Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has been one of the few Democrats not caught between the notions of “working with” the Trump administration and resisting — a limbo that has trapped, and perhaps mortally wounded, the political effectiveness of seasoned politicians like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who continues to operate, critics say, as if he is running a minority conference in a strained, but largely business-as-usual Washington.
Swalwell and other outspoken Trump antagonists like Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff aren’t pretending the current environment represents a normal political environment.
President Trump himself characterizes his return as an extraordinary political moment, claiming a political mandate that, he says, unleashes him from traditional curbs on executive branch power and gives him license to issue his barrage of executive orders including firings and agency dismantling that seek to defang all manner of perceived enemies — from ethics watchdogs to opposition law firms to, well, Canada.
What Democrats like Swalwell are looking for are cracks in the MAGA shield where they can stick their rhetorical knives and twist. Enter Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the national security debacle now known as SignalGate.
Many Dems complained from the start that Trump was deliberately hiring the loyal over the competent to fill his cabinet and other top jobs — Hegseth was confirmed by the slimmest possible margin (51-50) with objectors, including Republicans, warning that the result would put the nation at risk.
The revelation that Hegseth shared sensitive details of U.S. military strikes in Yemen with a journalist in advance of the strikes themselves meant that he and other top Trump NatSec personnel committed an act which Hegseth, in his old role as a Fox News opinionator, would likely have called criminal.
Left: Hegseth attacks journalist instead of addressing breach of security on his watch
Right: Hegseth criticising Hilary Clinton’s emails, “Any security professional, military, government or otherwise, would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct. And be criminally… pic.twitter.com/3B0syRZix3
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) March 24, 2025
Hegseth is so far being supported by Trump and the administration. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz publicly took the blame for the journalist’s (Jeff Goldberg of The Atlantic) presence in the chat group.
A number of Democrats, including Senators Ruben Gallego (D-TX) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) have called for Hegseth’s resignation, but — as seen in the video below — Swalwell goes after Hegseth with a personal attack on his intelligence, utilizing Trump’s signature name-calling in his rhetoric and calling the Defense Secretary a “moron.”
Swalwell: Hegseth is still the Secretary of Defense? This moron texts out our war plans, putting our soldiers at risk, and he’s not gone?
Every one on that chat—they just fire off texts not knowing who is on the chat? They all should be fired if they don’t resign. pic.twitter.com/21l3A2fRC7
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2025