The Democrats intend to ride the mini-riot at the Capitol on January 6 for all it is worth. One aspect of their strategy is lawsuits by people like Eric Swalwell. Swalwell has sued President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Congressman Mo Brooks for, among other things, intentional infliction of emotional distress. Is there any chance the rest of us can sue Swalwell for the emotional distress he has caused us? I suppose not.
Swalwell’s complaint goes on and on, for 65 pages. It recites all of the Democratic Party’s talking points about the election and its aftermath. It isn’t worth critiquing in detail, but here are a few observations.
Swalwell’s complaint is weirdly pseudo-religious, referring repeatedly to “sacraments” and the “sacredness” of the U.S. Capitol. I am not sure that is what the Founders had in mind. It begins:
The peaceful transfer of power is a sacrament of American democracy. Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his advisor Rudy Giuliani, and Congressman Mo Brooks, together with many others, defiled that sacrament through a campaign of lies and incendiary rhetoric which led to the sacking of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
This is Swalwell’s real grievance:
Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election; he was unwilling to accept defeat.
Just like Hillary Clinton, the FBI, the CIA, the Washington Post and the New York Times in 2016.
After his electoral defeat, Trump and the other Defendants conspired to undermine the election results by alleging, without evidence, that the election had been rigged….
There is a great deal of evidence, Swalwell just prefers not to mention it. As I have said before, we probably will never know whether the Democrats stole the 2020 election, but we know for sure that they tried hard to steal it.
By his own account, Swalwell cowered in fear before the “insurrection” led by the guy with a fur hat and horns:
The Plaintiff prepared himself for possible hand-to-hand combat as he took off his jacket and tie and searched for makeshift instruments of self-defense. He listened in shock as the House Chaplain—a veteran of war herself—began praying for the members from the Rostrum.
I suppose it is too politically incorrect, even for me, to suggest that “hand-to-hand combat” between the detestable Eric Swalwell and the guy with the horns and the nipple tattoos would be worth the price of admission. Swalwell continues:
As the Plaintiff watched this horror unfold, he texted with his wife in what he felt could be his last moments, telling her “I love you very much. And our babies.”
No word on whether he texted the Chinese spy Fang Fang.
The complaint goes on and on. In my opinion, President Trump did some dumb things following the election along with others that were not at all dumb. He did not, however, incite a riot on January 6, as Swalwell’s complaint confirms. The most incendiary language he can quote from Trump’s speech is:
Trump implored the crowd to “fight like hell” and “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue . . . to the Capitol.”
That is weak tea, obviously. Swalwell apparently overlooked the part where Trump said, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun!” Now that is a real incitement to violence. But wait–that wasn’t Donald Trump, it was Barack Obama.
The salient point, if there is one, is that the Democrats intend not just to defeat Donald Trump but to spend the rest of Trump’s life persecuting him. Attorneys General in states like New York are insistently demanding his tax returns, his accountant reportedly is under severe pressure to turn state’s evidence, and ridiculous lawsuits like Swalwell’s will continue to provide talking points for those who hate Trump, for years to come. The Democrats want Trump to be like Hector, not just killed in battle but dragged around the city walls behind a chariot. Repeatedly.
So that no one who is not a member of the club will ever be so bold as to seek the presidency again. Spill secrets to a Chinese spy as a member of the House Intelligence Committee? No problem! Stand up for the interests of working Americans? Call out the FBI.
PAUL ADDS: I hope the case will be dismissed, but only after Swalwell, having put his emotional state at issue, submits to an examination by a mental health professional of the defendants’ choosing.
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