmen, but geez, that was way worse than I would have thought. It's just horrifying.

0:03:53 Matt: Chargeable yeah yeah no it's

0:04:04 Lydia: There you go. Yeah,

0:04:08 Matt: The good news I don't know if this is good news but we also have a bunch of regressive misogyny we're going to visit some classics uh we're gonna dust off for today's amused douche a perhaps the worst legal joke in history it's a sexist joke that has its own wikipedia entry and

0:04:21 Thomas: Well, it's in every episode of that other law show. So it's in their intro music.

0:04:27 Matt: And then we are going and

0:04:29 Thomas: Strict scrutiny.

0:04:29 Matt: We're Gonna and then We're Going to Take a Look at the um response from Ed Whalen if you remember that thread I wanted to sort of compare and contrast how the Kavanaugh stuff developed, because it's so easy to have that loss to the sands of time. And I think it's a good reminder of the burdens of proof that we apply when these situations happen and the ways that certain people want to come out and pretend like this is a trial and not a political election.

0:04:53 Thomas: God, that drives me nuts. The statement, I forget who it was, because I just don't even have the patience for it anymore. But they're like, well, we're going to let the legal system take its course. I'm not going to say it's like, no, we're talking about a political candidate. There's no there might be no, there might been zero legal process. I don't know. There could be or there could not be that is not that that's not. It's such a weasel statement to try to make like you're being all fair, but they're just, they're not, it's somebody you're, you're voting for potentially to put into power. It's not a legal relationship. We're not you know, it'S not a trial.

0:05:10 Lydia: They're separate and distinct. Yeah yeah it's a job interview. Are we going to hire them for this job or not? And you don't have to go to court in order to determine that.

0:05:31 Thomas: Imagine if in a job interview that you, someone was like, oh, well, I, that you called their last employer, and the last employer's like, well he was late every day. He was really shitty to some of the women here, like seemed really bad, and then his an employer like, I'm going to let the legal system handle that.

0:05:49 Thomas: He's already hired. I've hired him and made him CEO of our company, but we're the legal process.

0:05:44 Lydia: Due process. Due process. Yeah nonsense.

0:05:54 Thomas: We'll, we'll, you know, we'll look at that.

0:05:56 Matt: You're saying is nobody went to the police. All right, hired, done. Yeah that seems to be how people talk now.

0:06:00 Thomas: I'm hearing a whole lot of complaining and not a lot of police work. So it's fine. I guess it's Fine. Yeah, so lots to talk about there. I, you know, the bright side, we will talk about it, but hopefully there's the bright side of like actual consequences so that's that's nice but uh all right we'll uh take our first break and we'll thank our patrons our hall of famers our all -time greats over on patreon.com/law love those patrons we thank them each and every week uh the the hall of amers that is these are the folks that pledge at the she means more than she loves me just so you guys know uh the I just want to clarify lest

0:06:06 Matt: It's how some people talk.

0:06:26 Lydia: Me, too. I love them more than you. I'm just kidding. Yeah.

0:06:38 Thomas: It lest anyone misunderstood uh these are the people who pledge at that $5 level and above for at least a month. And we'll start with, thank you to the Ruth Bader Ginsburgler. My house is a mess, but I read a lot of books. Griff, the tired 1L. Ooh, 1L, man, getting into it. Gary the seagull.

0:06:53 Lydia: Welcome.

0:06:53 Matt: Welcome.

0:06:58 Thomas: Matthew Cutler, autistic streamer (twitch.tv/MTC_streams). Vetinari for America 2028 - One Man, One Vote. UnreMerkable. Your mom's a palindrome. From Aminah Donna Treadaway, Mother of Harridans, Mike Lapinsky, oh, Geronimo, no minor ego. That's a great one. Wow. Cyanitis, just a hot guy in Alaska waiting for his half gargoyle. Wait, what is that?

0:07:22 Lydia: I don't I don'T know what that's from. Maybe that's from another show.

0:07:24 Thomas: It might be from another half gargoil. Yeah, I don't know.

0:07:26 Lydia: We're going to sit here and explore the OA catalog trying to figure out what the connection is.

0:07:28 Thomas: I know. I really want, it's probably some other show, but I want in on the joke. Gray Poupondrance of the evidence. Sentence. Mr. Chief Justice and may it please the court. Wait. Oh, that's just straight up. Okay. I wasn't sure if there's like a joke. Nope. Just that's it. Apprentice of Adventure. Charlie Kelly, attorney at Bird Law. Probably a real person. And Nick Fish. Thank you so much, patrons. We'll take a quick break and then we'll dig into it. Right, Matt, what do you have for us in our amuse douche segment?

0:07:43 Lydia: I've

0:07:57 Matt: Right. Well, this is possibly the douchiest thing to ever happen in the Supreme Court of the United States, and in one of the most important cases. Yeah, no. It's at least on the part of a party, at least. I'm sure that the justices have done far douchier things, but today's Moose Douche is courtesy of Jay Ford representing Texas in Roe v. Wade. December 13th, 1971, this is I believe the original argument of Roe V. Wade, so he's up against Sarah Weddington, who at this time is 26 years old and has never argued a case anywhere before, has never tried a case, and she's in front of the Supreme Court about to win Roe vs. Wade and yeah,

0:08:04 Thomas: Fact check that. Hmm. You know, I keep seeing those memes that like people people didn't look older. It's just the hairstyles.

0:08:36 Matt: Yes, prime

0:08:37 Thomas: And I, I think after I see this, I believe it. Like if, if you're telling me she was 26, what? She looks 70.

0:08:39 Matt: Example. I mean, I mean, that is quite a hairstyle. You don't see that anymore.

0:08:47 Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. That must be it.

0:08:49 Matt: I don't know if that's – all

0:08:49 Lydia: I'm almost 12 years older than she is in that picture sure.

0:08:52 Thomas: And she looks like your grandma now. Like, uh, yeah. Okay.

0:08:57 Matt: Right. So this is – Sarah Weddington has just finished, and Justice Berger is about to call the representatives of Texas, which, again, Jay Ford is going to be arguing for Texas. And he's going to start out with what is considered to be the worst attempt at a joke, and perhaps in legal history, certainly in Supreme Court history, a joke so bad that it has its own Wikipedia page.

0:09:17 Matt: But, yeah, so let's just go ahead and hear it. It's worth a quick – It's thematic for today's episode.

0:09:21 Thomas: Folks will be familiar with this.

0:09:39 Clip: Like this, they're going to have the last word received to the... Good

0:09:48 Matt: So there you go. Really the worst opening.

0:09:51 Thomas: Surprising dude is this on is this I said it's beat it's an old joke I don't even what is the I don'T even get it when

0:09:54 Matt: What is the joke? I don't even understand. What does the joke about arguing against two beautiful ladies?

0:10:00 Thomas: A man argues with two beautiful I donT think that's an Old Joke I don' t I'm gonna call bullshit on that would yeah there might be like a one lady joke but I I disagree that there's some old joke that's the classic format of a man arguing with two beautiful ladies that's not a joke sorry disagree

0:10:06 Lydia: What a weirdo.

0:10:06 Matt: It's some Texas thing. 1971. And this at a time when Sarah Weddington had a lot of trouble finding a job. So just as Ruth Ritter Ginsburg would, just as all women did coming out of law school at this time, and she just went for it. And so this is the reception she gets by opposing counsel. This is the respect that she has paid. It is a comment on her looks as the opening remarks in the case in which she's going to try to argue for abortion restrictions. So I just thought that might be, I was just, it was on my mind today.

0:10:43 Thomas: Couldn't be more on brand it's just like perfect amazing

0:10:47 Matt: Legal sexism. Yep. Yep. So don't do that.

0:10:47 Lydia: Gross. Yeah and that was before that was before women could have their own credit card too, right? I can't remember the timing exactly.

0:10:54 Thomas: Well probably

0:10:56 Matt: In a lot of places, I think Mass was pretty late on that one.

0:10:56 Thomas: Depends on the yeah state probably but yeah oh

0:11:00 Lydia: I think California was late on that one too actually. Yeah my mom has told me stories about her dad having to co -sign for all of her you know credit cards and I think it was like 1973 as late as that but yeah

0:11:09 Thomas: Crazy did

0:11:13 Matt: Well, with that little bit of Supreme Court history out of the way, let's move on. Well, many, many years later in a little case called Dobbs, he did eventually win, but

0:11:16 Thomas: He win yeah that's true yeah we did eventually regress to the worse than then and now you could probably tell jokes like that in the supreme court wouldn't matter wouldn't it wouldn't even matter like

0:11:24 Lydia: Did yeah I I wish that the justices were like pettier back then and like someone wrote that joke like commented about his terrible joke joke in quotes right air quotes um in in the decision itself because I feel like we probably would have seen something like that these days um like if If someone just really like biffed it on something that was just completely unprofessional and ridiculous, especially depending if it was connected, you know, thematically to the case.

0:11:42 Thomas: In the decision hmm well I'll have to ask Jenessa when we covered that supreme court case where the person was just awful it was like she was the worst um I wonder if I didn't I don't know if we had the decision then I'm not sure if we did but I'll have to check back and see if they wrote anything snarky in the decision about how like rude she was oh

0:12:14 Matt: Well, from what I've read, Justice Berger did give him a death stare after this, just like stared him down. And apparently, Harry Blackmun said that it was one of the reasons that he wanted to have this case re -argued because Roe was argued twice because the oral argument was so bad on the part of Texas. He just kind of stumbled from there and had some real moments. He actually got two laughs, but at his expense later in the whole thing.

0:12:37 Matt: So yeah, yeah, a little history there for you. So speaking of California, let's move on to our main subject. We're going to be talking talking about your, not your congressman, but a congressman from California.

0:12:45 Lydia: A congressman. Yeah actually nearby. He's out of the East Bay. Mm-hmm. Yeah yeah we have some listeners that actually like he is their congressman they've written out about this. But, yeah, well,

0:12:53 Thomas: Is he nearby oh okay well yeah yeah oh a lot of people are wondering with this, what's going to happen with this California election? Like people are really worried that, you because of the primary, which you're going to talk about, Lydia, like people are worried that this could be really bad for the California governor election what's the status of that what's going on and

0:13:15 Lydia: Newsom is termed out in California. And so every Democrat in California is throwing their hat in the ring, thinking that it's their time to shine. I mean, I just pulled just so you guys know, like it's there's a long list. You go on Ballotpedia and you're scrolling forever the number of candidates, which is not crazy for California because we have we refer to it as a jungle primary. It's It's basically a free for all. It's nonpartisan. This was started in 2012 after it was voted on in Prop 14 in June 2010. It's called the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act. And it was based on the idea if you were not affiliated with a party, you could still vote in a primary without having to go through a lot of extra steps on the party's behalf specifically. And there was also an idea that it could reduce polarization because people kind of move towards the moderate candidates when you have a wider variety. But note,

0:14:09 Thomas: Really just

0:14:09 Lydia: Note, yes, exactly.

0:14:09 Thomas: For republicans right yeah Yeah.

0:14:11 Lydia: This reform was led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and folks with him. So the concern was liberal extremism. Now, research since this has been put into place has shown that there really hasn't been a significant effect on moderation and there's no significant effect on independent turnout, which was another thing that they thought could help and obviously can lead to really bad vote splitting. Splitting. So when you talk about this approach to primaries, it's the top two vote getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general. You cannot write in candidates at the general election because these offices, they used to be referred to as partisan offices in California. Now there are voter nominated offices. So if you write in a candidate that defeats the entire purpose of what

0:14:19 Matt: Yep, because getting

0:15:00 Lydia: This was intended to do. Washington state also does this. Alaska does a version of it. They do a top four. And then a lot of other states use this for special elections.

0:15:08 Thomas: Well, I think Alaska has the rank choice, though, don't they? I think they do, which makes a difference.

0:15:11 Lydia: Oh, maybe they do. It's recent. It'S recent. Yeah.

0:15:15 Thomas: Yeah, well, it's like I would maybe not hate this so much if you had a rank choice as well or something, you know, some way to do that.

0:15:22 Lydia: Right now, we have for Democratic candidates, we have 23 total from from my counting. But the actual candidates that we're looking at, if you ignore Eric Swalwell, we have Xavier Becerra. So we have some like big hitters here, right? He's the former HHS secretary, former California attorney general, Katie Porter, former Carolina representative. Let's see some other names you guys might know. Tom Steyer, he ran for president in 2020 as well, alongside Eric Swwalwell. And then some folks who are like deep in California politics or state workers are going to know these names. We have Matt Mahan, who's the current mayor of San Jose. Note for everybody, if you're following this and voting, he's backed specifically by tech money. Don't vote for him. That's my position and I can share it. So we also have Betty Yee, who is the former state controller, Tony Thurmond, who is the current state superintendent. He's also problematic, too. So I want to vote for him. Antonio Villaraigosa, who's the former L .A. mayor. On the GOP side, we have 12 total candidates.

0:16:25 Thomas: Just tell us who's not running.

0:16:26 Lydia: I know. Oh, my gosh, it's so bad. I actually took a screenshot of or I copy and pasted a quote from one of the candidates bios and I sent it to the Slack because I was like, this is crazy. Easy this person. On the GOP side, we have 12 total, but really just two front runners. Chad Bianco, who is Riverside County Sheriff. He's known for recently having seized 650 ,000 ballots from our previous election and then was later court ordered to release them. And Steve Hilton, who is the one that Trump has endorsed. He is a political commentator. Wouldn't you know it? And Anna Fox News guy. He had a show for about, oh gosh, six years.

0:17:05 Thomas: That's it. That's his only qualification.

0:17:07 Lydia: Yes. Yes, but he's a major Trump guy, election denier, you know, whole 10 yards kind of thing.

0:17:11 Thomas: I guess part of it is Republicans, like if they're serious, they're probably not wanting to just lose an election for no reason. So it's not it's Not like a job that a lot of people want, or it's not an effort that a lot of Republicans would want to do, because it's not a stepping stone to anything. It's just like losing, usually.

0:17:26 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah, I think there's also, but there's this idea probably ego -wise and stuff, being able to take over a state like California and just kind of, I don't know, like that would probably give them a lot of talking points and put them in the eyes of Trump and MAGA. And I think it would be kind of a stepping stone to to sort of a national stage, don't you think?

0:17:44 Thomas: What? Oh, running, just running?

0:17:46 Matt: California.

0:17:46 Thomas: Well, then why aren't there? Why aren't there serious? I'm saying there's no, it sounds to me like there's no serious Republican candidates. And I'm saying the serious ones probably would know like career wise, just losing an election isn't really like the greatest stepping stone.

0:17:51 Lydia: I see.

0:18:01 Thomas: So you're getting people who are trying to like up their profile who wouldn't otherwise be able to do it.

0:18:01 Lydia: I think. Yes. Yes, yeah, I do think

0:18:07 Thomas: That's what I'm seeing.

0:18:07 Lydia: That's yes, I agree with that. Now, the way that because this is working, like with the Democrat candidates being really, really full, and everybody is like splitting the votes and stuff. Eric Swalwell consistently was showing like 11 to 13 percent um in polling but we have like up to 25 percent of people that are undecided

0:18:28 Thomas: That seems like a lot if it's if there's that many candidates. So was he one of the top the front runner?

0:18:31 Lydia: He was a front runner yeah um uh he

0:18:34 Thomas: He was like,

0:18:34 Lydia: Was usually second I think tom steyer has been kind of consistently been ahead but not by much he was at 13 to 14 percent in all these polls so you know it's it's pretty split um even though all of this stuff happened, you would hope, okay, Swalwell just, you know, he has officially, based on everything we're going to be talking about, he has officially withdrawn. He has ended his campaign for governorship. Unfortunately, in order for that to be reflected on ballots, that withdrawal had to to happen by 5 p .m. Pacific on March 6th. So his name will be on the ballots. And I just want to keep spreading the word, like, do not vote for him. Tell everybody you know, don't vote for him because that is a vote that won't get applied to anybody else. It's just lost. And you can't fix it in the general with any riding candidates, any pushes for that. Who we have as the top two vote getters in the primary is who we have to choose between in the, um, general election. So this is very, very important. Make sure any, everybody, you know, does not bother

0:19:36 Lydia: To put their vote on Swalwell.

0:19:35 Thomas: Now, just clarifying, because I haven't seen it. There there hasn't been any early voting yet, has there? Okay, so there's not like a votes already cast thing. It's just a matter of getting the word out.

0:19:40 Lydia: Not yet. Yeah. Not yet. Yep. Yep, getting the word out exactly. Know, he has ended his campaign for governor. He has also shared that he has has resigned from Congress. He's beginning that process. FYI, as we're, you know, just kind of finishing up election stuff. If does not have to hold a special election, but he, I imagine he will, that would probably be at the earliest, like mid -August from what I'm seeing.

0:20:07 Thomas: For the house. So what, what happens if you don't hold the special election? It's just empty.

0:20:12 Lydia: Vacant.

0:20:12 Thomas: And then, okay. So it's not the kind where, cause he could appoint the Senator, but not this. Cause he appointed the Senator to replace Kamala.

0:20:20 Lydia: Right. Right, right. Yeah, I think it has to be a special election from based on my research. But, you know, it would only be, yeah.

0:20:24 Thomas: Just cause the term, maybe because of the way the house is, it's every two years, where Senate it's like every six years. So it'd be crazy if you just like didn't have one or something if

0:20:34 Lydia: But the term would end January 2027. So it's not, you know, terrible number of months that we're looking at. But it, you know, when you're talking about the balance in the House, I think we want as many Democratic seats as we can get in there.

0:20:48 Matt: Gonna be talking today mostly about how we respond to these things, how Democrats respond, how Republicans respond, and how Swaldwell himself responded. So I just wanted to start by showing Swalwell as a congressman. This has pretty much been his only major job as an adult. He was a prosecutor for a couple of years, but since 2013, he's been in Congress. That's been his job. So here he is. He's one of the prominent out front Democrats talking about how we need to believe Christine Blaser Ford and the other Kavanaugh accusers. Let's see the way he puts it.

0:21:17 Clip: Continued demeaning of victims of sexual assault, people who deserve to be heard, who deserve for their allegations to be investigated. And a president who wants to just rush this through, he criticized the Senate for even taking this long, Ari, and so So for Brett Kavanaugh's sake, if he is innocent, I hope tomorrow he opens his statement and says, you know what, bring in all the victims, allow them to be heard, allow them to question, that will clear his name if he's indeed innocent, and if he isn't, for the sake of the credibility of the court, I hope that the senators would vote against him.

0:21:56 Thomas: You really wonder how these people do this I don't I don't get it it it seems like people like this always have some reason that whatever they did isn't the same or something or or that who knows I mean it's not really a question we can answer I'm sure but oh

0:22:07 Lydia: I there there are allegations that predate that interview against eric swalwell so I mean

0:22:13 Thomas: Yeah for sure yeah so I'm saying is how do people do this kind of interview well knowing that what they did is you know it's like does he a freaking psycho who just thinks whatever I'm I'm going to say whatever to get ahead. Or is it a more like a like a thing where they in their head have some explanation for why it was all fine? And I feel like it's usually that like they usually have some reason on their end why it was like was wrong with what they did. But who knows? He could just be a fucking psychopath. This guy without what we found out, like, I don't know. That's just disturbing because I really I'll be honest. I never really got any particular vibe from this guy. This feels like one where just like, wow, you know, could be anybody, you know, it's just like holy shit, yeah

0:22:57 Matt: Generic white congressman. He's been a progressive voice for a while, but not so progressive in the last few days because the initial allegations break. The initial thing is anonymous, right? So I think that's April 10th or 11th. He records the next video we're going to watch in which he addresses the anonymous allegations. And then within a day day or two later, CNN published the extremely detailed story that really broke everything and really is completely inarguable. Although I've seen people try to argue because people are always going to try. But if you are not the kind of person who just believes women, and you should, and believes people who come forward with these stories generally, there's plenty of other evidence in the CNN story for you. So that's why he's had to resign. But let's see what he said said before that evidence came out.

0:23:39 Thomas: This here we go, joy,

0:23:41 Clip: Today through anonymous allegations. And I thought it was important that you see and hear from me directly. These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They're absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened. And I will fight them with everything that I have. They also come on the eve of an election where I have been the front runner candidate for governor in California. I do not suggest to you in any way that I'm perfect or that I am a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife. And to her I apologize deeply for putting her in this position. I also apologize to you if in any way you have doubted your support for me, but I think you know who I am.

0:24:06 Thomas: Did I miss it, was it was it yesterday, I don't

0:24:08 Lydia: Unbelievable

0:24:29 Clip: For over 20 years I have served the public as a city councilman, as a member of Congress, and as a prosecutor who went to court on behalf of victims, particularly on behalf of sexual assault victims. That's who I I am and have always been.

0:24:29 Lydia: Believable yeah

0:24:37 Thomas: Think that, is that supposed to help,

0:24:48 Clip: This weekend, I'm going

0:24:48 Thomas: I guess I hear you on the prosecutor thing, but it's weird to be like Like, you know who I am. I've been, for years, I've been in the job of the most narcissistic pieces of shit that we have. Come on. You know who, what, a congressman? Like, that's something? I'm a congressman. Yeah. That's the first person I expect. Yeah, exactly.

0:25:00 Lydia: Like matt gates yeah yeah you

0:25:07 Thomas: You mean you're the kind of person who wants to run for office? Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not smearing everyone who runs for office, but, like, it's self -selected for usually a type of guy who, or anybody who really has a lot of ambition and thinks highly of themselves. Else. Are we finishing up the last seconds here?

0:25:08 Lydia: Are a congressman yeah yeah yeah yeah

0:25:22 Matt: Might as well hear the rest.

0:25:22 Clip: To spend time with my family and friends. And I appreciate those who have reached out to me to show support. And I look forward to updating you very soon.

0:25:26 Thomas: Good. Oh. Is false. I guess what, he didn't call them out and say they were lying, but I mean, if you're saying they're false, then I don't, I don'T know what.

0:25:42 Matt: He's also apologizing to his wife and to anybody who believed in him.

0:25:44 Thomas: I know for what? Yeah

0:25:45 Matt: So did I have to make this video? I guess. I don't know.

0:25:48 Lydia: Well and then simultaneously in the middle of the night his lawyer sending sea synthesis texts to the women um before that before they were named or anything like that that he said you know like nothing this stuff doesn't exist it's all false blah blah blah well he sure knew who to send his attorney to

0:25:54 Matt: That he didn't know about. Right.

0:26:06 Thomas: That one I think it was the main uh the first main one that came out um thing that was really heartbreaking was when I think he was like she saw that there were rumors about something and she's like oh shit I haven't told anybody about that naturally she's thinking it would have to be her but of course it absolutely did not have to to be here it's not it was just something really sad about her thinking like that would be she would be the only victim you know yeah

0:26:31 Lydia: From my understanding of it too um and the the content creators that broke this open is that that was that felt like a tactic by swalwell almost where it's like each of these women they didn't come out for a very long time they all thought they were the only one um I think that's a lesson for folks if you feel like someone is not treating you well, like you're probably not the only one. So, um, but I don't know how you get together except for the work from, the you folks that are willing to put up that fight. Um, yeah, I couldn't believe that just complete hubris, you knows, this freaking guy.

0:27:03 Thomas: How

0:27:06 Matt: And you know it's all out there. And within days, it's All Out There. That's how it works.

0:27:10 Thomas: Could you think that you're gonna get away with it's just so weird I don't know the whole thing is just fucking bizarre

0:27:14 Lydia: Just that you hope that just, yeah, women stay silent, I guess. And yeah. And get get scared of you so that's that's who I want as my governor sure no

0:27:24 Matt: We'll take a break here, I think, and come back, and check on the moral compass that I always go to. In times of crisis, the Federalist. Our moral compass. See what they have to say about all this.

0:27:33 Thomas: Can't wait. I'm sure it's going to be great and really cool. You know, you do love the thing where you see the MAGA, and I don't even pay it any mind, no one should, but where they try to get holier than thou for a moment. Wow, Democrats have rapists in office. You're like, shut up. There's nothing you say. If you support Trump, just shut the fuck up. Nothing you say matters on this like literally nothing you say matters it's so useless I don't know I hope I hope everyone already knows this and I hope nobody is putting any stock into anything any mega says but it's just we can and and here's the thing we got this like on the left you know I'm not saying we're perfect but it seems like we gotthis like we get this sorted he's already gone you know we don't we don't need your help on the right because you're not fucking worth it anyway you're worthless is at it anyway. You don't, you don't help. You're just bad faith there to try to capitalize and nobody needs it. Nobody needs to listen to it.

0:28:16 Matt: It's very encouraging, honestly. Yeah. Yeah well, there might be an angle you're not considering here, Thomas. You'll find out when we come back.

0:28:31 Thomas: We'll see. I know it's my moral compass, the Federalist. So I can't believe I haven't read this issue yet. This latest, I get it delivered. I don't know if they have a print, but I have someone print it out for me like Trump and deliver how he has someone print out his tweets for him or whatever. I wonder if someone still still does that. Anyway, we're going to take a break. We've got to thank our patrons, the amazing Hall of Famers. This is batch number two here. Thank you, too. When you read this, I will be in trial against a huge insurance company. Wish me luck. Wow.

0:29:01 Matt: Good luck.

0:29:01 Thomas: Good luck. Absolutely. I would always be rooting for our patron versus an insurance company?

0:29:01 Lydia: Good luck. Yeah.

0:29:07 Thomas: Kidding me? Can't think of anyone whose side I'd be on more. A negative phenomenon. Steve the Seagull, Gary's boss. Get back to work, Gary. Oh

0:29:16 Matt: We've got lore developing.

0:29:17 Lydia: I love it. Wow. Well, man,

0:29:19 Thomas: Not even the seagulls can escape capitalism. I can't escape the grind. You got to fight for your right to ex parte. Jay Sank, David Souther, vehicular man's laughter, reluctantly changing his blinker fluid, salsa survivorship bias.

0:29:23 Matt: All Punching in.

0:29:35 Thomas: Cause all the other ones are dead.

0:29:35 Matt: Call back to Friday. Very

0:29:37 Thomas: Yeah. Uh, the chunk knobbler.

0:29:41 Matt: It's a family show, folks.

0:29:42 Lydia: You guys, nice work.

0:29:44 Thomas: Well hey we know jury nobbling we know it's apparently not a dirty act uh today's episode is brought to you by the letter that is unreadable cavalry thomas freeman cajun killer I do it every time cajun killa fraud fishy hates everything chris simpson gavelhead chucking away anonymous akila mark schultz and et awesome all right we'll take our second break here and then we'll we'll we'll check in with the moral authorities. All right. Uh, we got the headline Democrats smear machine spares no one in its quest for power.

0:30:18 Thomas: How, what, who is getting power from what?

0:30:17 Matt: This is how Democrats get power. Yeah. Incredible. I mean,

0:30:25 Lydia: Yeah.

0:30:26 Thomas: I don't, you

0:30:26 Matt: Lydia sent this. I saw the headline. We had to do it. I don't even care what it says. I means, this is that headline.

0:30:31 Thomas: Know, there's the great, the, the great Job Bluth when he gets knifed in prison by the guy, by white power bill. And he goes white power. And Job's like, I'm white. That's I can't help, but think like he's a a democrat what do you mean he is the democrats as as he's being knifed to swallow I was like I'm a democrat no it doesn't what who would get power from this it's silly

0:30:31 Lydia: From our friend, Sean Fleetwood. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

0:30:47 Matt: Totally. Well, I want to welcome back to Vapid Response, Sean Fleetwood from The Federalist. He's, I think, maybe 25, 26. And we most recently read him when he was telling us about how Katonji Brown -Jackson could learn a thing or two from Amy Coney Barrett. Remember that man? In the

0:31:11 Thomas: I was trying to think like I can't remember the name but one of the idiots who thinks he's smarter than all

0:31:13 Lydia: Yeah. This guy yeah

0:31:13 Matt: Entire, yeah, the whole episode of White Guys That Are Smarter Than KBJ. Yeah, yeah.

0:31:20 Thomas: I you know the thing is this guy's lucky because all I remember is that other asshole whose videos we watched god I fucking hate that guy memory yeah he had like 400 of his book in his behind him you know jesus

0:31:26 Lydia: Josh hammer yeah the one that candace owens is trying to take down yeah yeah well because they they disagree about charlie kirk I don't know I don'T KNOW whose side we're on

0:31:34 Thomas: Whose side am I on that okay can they both kill each other I don't yeah that's how

0:31:41 Lydia: She's insinuating that he like committed like kind of participated in his murder so I don't

0:31:41 Matt: This is alien.

0:31:45 Thomas: Many people could be in on any given murder you know like max matt you're a lawyer how many ppl max are usually in on a murder yeah

0:31:48 Lydia: Know representative

0:31:54 Matt: I mean, as many as killed JFK, I guess. I don't know. So Fleetwood's back. Here we go. Let's do it.

0:31:56 Thomas: Yeah hundreds all right what

0:32:01 Lydia: Eric swalwell democrat california just found out the hard way that his party will stop at nothing in its bid to acquire and maintain power even if it means taking out one of their own to do it yeah

0:32:10 Thomas: The fuck

0:32:13 Matt: I don' t understand this premise.

0:32:14 Thomas: Are you talking about? He is one of their, he is that. I don't, what are you talking about of all the candidates? He would have to be the most like mainstream Democrat, right? I mean, is there anybody, what?

0:32:20 Matt: Who could have won, right? Isn't that like the guy who was most likely to win? It seemed like you were saying he was second, but he had the most name recognition.

0:32:32 Thomas: Well, and I'm saying it's not like he's Bernie Sanders and the next person up is Hillary Clinton or whatever. Like he's the most basic Republican, basic Democrat that he's he's not in, he's right. I mean, he is not like an extremist leftist AOC type. He would be this person. Like if, like if he somehow was taking out Steyer or something, you could write this article maybe because there's like an outsider, right? But it just doesn't make any fucking sense. He's the most Democrat of everybody in there.

0:33:04 Matt: Yeah. Yeah. And as Lydia just told us, he's going to badly complicate the election. So we'll see. But hey, let's give Sean Fleetwood a chance.

0:33:11 Thomas: What a great plan of ours. Yeah, yeah.

0:33:09 Lydia: For those catching up on this weekend's news fang fang's former fella was hit with allegations I'm

0:33:18 Thomas: What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

0:33:19 Lydia: Clicking it because I was was like what

0:33:20 Matt: So he had a thing with a Chinese spy, with a known Chinese spy. So that should have been a little bit of a red flag, honestly, that he was that easily honey-trapped.

0:33:22 Lydia: That's right that's right yeah from

0:33:27 Thomas: What, what is that? Really?

0:33:29 Matt: He was completely honey-trapped by China.

0:33:31 Lydia: From a couple years ago

0:33:32 Matt: Yeah, by like a known operative.

0:33:33 Thomas: So I think he got by by just being so forgettable that I don't know any of this. Like I never, I never bothered to look at anything he ever did. Fang Fang's boyfriend loses his mind over.

0:33:44 Matt: This is one of the things I did remember about him.

0:33:45 Thomas: This, oh, I didn't. So, okay, so had I known this, what was this? He got, he got, what, what's the the term you said? All in meltdown about cat memes.

0:33:54 Matt: Honey -trapt. He was definitely honey-trapped. And the FBI found he was under no suspicion of actual wrongdoing. But it did seem like there was an effort to try to honey trap members of Congress around 2015, around thereabouts, just

0:34:07 Lydia: I do think like you're you're a married man with three children and you're susceptible to honey trapping I think I would take a look at like the other women that you've likely been with too

0:34:19 Thomas: My honey trapping days are over. When I was 22, bring on the honey. I don't have anything to offer, so I just, I wish they would just honey trap. Why don't they ever honey trap people with nothing to offer, you know?

0:34:30 Lydia: Yeah he

0:34:32 Matt: To see what happens. I

0:34:34 Thomas: Just a practice or something. I don't know. Okay.

0:34:36 Lydia: He was hit with allegations of sexual misconduct from several women as the federalist matt kittle reported quote the san francisco chronicle on friday dropped the bombshell report in which a former staffer accused the congressman of sexual assault

0:34:47 Matt: Just want to appreciate that sentence for a minute, that he's quoting the Federalist, quoting the San Francisco Chronicle. Like, he can't just give the Chronicle?

0:34:51 Lydia: Instead of having to quote the chronicle yeah Yeah.

0:34:55 Matt: It's so funny. Exclusive to the Federalists.

0:34:59 Lydia: Crazy.

0:35:00 Matt: This Chronicle story.

0:35:01 Thomas: I was too busy thinking of the fact, I was trying to, I've, I Was thinking of the math behind, wait a minute. If you're saying fang fang, whatever that is, wouldn't that lead you to believe that he might have done something wrong?

0:35:14 Lydia: Yeah.

0:35:14 Thomas: But if your whole premise is the democratic smear machine is, I guess, making this up, then what, what

0:35:19 Lydia: Because none of it makes sense. I mean, yeah, yeah.

0:35:21 Thomas: Am I to believe? Leave yeah he's both awful and everything against him is made up boy

0:35:26 Lydia: CNN followed with more details and more women stepping forward. Swalwell is accused of sending some women, quote, unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos, Anthony Weiner style.

0:35:36 Thomas: He wishes that was all the fuck he was accused of see

0:35:39 Lydia: Swalwell's prospects for remaining California's Democrat gubernatorial primary seemed slim by the time Sunday rolled around. The congressman lost all 21 of his endorsements from fellow Democrat members of Congress, with key figures of his campaign staff also abandoning ship. Yeah, that was fast, too. The people on his campaign team.

0:35:55 Thomas: I mean again you talked about gallego or whatever I like there's definitely people I don't like but like the fact that we're in a party or whatever the one the ones we caucus with we caucused with the democratic party and the factthat that it's unpopular to the point where they would have to do this even if some of them are assholes and their heart wasn't in it the fact that they saw it as necessary to instantly like pretty quickly unendorse him and he was the front runner like yeah that's that's a sign of a healthier party than MAGA is all I'll say

0:36:20 Lydia: Dump him. Mm -hmm. Yeah yeah. Yeah I agree.

0:36:28 Matt: I think he made a party that just wants power at any cost. I think that's what you mean to say.

0:36:31 Thomas: At any cost

0:36:31 Lydia: By sunday evening the golden state democrat announced he was calling it quits quote I am suspending my campaign for governor to my family staff friends and supporters I'm deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past Swalwell wrote on x quote I will fight the serious false allegations that have been made but that's my fight not a campaigns all

0:36:52 Thomas: I'm just thinking there's got to be an onion in the headline or something I'm formulating it now I'm spitballing but like I'm deeply sorry for what the extent of wrongdoing you know about yet so far. It's always like you're always apologizing for like whatever's out minus one kind of you're like, well, look, at first it was just like it's nothing. And there's like between me and my wife, you know, there's some indiscretions. Now it's mistakes and judgment. Like, you Know, are we is that is that still he's trying to say it's like an affair or something. But it is amazing to see these people apologize for what you tell me what you know about. And I will apologize for it, everybody.

0:37:29 Lydia: Exactly. One can't help but notice the cruel irony in Swalwell's downfall.

0:37:35 Thomas: What? What irony?

0:37:36 Matt: No.

0:37:36 Thomas: Does anyone know what irony is anymore? No, I guess I will give you that if you're going to say he was like amazing on feminism and now he's downfall. Okay. I will give you the irony. Sure. But what, but peddling the Russia collusion hoax is what they're going to go with. That's irony. Sorry.

0:37:38 Matt: It's just justice. Great start.

0:37:54 Thomas: I jumped the gun on you.

0:37:54 Lydia: You did. The Democrat congressman spent years peddling the Russia collusion hoax that baselessly accused Donald Trump of conspiring with Moscow to steal the 2016 election. He also acted he also acted as a Democrat attack dog during Brett Kavanaugh's supreme court nomination by repeatedly pushing the narrative that the then judges accusers and their outlandish claims must be believed no matter what see his tweets with the hashtags believe women and believe survivors

0:38:04 Matt: Nothing to that one.

0:38:17 Thomas: First off again, I don't remember him just period. I just really, he's forgettable to me. Maybe that's my bias. I don' t remember him being like the lead attack dog for the Democrats. Am I wrong? Like, I'm sure he spoke up, but there was a lot of people who were very interested in.

0:38:35 Matt: He's hedging here with a Democrat attack dog. He was one of the dogs. He was in the pack.

0:38:39 Thomas: I think it's so funny to be like, isn't it ironic that you are apologizing for your misconduct when you were peddling the Russia hoax? It's like, does irony have a meaning anymore? Do you know what that word is?

0:38:49 Lydia: Mm -hmm.

0:38:51 Matt: Yeah. I mean, this is actually ironic that he was coming out hard. Because he was. I mean we saw the clip.

0:38:55 Thomas: That's ironic.

0:38:55 Matt: And we have every right to punish him for hypocrisy, certainly. But yeah.

0:39:01 Thomas: You know, Lydia and I, we weren't going to we were seeing if there was anything to it, but we took a look at a Ben Shapiro video and, you know, it's like Ben Shapira was doing his victory lap over whatever, you know, and it's, like, yeah, okay, you know, he was, he's a hypocrite, yeah cool, that doesn't, that doesn't say anything about the principles that he was espousing, he was doing so hollowly and probably just to gain, you you know, popularity, but like the, that doesn't matter. What matters is the arguments and the concepts and whether or not they're sound and they are sound. And it's the very same thing. And especially when, if you're trying to make the whole party out to be hypocrites, that's fucking absurd. Cause the thing we are doing as a party is what he was advocating for. So

0:39:14 Lydia: Fine. Yeah more power. Yeah mm -hmm

0:39:47 Thomas: That's us as a body, not at all being hypocritical. You can call it, he is a hypocrite. He's absolutely a hypocrit, but the people who are trying to like extend it to the party, that's the opposite of true like we are doing what he was saying yeah

0:39:59 Matt: Yeah. And if he was still in the race, you know, different conversation. But things worked the way they were supposed to work. This is justice. Easy enough.

0:40:06 Thomas: Wait

0:40:06 Lydia: Now that he's facing allegations of his own, Swalwell wants the presumption of being innocent until proven guilty, a standard he and his party were never willing to grant Trump or Kavanaugh. But perhaps the bigger point in all of this is that Swalwill found out in real time that that one standing among the Democrat Party, quote, elite, is never absolute. That's especially true when it comes to the party's obsession with power and their willingness to do anything for it.

0:40:31 Thomas: Hold on a sec swallow found out that one's standing and they always have to say democrat whatever among the democratic party is never absolute why would that be a good thing was that why would you want your standing to be absolute why Would we as a party want an elite standing to to be absolute. He's saying that like it's a, like a big, oh, he thought he was a god among men, but he found out otherwise, like, yeah, we don't want that. What are you talking about?

0:40:53 Matt: That is telling. It's telling. So you think politics is about absolute power. That's what I'm learning here, yeah.

0:41:04 Thomas: You think it's about having a

0:41:05 Matt: And also not being a hypocrite and just going ahead and being a misogynist, a piece of shit in public, as most Republicans seem to be these days. So that's the better way to go.

0:41:05 Thomas: King.

0:41:13 Lydia: Right? By all indications, Democrats...

0:41:16 Thomas: Hold on, apologies. That's especially true when it comes to the party's obsession with power and their willingness to do anything for it. What are You talking about, so you're saying, oh you found out that when you're in the democratic party elite, that's not permanent, and that if you do something wrong, you are no longer in power, and that just shows the party's obsession with power what what are you talking about it

0:41:23 Lydia: I know. It's a nuts sentence.

0:41:37 Matt: This isn't helping them get power. This isn't hoping them keep power.

0:41:40 Lydia: And... well, yeah.

0:41:41 Thomas: Has nothing the fuck to do with anything it

0:41:42 Lydia: It doesn't. Willingness to do anything for it what what is what are we doing yeah

0:41:46 Thomas: If you were saying that like again look at that sentence if you're saying that being among the democratic party's elite should be absolute and you're the fact that it's not is a sign that we're like the democratic part has an obsession with power that's the opposite of true like if we were obsessed with power it'd be like well well, once we have King Trump, then he's King forever. Or once we have King Swalwell, he's king forever. It's just, it's nothing. This isn't even, this is, I don't even like you have been handed, you have been handed a huge, uh, uh W, uh Republicans. You've been handed it. You've handed a W by Eric Swal well, being a piece of shit, a Hippocratic, Hippocratic, a hypocritical.

0:42:09 Lydia: Like logically you have a problem with this yeah

0:42:25 Matt: Is doing harm.

0:42:26 Thomas: Yeah. He's violated his Hipp quadratic oath. He being a hypoccritical piece of shit. We've handed them a, a massive W and they don't even know what to do with it. Like they can't even, they can even like do it right because they're so twisted by their MAGA bullshit that they're like, they don't even understand what we're doing here.

0:42:23 Lydia: Yeah

0:42:43 Matt: This really goes to show my original thesis, I think, that the Federalist doesn't really have an editor. And I think maybe you might as well just do it because Because if you're applying the kind of logic an editor usually would in reading a piece like this,

0:42:53 Lydia: This doesn't

0:42:54 Thomas: Yeah, you let me do it. That would be funny if they're like, all right, we'll let Thomas edit the Federalist.

0:42:55 Lydia: Make sense sean he can usually catch the logical holes that we keep publishing publishing.

0:43:01 Thomas: Like we'll just let him yell at us and then change our articles. I like I'd almost do that just for fun. It would make it would make a better product on their end. I'm just saying. Oh

0:43:08 Matt: Could pay.

0:43:12 Lydia: By all indications, Democrats' quick and uniform demand that Swalwell end his gubernatorial candidacy, but noticeably not resign from Congress, oh, oh Sean, this did not age well, had everything to do with the power dynamics of California politics.

0:43:20 Thomas: Yeah. Noticeably. Where is he now? Is he, uh, where is he? Yeah. No, you're

0:43:29 Lydia: Unlike most states, California uses a top two primary system in which the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election.

0:43:34 Thomas: Describing the very thing that makes this harder on us. It, it makes it harder for Democrats to do this because of this. What the fuck are you talking about?

0:43:44 Lydia: Yeah.

0:43:45 Matt: Can't wait.

0:43:45 Lydia: Recent polling has indicated that while Swalwell led among the other Democrat candidates, he and his lefty competitors were splitting their party's vote and teeing up a potential Republican versus Republican gubernatorial race this fall. With SwalWell no longer in the race, that possibility seemingly becomes less likely to happen. It's hard to imagine that Democrats and their media allies weren't aware or hadn't heard of the allegations against Swalwill before now.

0:44:09 Thomas: Well, that's probably true.

0:44:10 Lydia: Yeah, it is.

0:44:10 Matt: It's true. No, we know that's true, the California

0:44:12 Lydia: It is 100 % true or

0:44:12 Matt: Establishment, yeah.

0:44:12 Thomas: Well, yeah, you know, that'S something to talk about because Because on one hand, I problematic, especially depending on what people did. Like if you talk about Ruben Gallego, if you're talking about somebody who was vocally supporting or I don't know, like denigrating victims when they knew about this, that's bad. Add. People are not willing to be named, if victims are not willing to being named, unfortunately are come for, well, yeah, but you have to, yeah.

0:44:37 Lydia: Or come forward anonymously with with with I mean be named to a journalist but like usually they can protect yeah

0:44:45 Thomas: You have to have at least one or two, like sometimes there'll be like, and also there was an unnamed one, but for the most part, they have to have one or 2 names in order to publish anything because of the legal system and defamation, everything. And that's just how it goes. And the fact is, if no one's willing to do that, a lot of people are stuck with no ability to really do anything because precisely what, you know, they keep crying about with innocent until proven guilty. And also like, you can't really knock people out of power based on whisper network. Like there's just no mechanism for that. There really isn't like, and so I do think there's going to be, I think it's going to be case by case. Like, again, if anyone knew about this and was actively defending him against it, that's a totally different story. But if the general like, oh, they knew and didn't what? Like, what can you do? You actually can't tell someone's story for them. You can't decide, well, this victim doesn't want to come forward for very good reason because it's horrible to try to come forth as a victim of this stuff. It's only agony.

0:45:50 Thomas: Like people go after them. It's awful. I wish we could change that. You know, some people are trying to change that, but it's very difficult. There's no one who gets to say, well, she doesn't want to come forward, but I'm going to make her, or I'm gonna go ahead and pretend she did. It just, there's no mechanism to do that, and it would be wrong if you could. Like, it would wrong to say I'm going to out a victim because it's better off, you know, that we do, yeah, for the, like, it just, just, it's not how it works. What happens every single time in these cases is when someone has the courage to come forward, it is such a brave decision. It really is. When someone has the courage to put their name to it, that is when every time you get the cascade effect that a lot of people do and a lot of, and more people do. And that's when you can have consequences, but there isn't any mechanism or ability to just do that without that. There really isn't. And it's it's frustrating. And I, you know, we've seen it. We've seen a lot of people in our, you know, thing where they're, they, they expect

0:46:14 Lydia: For the system yeah yeah our community

0:46:53 Thomas: That there's something that can be done with no one wanting to put their name out there. And the sad truth is there really isn't like there's very little, unless you already are in it. Like if, unless, unless he were like his boss or something, maybe.

0:47:02 Lydia: I well so interesting because I do have a question because kevin mccarthy actually did an interview about this where he said, you know, this was well known in Congress that we tell our staffers don't go like historically, we have told our staffer's don't go, you don't be around Swalwell or Matt Gaetz alone. So Congress, like don't you think your colleagues could have an opportunity to hold you to account?

0:47:22 Thomas: Okay. But hold on. So do we, yeah, you shouldn't be getting like community assignments or something, or sorry, committee assignments. Man, my brain is doing the wrong words today. He shouldn't be getting, like, yeah, something, well, you, yeah maybe, but it's, yeah. I'm not an expert on how that works in, in the House, but I do know that there's also a sense, and, and this is something I think is valid, there's a sense that there are pending Republicans or MAGA who they're not doing anything about, and then they want to do something something about, you know, Eric Swalwell. And for a moment he resigned now, but for a, or I guess they both did right for a minute,

0:47:34 Lydia: Like there there should be some sort of censorship or something. Right. Or or investigation or something, I guess. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Tony Gonzalez just

0:48:05 Thomas: It sort of almost looked like we were going to have this weird system where it's like, all right, as soon as we each have one, we'll do it, which is bizarrely like the game theory way it kind of has to work. You know, I w I think what we should do if I was able to wave a magic wand in terms of this particular problem, there should just be some some sort of law or something that's like, hey, if anyone, it turns out to be a piece of shit in some way, and I don't know if this is practical, but the effect of it would be the party should have a free eject this guy and get someone else from the same party.

0:48:05 Lydia: Resigned. Yeah . Yeah. Call

0:48:36 Thomas: Because then that would relieve that pressure on both sides so that everybody could be like, hey, eject Eric Swalwell into space, and then we get to replace him with an equivalent person. And it would take away the battling over politics of it. Because there have been a few times where genuinely it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to expel one of our own at a time when that lack of a vote in the Senate or something would have cost millions of people their jobs or their insurance or their, you know, like there's those situations that come up from time to time. And honestly, the right thing to do may be to leave that person in place to make a vote. And we, I wish we just could get rid of that by just some sort of system. I don't know what it would have to be if the constitution or some shit,

0:48:42 Lydia: Out your colleagues. Yeah yeah. Mm -hmm. Yeah

0:49:19 Thomas: Because it seems like when you get to those those things, but, or if there was some way they could pass some rule of, you know, I know they have different rules of Congress, like the house rules and the whatever. I wish they could do that because then that would take away this, this, This thing. But I also think that MAGA also has this thing where they can't ever admit their own side sucks until maybe it reaches a certain point and that person is expendable enough.

0:49:39 Thomas: And I think that's what happened with this other guy. Go ahead.

0:49:39 Matt: I do like the Me Too mulligan rule. I think that makes sense. You just get a freebie. I mean, I hate to demean it to a mulligan, but yeah, I mean that really is like it's not an oopsie. Obviously, it's a huge problem. And actually, I got to say this this sentence is the only thing in this piece that I agree with, I think is correct. The Democrats and the media allies weren't aware. Obviously, everybody was aware. Everybody knew. And the California establishment, from what I read, for at least 10 years knew as well. And that is a real problem here in Boston. We've had real issues with the Democratic Party because there is no other party actively covering up for people that they know are bad. And there's this concept in some circles about the missing stare. You're familiar with this? It's a really good way to think about this stuff. But the idea that you go over to somebody's house, there's a party, and the host, as you're walking in says, you know, look out for that stair on your way up. It's, you know, just going to get that fixed. Why haven't you fixed the stair? Like, why haven't you removed the stair when you're having people over, right? This is like, everybody knows that the stair and they just walk around it and that's what's going on

0:49:47 Thomas: Just replace. Yeah. Hmm. Oh,

0:50:31 Matt: Here.

0:50:32 Thomas: That happens a lot with this kind of stuff. Yeah, I would say that like, it seems as though something was known, but I do think it would matter what was known and by whom. And I, and I'm, I think there's going to be all kinds of people who are, who are worthy of criticism for sure. But I think it really depends. Like it really demands who knew what, were they in a position where they could actually do something? I think It's easy if you want to be the Federalist and just, you know, criticize the whole party to say, so they knew therefore four, whatever happened was bad, but I don't know who was in a position of power. What could they have done? I don'T know. I would like to know specifics on that. That would be something that would be good to know, you know?

0:51:07 Matt: I could see other Democrats meeting with him and just saying, we know what's going on hier. You know what' going on her. You're not going to run for re -election at the very least, right. You 'r just going quietly bow out or you're going to find a, somebody's got a health problem that you need to leave or you spend time with your your family, you're out of here, right? We're going to let you do it this way.

0:51:22 Thomas: Well, so I guess my point, and not to disagree with that, I agree with that. But my point is when it says they were aware, when somebody says they're aware, first off Lydia was quoting, okay.

0:51:32 Lydia: Kevin McCarthy.

0:51:33 Thomas: Yeah. I don' t, he's not, I don''t really trust what he says, but, but I think people were aware. But what were people aware of? Because I think what might be happening is if people were aware of oh I think he made he might have creeped out uh uh you know an intern and then if we then now in the wake of this person who just came out that it seems to me that nobody knew about if we than say well then they knew about all that too it's like well no they didn't know that I don't know what extent people knew you know like that's what makes it it hard where it's like, if, if what people knew was he creeped out staff, it makes it really, and that's why I think you're right, Lydia, that, that the isolation and the not knowing about each other is such a powerful tool for the bad guys.

0:51:36 Lydia: I don't either, but I mean, yeah I think I I think, yeah, harassment like kind of was the the situation. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.

0:52:19 Thomas: Cause it's, like, it's hard to be like, what are you going to tell him to resign over that? Like, it'S, I don't know who can do that. You know, maybe, maybe I'm wrong, man. I don' t know. What do you think?

0:52:29 Matt: I mean, I read that he was known in Congress as the king of Snapchat, and that's not something you want to be known as at 45 years old as a man.

0:52:35 Thomas: Okay. It might be that I just don't fucking know the details. Apologies. I didn't know he was that.

0:52:36 Matt: You don't use Snapchat for anything good.

0:52:40 Thomas: Why are you the king of Snapchat? Yeah. What the fuck?

0:52:42 Matt: People should know what that means. And also just the fact that you've got people who are counting on you for their careers and futures that you're doing this with, I mean – or two.

0:52:50 Thomas: All right. Well, maybe nothing I said is valid then. I don't know. Yeah. Like what, what did they know? And like what, why would I, I don' t know. Like, guess what, like you say, someone should have taken him aside and said, and maybe they did. That's the thing. Like here's the other thing. Maybe they did do that. That. And if Swalwell, it seems to me, if Swolwell is shameless enough to be doing what he was doing up until three, four or five days ago, then he would probably have taken that conversation and been like, I don't know what you're talking about. That's all false. I'm not doing that. And then what do you do? Like, what's the next, that's what

0:52:51 Lydia: I think in general what you're saying is true yeah yeah

0:52:53 Matt: I take your point but yeah yeah

0:53:14 Lydia: Yeah hmm just

0:53:18 Matt: Sure

0:53:23 Thomas: I talk about when there's no mechanism, like you can try and you should, but when they decide that, no, I haven't done anything wrong, what is that mechanism and it's really tricky

0:53:34 Lydia: Wrapping this up it's hard to imagine that democrats and their media allies weren't aware or hadn't heard of the allegations against swallow before now the party is very particular about what kinds of dirt it drops about politicians and when which further goes to show how sinister the left is when it comes to wielding smear campaigns against those who jeopardize their power unfortunately for swalwell he drew the short straw in the competition to see who will continue to spearhead california's descent into ruin and now he's paying the price for it side note I just saw a graph that showed like californIA outperforming like most countries in the world like year over year like just zooming up in terms of economics yeah it's

0:54:03 Thomas: So good yeah it's so fucking funny they think that the that the state and san francisco in particular are just on fire and gonna just just fall into the sea yeah

0:54:15 Lydia: Crazy yeah

0:54:17 Matt: Also it's not a smear campaign to correctly note that somebody is a rapist um just want to point that out that's not his smear right

0:54:25 Thomas: This is and this isn't something that was led by other candidates that I saw this is like the victims and the the people you were talking about, I think. Um, I, yeah, I don't, yeah.

0:54:32 Lydia: And two content creators yeah

0:54:36 Thomas: I just, it's just silly. It's just stupid. I mean, try harder. 25 year old idiot who wrote that. It's terrible.

0:54:44 Matt: Well we'll get on to a much older idiot in a moment if we want to take a break

0:54:48 Thomas: Ugh. I love old idiots. Okay. Well, why don't we, uh, take that break and thank our final third of patrons, top patrons, hall of famers, all time greats. Thank you to the Cincinnati kid, Bob Loblaw's Law Podcast. Philly basement bar is currently closed for spring cleaning and reorganizing. Nice. Elect Thomas Smith President, American Honky Tonk Bar Association. Paul Ticatay, Philip Kizer. I've only studied a little bit, but I'm confident I understand the Dunning-Kruger effect better than the so -called experts.

0:55:17 Thomas: Coryn_Lann, a string of unpronounceable characters. Malaika Chandler, RhondaTheDork.com. Milo Meadsong is fighting petty tyrants. Big Easy Blasphemy, hors d'oeuvres in the court before we report. Chris Waltrip, Fred R. Groothuis, Sam Donow, Classic libtard, and Mitchell. Thank you so much, Mitchell. Top patron to the stars. Let's take that final break, and then we'll finish up. Right. Are we going down memory lane here?

0:55:14 Lydia: Mitchell uh oh

0:55:43 Matt: Uh we have to use this link because, of course, the original thread was deleted long ago. But we're going from a 25 -year -old idiot to a 65 -year old idiot, one Ed Whelan. And for those who don't remember, this was at the height of the Kavanaugh fervor. I shouldn't say fervour. I mean, this is all breaking, obviously, about Christine Blasey Ford and the other accusers and some very serious stories about things that Kavanaagh had done as a young man. And it didn't seem to be a lot of question that he'd done those things. But Ed Whalen, a conservative advisor, lawyer, sort of all -around policy guy, that's right, Queer First Korea, he took it upon himself to decide to crack this mystery of who actually did it.

0:56:14 Lydia: Clerked for Scalia I didn't know that yeah yeah oh

0:56:21 Thomas: I remember this, actually. Oh, my

0:56:24 Lydia: Boy

0:56:24 Thomas: God. This is so fucking stupid.

0:56:25 Lydia: You boomer

0:56:26 Matt: And I will say ahead of time, this actually did get him some consequences, but he did a mysterious Twitter thread ahead of time about how I've got this big solution. I figured it out. And then a PR firm worked with him to roll this out.

0:56:35 Thomas: I'm going to zoom in. Yeah. Oh,

0:56:40 Matt: It is something. If you go through, you'll see the actual Twitter thread, because it's the only way we can do it, because he deleted it and there are no screenshots. We weren't looking. But this story preserved all of the tweets. If we can keep going down, there we go.

0:56:52 Lydia: Okay, I'll begin laying out some information concerning Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.

0:56:52 Thomas: This one? Okay. Okay. I was going to

0:57:00 Lydia: Dun, dun, dun.

0:57:00 Thomas: Say, we want to refresh people, but maybe is this going to actually refresh it or is he going to give a bullshit version of it?

0:57:04 Matt: It's just a reminder that this happened in high school in someone's home. That was the the allegation.

0:57:10 Thomas: Right away. The reason this sticks out in my memory, I actually remember this is because what struck me so much was right away, the thought that you would have that, oh, there must be some mistake here. I'm going to straighten this out. Oh, I know it was this other person. Like the fact that you Would start with with that assumption. The assumption is it must be somebody else. Why?

0:57:25 Matt: It's

0:57:33 Lydia: -hmm.

0:57:34 Thomas: Like, why would that be your assumption? It's the weirdest thing. And I took it, this was so weird that I actually think this guy genuinely believes this bullshit. It was my impression. I don't know. But like at the time, and I think that there's certain people that just think if you're respectable in quotes, if you've you know, if You're the right kind of white guy with prestige, like you can't have done anything wrong. I actually Think there's people who just think that like you, you can have done. There's There's no way. Can't have done it.

0:57:36 Matt: Not my guy.

0:57:59 Lydia: Look at him.

0:58:00 Matt: Remember, Ed Weiland is a hardcore Republican, like a Reagan guy. He wants this nomination to work. And I think that he also is realizing that they know better at this point in 2018, you can't actually say that she's a liar. So he thinks, I think, that he's come up with a very elegant solution to which she doesn't have to be a liar, she just has a bad memory. So, he's going to crack the case.

0:58:15 Thomas: So I guess it's like, who knows if he's completely bullshitting or if it's if he genuinely thinks that he couldn't have done it? I don't know. Yeah. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's just all cynical.

0:58:24 Lydia: So his next step here, Kavanaagh's home was 3 .6 miles away. Smith's, 4 .3 miles. Miles.

0:58:32 Thomas: Smythes.

0:58:32 Lydia: I don't know. I think I'd say Smith. There's no E at the end of that.

0:58:35 Thomas: Yeah, but it's a Y.

0:58:36 Lydia: It doesn't matter.

0:58:36 Thomas: Our name is Smith.

0:58:38 Lydia: I think you can spell Smith both ways, but. Judges, 10 miles, and the female classmates, seven miles.

0:58:45 Matt: We're setting up geography between different class members.

0:58:48 Lydia: Here is a house that is barely a half mile from the Columbia Country Club. Street address, 3714 Thorn Apple Street.

0:58:54 Thomas: You're just going through the tweets. Okay.

0:58:55 Lydia: Yeah. Chevy Chase.

0:58:55 Matt: And sadly, we can't get the picture because it has been deleted to time, but he he actually posted, he went and found somehow a blueprint of this house. And

0:59:02 Lydia: Wow. Who lived in this house? Chris Garrett, a Georgetown Prep classmate, friend, and football teammate of Brett Kavanaugh's.

0:59:11 Thomas: And a real rapist. I guess

0:59:14 Lydia: Apparently.

0:59:14 Matt: I'm just going to libel him now. So found

0:59:17 Lydia: She says the gathering took place in a, quote, small family room. See the family room in the upper left of the floor plan.

0:59:24 Thomas: That that see that does it if you had a family room in your house why that means you did it

0:59:30 Lydia: Someone leaving the

0:59:30 Matt: The one house

0:59:31 Thomas: Yeah all the other ones are just warehouses there's no what are you talking about and

0:59:31 Matt: In the neighborhood. Yep.

0:59:32 Lydia: One, the one. Someone leaving The House down the stairs and out the front door wouldn't be seen from the family room. Here we go.

0:59:42 Thomas: Now now the plot is really thickening

0:59:44 Lydia: Garrett was good friends with Mark Judge. Their friendship appears to have continued long after graduation, as this 2012 Facebook exchange shows.

0:59:44 Thomas: Oops are those people what does that have to do with anything but

0:59:53 Matt: These are all classmates. He's just going deep. He's getting creepy looking at Facebook because

0:59:55 Lydia: Just, yeah, and

0:59:57 Thomas: Why would it matter if they're friends yeah

0:59:58 Matt: They're all at the party. That's his theory is that they're All the Same Party. And this is where it happened. And she's just remembering the wrong guy at the Party because

1:00:02 Lydia: That she's, and it was actually one of Kavanaugh's friends.

1:00:05 Thomas: But that's also her theory, too. They were at the party. I don't get why would this prove his theory and not hers.

1:00:10 Lydia: Well, let's see. I don't know.

1:00:11 Matt: There are other guys at the parties. So let's pick one of them. It wasn't Kavanaugh.

1:00:14 Lydia: And here are Kavanaagh and Garrett now. To be clear, I have no idea what, if anything, thing did or did not happen in that bedroom at the top of the stairs and I therefore do not state this is a lawyer brain coming on I think imply or insinuate that Garrett or anyone else committed the sexual assault that Ford alleges further including

1:00:32 Matt: I'm just gratuitously putting his name out there. It's no big deal.

1:00:34 Thomas: I'm saying nothing.

1:00:34 Lydia: Floor plans to his house further if Ford is now mistakenly remembering Garrett to be Kavanaugh I offer no view whether that mistaken remembrance dates from the gathering or developed at some point in the intervening years wow I

1:00:38 Thomas: What the fuck? Yeah, that was unreal. I remember that.

1:00:53 Lydia: Knew them both and socialized with them, Ford said, adding that she had once visited the other classmate in the hospital. Quote, there is zero chance that I would confuse them. And then, oh, and then a bunch of replies here.

1:01:01 Matt: Yep. Yep, you do remember these things. Yeah, the responses, yeah, yeah.

1:01:06 Thomas: I'll just include some jokes, yeah.

1:01:07 Lydia: Yeah. Using Zillow to prove there was a second shooter on the grass, you know. Nice. And the bottom line, I believe that a fair assessment of this evidence powerfully supports Judge Kavanaugh's categorical denial. What a leap. What a leap, Ed.

1:01:16 Matt: Yeah, it's so desperate.

1:01:26 Thomas: Unbelievable.

1:01:28 Matt: Yeah so gotta say I was happy. Maybe I didn't look in the right places. I certainly am not an ex anymore but I didn's see any of this going on of like picking the stories apart and trying to prove where people were at certain times. So I appreciate that.

1:01:40 Thomas: And it's, I mean, really, it happened so fast. I don't know who would be incentivized to even do that right now. That's a reason it's good to have consequences.

1:01:47 Lydia: Yeah, the most pushback I saw was really on the creators who were involved in helping this story come to light. Again, saying like at one point that it was Roger Stone, you know, that paid them because he doesn't want a Democrat to be the governor of California. So he's just trying to take down somebody.

1:02:05 Thomas: Wait, but how does that fit with, I thought it was all about the Democrats seizing power, but we've got two conflicting theories.

1:02:09 Lydia: Wait a second. How can both of those things be true? Yeah.

1:02:12 Thomas: Man.

1:02:12 Matt: Yeah, I'm going to say that a hardcore, career -committed Republican lawyer who's using a PR firm to discredit a victim in this situation might be more interested in seizing and holding power forever than whatever's going on here.

1:02:26 Thomas: Wait. Who was doing that?

1:02:27 Matt: I mean, this is this ridiculous thing, right? This is just kind of proof of how they do things, right.

1:02:28 Thomas: You're talking about that. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah,

1:02:32 Matt: And again, I am not here to defend Democrats or say they're perfect, but this was a good response. I mean, as soon as the information came out, he was done. As soon as, you know, that CNN story and the content creators you're going to talk about.

1:02:41 Thomas: Good.

1:02:43 Lydia: Yeah. So I just want to make sure we end today with a shout out to those creators. I username is Mrs. Frazzled but actual name is Ariel Fodor and Hunt is the other content content creator that got involved as well, and the two of them and then Cheyenne's friend, who is actually someone who has allegations against Eric Swalwell as well. She saw, from my understanding, she saw Mrs. Frazzled posts on threads and TikTok and out to her friend Cheyenn saying, hey, can you connect with Mrs. Frazzold and like on my behalf kind of thing? Because if there are other people that are saying this, I also, you to have this conversation. Traditional media outlets don't necessarily want to jump on these things like they're not creating those relationships with people like people are not going to those traditional outlets usually and this idea that it could come from content creators first and then make its way to traditional media is kind of a an interesting new world that we might be looking at I don't know

1:03:39 Thomas: Well, I mean, I know, I, I knew reporters definitely try to work with these people. Like they try to, and it's, yeah, it's not as though they're not, but, but there might be a different threshold. It's kind of, it'S interesting. I wonder if this portends, if the standard is set at a certain level for, you know, legal and for all those concerns at mainstream but then there's this almost intermediary now where it's, like, if there's these popular content creators that can kind of, like jumpstart it in a way, then you get the people who are willing to put their name to it in mainstream media. And it really might have been, yeah, the victims the confidence to come forward.

1:03:43 Lydia: And I'm not saying that they're like bad people but yeah right

1:04:15 Thomas: Again, once they were willing to put Their Name to It, CNN is the one who had the article. So it's like, they have a legal standard they have to hit. Maybe could be slightly looser. I don't know. And like, maybe Maybe they could get a little bit less risk averse on that. Maybe that would be one way. But also it's like we if need to create an environment where victims don't feel so much fear and people like her, that's amazing what she did, like to be able to give people that confidence and comfort, you know, feeling like they're not going for, for one, they're not alone and they're not going to like be, they'RE not going to have their lives ruined by Swalwell. Well, yeah, that's wow. That's really brave. That's that's incredible.

1:04:45 Lydia: She's gonna protect you. Yeah yeah yeah. So big shout out to them for all the work that they did to get that out there. And rest in hell, Swalwell. Don't like you. You suck. You're a terrible person.

1:04:57 Thomas: Crazy. And I, for one, I'm just happy that the Democratic Party can now gain power.

1:05:03 Matt: At any cost.

1:05:03 Lydia: Finally in California. We've been waiting so long.

1:05:06 Thomas: Yeah. That's the only reason.

1:05:07 Matt: This master plan, well on its

1:05:09 Thomas: Only it's so weird that Swalwell went along with it, though, to apologize. You know, like if it was just made up, you'd think he'd be like, what the hell's happening? I didn't do any of this. No, man.

1:05:09 Matt: Way.

1:05:17 Lydia: This is a smear campaign and

1:05:19 Thomas: Man, why did, why do the shadowy Democrats always find someone who actually did stuff and then accuse them of doing the stuff they did? Dastardly. Yeah. All right. Well, um, that was, uh, wow. That was a lot, but do you have any final words on it, hon, that you'd like to put on it?

1:05:26 Lydia: Hold them to account I just think that this is really really important work I think that there are opportunities to create bridges out of whisper networks um women protecting women. And think that's an important thing that we're going to be needing to lift up. And yeah, and I'm glad that our party at least seems to care about that a little bit.

1:05:52 Thomas: All right, well, uh, thanks everyone. Thanks, Matt. Thanks Lydia. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. We'll see you for Rapid Response Friday.

1:06:03 Clip: This has been Opening Arguments, produced by Thomas and Lydia Smith, with editing help from Peter Baird. The intro is by Thomas Smith. This outro is by Matt Cameron. Support the show at patreon .com slash law. Contact us through Patreon or openarguments at gmail .com. Make sure to follow our blue sky at OpenArgs. But most of all, please share the show. Thanks for listening.