💬 The most REVEALING part of Eric Swalwell's downfall, and TDS 101

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You really have to hand it to Eric Swalwell, who operated with remarkable efficiency over the last week. The last time this newsletter hit your inbox, Swalwell was the top-polling Democrat — behind a pair of Republicans — in the California governor’s race.

Now, he’s out of the race, has resigned from Congress and is the subject of a criminal investigation after numerous women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Jeanine Pirro even set up a tip line for accusers to call, because there are apparently so many of them. All in one week. You really have to hand it to the guy.

There is so much to savor about Swalwell’s swift downfall. There’s the hypocrisy it exposed. Swalwell was one of the loudest voices against Bret Kavanaugh when he was facing false allegations in 2018 during his confirmation process. Plus, the nonstop virtue signaling that Swalwell engaged in over the years, including him boasting to Jimmy Kimmel in 2024 about how women should be treated.

Then, there’s the Democrats trying to do damage control as one of their golden boys crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. Oh, how about Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert completely avoiding the topic on their late-night shows all week? Too good.

As I often tell you guys, I am very interested in narrative, so my favorite part of Swalwell’s demise had to do with how this was framed by the mainstream media. This is the most revealing part of Swalwell’s political collapse.

Mr. Potatohead over on CNN this week was glazing the investigative reporters doing their big investigations. They finally did it! They finally exposed Swalwell’s bad behavior this week, Brian Stelter proclaimed. Because without the important “investigative reporters” in the mainstream media, we never would’ve known about Swalwell’s abusive behavior. “Whispers had been circulating” for weeks, Stelter told all 74 of CNN’s viewers, and investigative reporters brought the “receipts” and uncovered “corroboration.” Really? Because Nancy Pelosi gave them the green light to report it?

Stelter, incidentally, set a world record for the number of buzzwords used in a 30-second hit on cable news. One of his finest accomplishments, tbh. 😂

Where was any of this praise for those of us who aren’t employed by the mainstream media, but have been pointing out for years that Swalwell is a smarmy guy? Literally, five years ago, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came on The Rubin Report to discuss how Nancy Pelosi, who was the House Speaker at that point, allowed Swalwell to continue to be a part of the House Intelligence Committee, despite the fact that the FBI knew he’d had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang.

I know you’re not going to have a Swalwell-type crisis on your hands anytime soon, but especially if you live in a blue state, you never know what man-made crisis might arise. My advice is to be prepared for the worst, and there’s no better way than with Patriot Supply.

Check out their offer below, then more after that on TDS 101, and the first-ever three-way tie in the Top Trump Peeps poll.

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Trump Derangement Syndrome is so rampant in the media and on the left in general right now, I might have to start a secondary newsletter just to cover it all. The situation with Iran seems to have put TDS on steroids. And I’m not just talking about with the known crazies, like Joy Reid.

Once people have developed TDS, they will reverse they’re position on anything depending on what Donald Trump says. So if Donald Trump says and does something good, that person will instantly take the opposite position because it has something to do with Donald Trump, and God forbid they should agree with Donald Trump on anything — even when he does something good for America.

Tom Friedman of The New York Times, who’s celebrated as learned and erudite, delivered a TDS 101 class this week during an appearance on CNN. Truly astounding. Here’s what he said — and I’m using this quote block feature again for emphasis. Feel free to screen shot and blast it across social media or your family group chats.

“I really want to see Iran defeated militarily because this regime is a terrible regime,” Friedman said. “Nothing would improve the region more than the replacement of this regime with a regime in Iran that was focused on enabling its people to realize their full potential, and integrating peacefully with other countries.” And then he admitted this: “I really don't want to see Bibi Netanyahu or Donald Trump politically strengthened by this war because they are two awful human beings.”

😳 That man’s brain is broken, ladies and gentlemen. Probably beyond repair at this point.

3-way tie at top of Trump administration power rankings

I’ve been doing these power rankings for nearly a year now, and we’ve never had a tie before — not to mention a three-way tie, like we had this week. Rubio, Vance and Hegseth all finished in a tie for first, which I think really speaks to the depth of the Trump administration. Rubio has dominated these polls lately, but people are recognizing the significant contributions of JD Vance and Hegseth as well. Btw, how great was JD answering questions about the pope’s criticism of Trump this week?

Since we had three winners, I’m highlighting three reader comments this week that really crystallize why these guys are all top performers in the most clutch moments.

With the downfall of Swalwell, one of the worst Democrats in America, let’s take a look at who is the worst Democrat. It’s so hard, I know. You had it revealed this week that Gavin Newsom was buying his own books to artificially boost sales numbers, which is totally on-brand for the evil lizard man. And Kamala Harris talking unironically about gas prices. But you can choose only one. Although you can go crazy in the comments about others if you want. ⬇️

• New Rubin Report merch dropped this week. If you felt like you paid too much in taxes this week, wear it well by picking up our new line of Defund The IRS T-shirts. Perfect for tax day — or any day really. You may also like a hat or T-shirt from our “Make America Florida” collection, which we launched a couple weeks ago. Pick something up before it’s all gone.

• You may have seen that I’ve been giving away sheets of paper that I use for the show rundown and then scribble profusely on because the Democrats are frustrating. As you can see at the top of this email, the scribbling was really intense this week. Can you blame me? Stelter, Tom Friedman, Kamala Harris, Zohran Mamdani. It never ends. Anyway, I’ve been autographing them and sending to viewers. Reply to this email with a mailing address and I will try to get one out to a Rubin Recap reader.

• During Thursday’s Community Q&A, Shelly asked a wardrobe question — and you know I love a good wardrobe question. She asked, “Who picks out your clothes? And do you have a favorite designer and look?” None of these brands are sponsors, but I’m a huge proponent of Ted Baker suits. For more casual wear or athleisure, I’ve been wearing a lot of Vuori. And after decades of being a loyal Nike wearer, I bailed and have switched to OnCloud, or OC, sneakers for walking around. Incredibly light and comfortable. There you go — now you have some of my wardrobe secrets.

• I heard from many of you about the fun change of pace our Tequila Thursday livestream was last week. You can always check that out here if you missed it live. And if you want to order some Copal — I like to call it the official tequila of free speech — just click here to order a bottle.

• You did it! You’ve reached the end of the newsletter. Before you go, make sure to check out our sponsor today, My Patriot Supply. Readers of The Rubin Recap get a free survival protein kit with purchase, but you’ve got to use this link to get the deal. And remember — look out for a new edition of The Return to Normalcy on Sunday.

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Until Sunday … — Dave