Episode #429: Swalwell That Ends Well
Ken Rudin's Political Junkie
Ken Rudin
4.7 • 635 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The meteoric rise — and dramatic fall — of Congressman Eric Swalwell is the subject of this episode. Seema Mehta, a political reporter with the Los Angeles Times, recounts how he went from media darling to alleged sex offender, ending what had initially been an improbable bid to become governor of California. And, for good measure, George Skelton, the veteran L.A. Times columnist, spells out how this sad episode exposed the weaknesses in California’s “top two” electoral system.
ALSO: Wondering the purpose of holding a White House Correspondents Dinner with a president that despises and denigrates the media. And Republicans are, with a straight face, screaming “partisanship” at Virginia’s ballot initiative that may give the Commonwealth’s Democrats, four additional congressional seats.
MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE:
Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood
I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
The post Episode #429: Swalwell That Ends Well appeared first on Ken Rudin's Political Junkie.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Republicans are furious with Virginia. |
| 0:03.1 | Democrats are furious with Swalwell, |
| 0:05.8 | and what to do about those evil seashells on the political junkie. |
| 0:11.5 | You like Ike, I like like, everybody likes I for president. |
| 0:15.7 | Add light to you and link to me. |
| 0:18.0 | I don't care how you quoted. |
| 0:19.8 | Come on and vote for Kennedy, vote for Kennedy, |
| 0:24.4 | and we'll come out on top. |
| 0:26.8 | Vote for Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, |
| 0:30.6 | because they're the ones to lead the USA. |
| 0:44.6 | Thanks for joining us, and welcome to episode 429 of the political junkie. |
| 0:46.1 | I'm Ken Rudin. |
| 0:52.2 | Well before the frightening events at the White House Correspondence Dinner, there was widespread talk about how pointless an event like that was. |
| 0:55.7 | It was one thing for reporters and the president to poke fun at each other while dining together. |
| 1:00.9 | That's a long-time tradition. |
| 1:03.4 | It's another when the media and the president have such loathing for each other. |
| 1:08.2 | Ron Fornier, a former AP White House reporter, makes a great point in his |
| 1:13.1 | substact post he wrote directed at today's White House reporters. I'm going to quote him here. |
| 1:19.9 | With the First Amendment under direct assault from a man who doesn't understand it, much less |
| 1:25.0 | respect it, dozens of you and your corporate bosses are planning |
| 1:29.0 | to honor Trump with his present Saturday at the annual White House Correspondence Dinner, |
| 1:34.4 | celebrating freedom of the press. This man mocks you, sues you, and targets you for prosecution. |
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