AIPAC 'slimeball' Eric Swalwell leaves the stage
Antiwar reformer Rep. Pete Stark warned the public about Swalwell, and was destroyed for it
Eric Swalwell’s office door highlights his utility to the forces that propelled his career.
By Max Blumenthal
When he staged his first run for Congress in 2012, Eric Swalwell’s seemingly underdog campaign was aggressively propelled by AIPAC, Big Pharma, and corrupt land developers. Their target was Rep. Pete Stark, a legendary reformer and antiwar stalwart who had infuriated the Israel lobby with his consistent opposition to wars on Iraq and Lebanon.
At the end of their only debate, Stark called Swalwell a “slimeball,” a “fucking crook,” accused him of bribery, and predicted, “you’re going to jail.” Mainstream media condemned Stark as a bully in the throes of cognitive decline, while Swalwell became their darling. After the centrist 31-year-old prosecutor eked out a victory, The New Republic hailed him as a “costume-donning, prop-loving thirty something who ousted Pete Stark.” No mention was made of the bathrobe he donned in his now-notorious role as a liquor-sodden lothario.
In Congress, Swalwell provided a reliable rubber stamp for military aid to Israel while distinguishing himself as the most cartoonish promoters of the Russiagate hoax. When he ran for president in 2019 – polling around 0% throughout his campaign – he branded himself the “Guns and Russia” candidate, meaning he would restrict guns for Americans while forking over billions in military aid to Ukraine.
With Swalwell’s demise, Pete Stark may have gotten the last laugh. But in a Democratic Party that is hostile to class politics, overrun by corporate lobbyists and occupied by Israel, Swalwell was a prototype. In his wake, new slimeballs will rise to the surface.
Thank you, Max. For many, like myself, who. were unaware of this history, you have reconfirmed the absence of integrity in the DNC. We have a number of structural and process reforms that are desparately needed in the US, UJ, ICC, ICJ. Until this aloog with an honest acknowledgement of the reality of US policies - domestic and international, we will nont bring these travesties to an end.
Pete Stark was one of my heroes. In 1970, he was a member of a group of 30 Minnesotans and others, led by Diana Johnstone, who went to Paris to negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam with the Peoples Revolutionary Government, [PRG]. Thanks for connecting another dot for me!