October 17, 2025 • 17 mins
MAGA Mike PANICS as SHUT DOWN Game RUNS OUT OF TIME
Court Accountability Action’s Alex Aronson talks to Representative Eric Swalwell of California’s 14th district. They dive into the government shutdown (and why the Republicans are keeping it shut down), the first few weeks of the new Supreme Court term, and the importance of keeping our judges safe. The two talk about how federal courts now are spending less money on security, and the importance of the MARSHALS Act, which would protect our federal judges.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
As Donald Trump's Republican shutdown proceeds through its
third week with no end, insight,masked agents sweeping citizens
off of the streets. Today we saw a video of ICE
agents and federal agents in Portland detaining a man in a
giraffe suit simply for speakinghis mind.
And in Washington, DC, Trump's minion in the House of
(00:27):
Representatives, Mike Johnson isembracing the spirit of
Halloween this this month, taking the three ring circus
that is his his normal surroundings and, and really
draping it with all of the spooky kind of designs and, and
creepy goblins that we would expect this time of year.
(00:48):
And you can see it in the ghost town that he has left his
capital. And we saw that in a video with
our guest today. So thrilled to be joined here on
legal AF with court accountability by the great
representative from California, Eric Swalwell, who's walking
through that the the Congress this week.
It is a true ghost town representative.
What is going on in the House ofRepresentatives?
(01:09):
I mean, you, you, you're been putting, I think really amazing
the important attention on the, the fact that your, your future
colleague, Representative Grijalva is, is being her, her,
her swearing in is being withheld.
She's the decisive vote on the production of these Epstein
files. What's going on in your
dysfunctional body of our government?
This is an Epstein shutdown. We are 15 days in and to protect
(01:34):
Donald Trump from the rest of usfinding out how close he was to
Jeffrey Epstein, the greatest child sex trafficker ever in
American history, Mike Johnson has kept the Congress closed.
And and just so your viewers understand, Mike Johnson does
not want the Epstein files to bereleased.
And as speaker of the House, he has a lot of power to stop that.
(01:56):
But there's one way to get around that, and that's if a
majority of the members of the House, which is 218, sign what's
called a discharge petition. We have 217 signatures right
now, including Republican signatures.
Just about a month ago, a New Democrat was elected in the
Phoenix suburbs, Adelita Grijalva.
(02:17):
And Johnson has refused to swearher in.
And and not just refused to swear her in, he has kept the
Congress closed. We we've never been closed for
this long outside of an August like summer recess.
And you can only conclude that he's doing this to protect
Donald Trump from a vote on the Epstein files.
Because I've been told talking to my Republican colleagues that
(02:38):
they are happy to be protected by Johnson right now on this.
They don't want to take this vote.
They know Trump doesn't want them to have to take this vote.
But if they are forced to take this vote, that the majority of
Republicans will vote to releasethe files, which would be
embarrassing for Trump and Wood Forest a vote equally in the
Senate, and then put Trump in a position where he has to either
release the files or veto them, which would essentially be a
(03:02):
confession that he's tied to Epstein.
Incredible. And and it's not like there's
nothing going on, right. We've got the, the government is
in full, full scale shutdown. I think obviously this was a, a
result that in in many respects,Trump himself and the Project
2025 apparatus behind him very much desired.
I think they're using it very clearly as pretext somebody like
(03:23):
Stephen Miller as as pretext forthe unfurling of, of things like
federal troops into into our communities.
The the plans and the actual, the, the actions they have taken
to gut the federal workforce, firing up to 10, 1000 federal
workers. Thankfully, there was a lower
court order today. But you know, this stuff is
ongoing happening now. Your colleagues must feel some
(03:45):
obligation to respond to this. It seems like some of the
frustration is also bubbling outaround the Epstein's files.
I'm seeing more and more public statement statements from your
Republican colleagues saying something's going to have to
give here. How do you see this all playing
out? The country's in crisis.
As you said, day 15 shut down. Today's the 15th of the month.
(04:06):
Millions of people connected to the federal government or who
work for the federal government,including our troops, are not
going to be paid because Johnsonand Trump will not open up a
government. They will not pay the troops.
They run Congress, by the way. They run the Senate, the House,
and of course, the White House. They could do this all
themselves. They won't do it.
(04:26):
Healthcare premiums. So we are going into open
enrollment on N1. This is how most families
receive their health insurance, either through their employer or
through the Affordable Care Act and the marketplace where you
would go. Democrats are asking not for a
new program, not for additional spending, but to just keep in
place the subsidies that have reduced the cost people spend on
(04:49):
healthcare month over month. Republicans have taken that out.
We're saying we will vote to open up your government if you
put in place these health insurance such these Republicans
are refusing to do that. And yes, as you alluded to,
Donald Trump has declared war onAmericans, on America's cities.
This is a misuse of the military, but also
(05:13):
unconstitutional as he is finding out court after court.
And worst of all for Donald Trump, because I, I think at the
end of the day, his Achilles heel is that he wants to be
liked. It is highly, highly unpopular.
So. This is where cars come from.
(05:34):
Peaceful, isn't it? It makes.
You appreciate them more. Now's the time to get huge
savings on every new Chevy. We'll triple your rebate on
select new vehicles. You ever gone car tipping?
Yum to so hurry in today, the Chapman Chevrolet.
(05:57):
Save on comfort boosting home updates with Sr.
PS Efficient Home programs. Explore rebates and discounts
for a new energy efficient air conditioning unit, heat
blocking, shade screens, Energy Star certified windows, duct
testing and repair, new attic installation and more.
(06:17):
Sr. PS Network of participating
contractors can guide you from start to finish.
Learnmore@savewithsrp.com. Yeah.
And I think that's what we're going to start to see right as
the as the real world implications of the shutdown
start to be felt by citizens. And I think increasingly they
(06:38):
are. I think it's it explains that
that lack of patience from your Republican colleagues to get get
moving on this, it's something is is going to have to give.
And I think what what we're seeing is is increasingly
manifestations of that kind of breakdown.
It's so interesting that they bring up the healthcare, which
obviously has been the thing that Democrats have have decided
(07:00):
to have this fight about. And as we approached what we
knew was going to be a fight over a potential shutdown, a lot
of us in our community, you know, outside advocates, people
watching the stuff really closely.
We're thinking about what would make sense for Democrats to to
say was the bottom the, the bright line here.
There's so much offensive abuse of our constitutional order, of
our communities, of our freedoms.
You know, how, how could you actually make a deal with an
(07:23):
administration as they continue to, you know, act as if, you
know, the 14th Amendment, for example, doesn't protect
birthright citizenship. But even in taking such a sort
of a you could argue a low hanging fruit, something that we
all want, something that Republicans have said that they
are for, you know, affordable healthcare access to for all
Americans. You know, I think we are seeing
(07:44):
in such stark relief, you know what, what this party has come
to stand for, covering up for corruption, oligarchy,
billionaires, and you know, at the bottom for some of the most
appalling, you know, and sordid behavior you can imagine in this
pedophilia and human trafficking, sex trafficking of
young girls that we see Trump iswas almost certainly implicated
in through his connection with with Epstein.
(08:06):
And, you know, it strikes me, Representative Swalwall, that,
you know, as the social order breaks down as the political,
this political party completely refuses to stand as a as a check
against this type of corruption,against this type of autocracy.
We're going to start to see moremanifestations of that disorder,
things like the assassination ofCharlie Kirk, which we all will
of course condemn, of course. And, and we've seen this, of
(08:28):
course, play out in in the context of the courts, which are
a major focus of our work here. And we, we watched with, with
great enthusiasm and support as you're off office and you
developed this really novel and I thought creative Bill to
simply protect these judges by moving the Marshall Service,
which protects these judges fromphysical threats of violence
(08:51):
from the executive branch, whichis driving so many of these
threats to the judicial branch where they can protect
themselves. And your bill is called the
Marshals Act. And, and I fear it's going to be
be, you know, more and more in the news and as a necessary
reform As for example, today we,we have another court order
saying, no, Donald Trump, you can't fire 10,000 federal
workers writ large. Could you tell our, our viewers
(09:11):
a little bit more about the Marshall Act and, and why, you
know, how you're thinking about,you know, protecting judges,
protecting other folks that findthemselves in harm's way in this
very scary era we're finding ourselves in?
So a cornerstone of our democracy is judicial
independence. Of course, we have 3 branches of
government. You know, a Congress that checks
the presidency and has the powerof the purse, the executive
(09:32):
branch, which, you know, carriesout bills that are passed and
appropriated by Congress. And a judiciary that decides on
the constitutionality of anything passed by Congress or
any action taken by the executive.
So it only works if the judiciary is independent.
The problem that we have run into and and has been exposed
(09:56):
and tested by Donald Trump is that our founders and the way
our democracy has played out over the years has allowed
judicial security to lie with the executive branch.
And in any other time, that probably is not going to be a
problem. In these times, Donald Trump
(10:17):
will routinely attack judges whorule against them, whether it's
a Trump appointed judge or whether it's any other judge.
He will attack publicly either on his social media platforms
and television interviews. He will go after them.
And then these judges will receive a high volume of death
(10:38):
threats that are aimed at them because Trump has put their
names on the radars of some of the worst individuals in
America. And so if judges are receiving a
high volume of threats and they know that their security is in
the hands of the person who is the genesis of the threats, the
risk is that they are no longer independent and that their own
(11:00):
security creeps into their deliberations.
And we can't have that. And so the Marshalls Act simply
moves judicial security into thehands of judges.
It would allow the Chief Justiceof the Supreme Court to appoint
the US Marshals who are assignedthroughout the country at the
(11:21):
district courts and who are in charge of judicial security.
It's just one more way to make our judiciary independent as
Donald Trump tests them and brings threats their way every
single day. And it's the kind of legislation
that would have been a bipartisan bill.
You and I was working in the Senate not that long ago.
You know, we worked on a number of judicial protect, judicial
(11:43):
security and protection bills when I was there.
We, we passed one into law in response to horrific attack on a
judge. And now, you know, we, you just
can't find that type of bipartisan support because, you
know, we can, we can all see that the, the threats are being
directed from the president of the United States, not from, you
know, random, you know, aggrieved litigants as we are
(12:04):
traditionally used to seeing, right?
We are in full-fledged politicalviolence.
And it, it's so vital that we have legislation like this.
Not not only obviously, you know, this is probably not going
to be made law anytime soon, butwhat, what it does is it shows
the country, it shows your colleagues that this is
something that we can do, right?Because this is not something
that that Congress has thought about for a while.
(12:25):
We haven't had to think about this, but this is a power well
within your constitutional authority as Congress to, to
protect not only the judges, butalso judicial independence writ
large and by extension, the citizen that the citizens of the
country and, and the Constitution.
So that's a, that's a little heavy.
And I know things are pretty heavy these days, but
representative, I think one of the things I most appreciate
(12:47):
about your politics is the levity with which you often
carry yourself. You I, I was watching some of
your recent TikTok videos. We'll put a link in them.
They're terrific. You're wearing, you know, King's
hat. You know, you seem super
accessible. Yeah.
I think as we're we're thinking about what average folks can do
to resist authoritarianism in this moment.
(13:09):
I think obviously the goal of somuch of what they're doing, this
whole shock and awe campaign is to intimidate us to to make us
feel fear. And and this type of mockery and
resistance, I think is just essential.
And in our showing that like, come on, your power is a joke.
And we can together, we can mockyou and and resist you.
Can you can you speak to that a little bit and maybe give some
(13:29):
words of encouragement to folks that are feeling that way,
especially on the on the eve of the No Kings rally, which is
coming up this right? This Saturday I'll be at a No
Kings rally in California. I'm excited to be a part of it.
Apparently there will be up to 2600 No Kings rallies across the
country. It'll be the largest protest
ever in the history of the United States.
(13:51):
And Republicans are already characterizing it as a hate
America rally. But when you have, you know,
almost 10 million people likely to turn out, you can't call that
a hate America rally. That that is a big segment of
our population who is saying, you know, hell no to these
abuses of power, this cruelty, this corruption.
(14:15):
But the way I look at it legally, because this is a legal
podcast, is that our democracy is essentially a table that sits
on top of four legs that that keeps it upright.
It's a check by Congress againstabuses of power.
It's a independent judiciary, a Free Press, and a town square
(14:36):
that is full of pissed off peaceful dissenters.
The check by Congress is gone. It was never there for this
administration. However, this table of democracy
can stand on three legs because we are still seeing, and you
just alluded to it, the judiciary is showing its
independence. District courts are ruling
(14:58):
against the president and and slowing down the pace of his
corruption and cruelty. The Free Press while wobbly, we
have still seen people rise to the occasion to cover, you know,
the illegal deportations of U.S.citizens, the corruption of the
president using his. I know this is hard to hear, but
(15:19):
it's important. The shooter who murdered my
beautiful butterfly Dylan carried a highly lethal weapon
professional office to enrich himself and his family
personally. And then, of course, the town
squares. We've seen town halls, you know,
filled to the brim across the country and these no kings
(15:40):
rallies continuing to turn out everyday citizens.
And so those three legs can holdand get us to the midterms.
And, and so as long as those those three legs are there, we
can win the midterms, get a majority in Congress, put that
fourth leg back in place and give ourselves the best chance
going into 2028 for the next presidential election, you know,
(16:04):
to turn the corner on this national nightmare.
So that's how I see it. The dark side of that, Alex, is
that if we lose the midterms, I fear that the next leg that
would fall, of the three legs that stand and hold up democracy
right now would be the town square.
That that people would be so demoralized that we lost the
(16:26):
midterms, that there's no check in place, that they'd stop
showing up to protest, They'd stop showing up to town halls.
And when that happens, that's when the president can really
ignore court orders because he figures nobody cares and nobody
will show up. And that he can continue to go
after the press and suppress them and silence them.
So winning the midterms is so consequential to making sure
(16:49):
that, you know, democracy wins out.
Yeah, we got a big fight ahead. I don't know, I'm a dad.
I don't know if you read the book, but we're going on a bear
hunt. Can't go over it, can't go under
it. We'll have to go through it.
So we're going to go through this.
Representative Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for everything
you're doing, for spending some time with us here today.
(17:10):
And friends, thank you so much for joining us here on Legal AF
with Court Accountability Action.
Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button.
It is how we grow this community, how we keep bringing
on more wonderful folks like youto dive into rich conversations
with amazing leaders like Representative Swalwell.
Thanks so much. And until next time, stay mad,
stay motivated, stay mighty. Can't get your fill of legal?
As Donald Trump's Republican shutdown proceeds through its
third week with no end, insight,masked agents sweeping citizens
off of the streets. Today we saw a video of ICE
agents and federal agents in Portland detaining a man in a
giraffe suit simply for speakinghis mind.
And in Washington, DC, Trump's minion in the House of
(00:27):
Representatives, Mike Johnson isembracing the spirit of
Halloween this this month, taking the three ring circus
that is his his normal surroundings and, and really
draping it with all of the spooky kind of designs and, and
creepy goblins that we would expect this time of year.
(00:48):
And you can see it in the ghost town that he has left his
capital. And we saw that in a video with
our guest today. So thrilled to be joined here on
legal AF with court accountability by the great
representative from California, Eric Swalwell, who's walking
through that the the Congress this week.
It is a true ghost town representative.
What is going on in the House ofRepresentatives?
(01:09):
I mean, you, you, you're been putting, I think really amazing
the important attention on the, the fact that your, your future
colleague, Representative Grijalva is, is being her, her,
her swearing in is being withheld.
She's the decisive vote on the production of these Epstein
files. What's going on in your
dysfunctional body of our government?
This is an Epstein shutdown. We are 15 days in and to protect
(01:34):
Donald Trump from the rest of usfinding out how close he was to
Jeffrey Epstein, the greatest child sex trafficker ever in
American history, Mike Johnson has kept the Congress closed.
And and just so your viewers understand, Mike Johnson does
not want the Epstein files to bereleased.
And as speaker of the House, he has a lot of power to stop that.
(01:56):
But there's one way to get around that, and that's if a
majority of the members of the House, which is 218, sign what's
called a discharge petition. We have 217 signatures right
now, including Republican signatures.
Just about a month ago, a New Democrat was elected in the
Phoenix suburbs, Adelita Grijalva.
(02:17):
And Johnson has refused to swearher in.
And and not just refused to swear her in, he has kept the
Congress closed. We we've never been closed for
this long outside of an August like summer recess.
And you can only conclude that he's doing this to protect
Donald Trump from a vote on the Epstein files.
Because I've been told talking to my Republican colleagues that
(02:38):
they are happy to be protected by Johnson right now on this.
They don't want to take this vote.
They know Trump doesn't want them to have to take this vote.
But if they are forced to take this vote, that the majority of
Republicans will vote to releasethe files, which would be
embarrassing for Trump and Wood Forest a vote equally in the
Senate, and then put Trump in a position where he has to either
release the files or veto them, which would essentially be a
(03:02):
confession that he's tied to Epstein.
Incredible. And and it's not like there's
nothing going on, right. We've got the, the government is
in full, full scale shutdown. I think obviously this was a, a
result that in in many respects,Trump himself and the Project
2025 apparatus behind him very much desired.
I think they're using it very clearly as pretext somebody like
(03:23):
Stephen Miller as as pretext forthe unfurling of, of things like
federal troops into into our communities.
The the plans and the actual, the, the actions they have taken
to gut the federal workforce, firing up to 10, 1000 federal
workers. Thankfully, there was a lower
court order today. But you know, this stuff is
ongoing happening now. Your colleagues must feel some
(03:45):
obligation to respond to this. It seems like some of the
frustration is also bubbling outaround the Epstein's files.
I'm seeing more and more public statement statements from your
Republican colleagues saying something's going to have to
give here. How do you see this all playing
out? The country's in crisis.
As you said, day 15 shut down. Today's the 15th of the month.
(04:06):
Millions of people connected to the federal government or who
work for the federal government,including our troops, are not
going to be paid because Johnsonand Trump will not open up a
government. They will not pay the troops.
They run Congress, by the way. They run the Senate, the House,
and of course, the White House. They could do this all
themselves. They won't do it.
(04:26):
Healthcare premiums. So we are going into open
enrollment on N1. This is how most families
receive their health insurance, either through their employer or
through the Affordable Care Act and the marketplace where you
would go. Democrats are asking not for a
new program, not for additional spending, but to just keep in
place the subsidies that have reduced the cost people spend on
(04:49):
healthcare month over month. Republicans have taken that out.
We're saying we will vote to open up your government if you
put in place these health insurance such these Republicans
are refusing to do that. And yes, as you alluded to,
Donald Trump has declared war onAmericans, on America's cities.
This is a misuse of the military, but also
(05:13):
unconstitutional as he is finding out court after court.
And worst of all for Donald Trump, because I, I think at the
end of the day, his Achilles heel is that he wants to be
liked. It is highly, highly unpopular.
So. This is where cars come from.
(05:34):
Peaceful, isn't it? It makes.
You appreciate them more. Now's the time to get huge
savings on every new Chevy. We'll triple your rebate on
select new vehicles. You ever gone car tipping?
Yum to so hurry in today, the Chapman Chevrolet.
(05:57):
Save on comfort boosting home updates with Sr.
PS Efficient Home programs. Explore rebates and discounts
for a new energy efficient air conditioning unit, heat
blocking, shade screens, Energy Star certified windows, duct
testing and repair, new attic installation and more.
(06:17):
Sr. PS Network of participating
contractors can guide you from start to finish.
Learnmore@savewithsrp.com. Yeah.
And I think that's what we're going to start to see right as
the as the real world implications of the shutdown
start to be felt by citizens. And I think increasingly they
(06:38):
are. I think it's it explains that
that lack of patience from your Republican colleagues to get get
moving on this, it's something is is going to have to give.
And I think what what we're seeing is is increasingly
manifestations of that kind of breakdown.
It's so interesting that they bring up the healthcare, which
obviously has been the thing that Democrats have have decided
(07:00):
to have this fight about. And as we approached what we
knew was going to be a fight over a potential shutdown, a lot
of us in our community, you know, outside advocates, people
watching the stuff really closely.
We're thinking about what would make sense for Democrats to to
say was the bottom the, the bright line here.
There's so much offensive abuse of our constitutional order, of
our communities, of our freedoms.
You know, how, how could you actually make a deal with an
(07:23):
administration as they continue to, you know, act as if, you
know, the 14th Amendment, for example, doesn't protect
birthright citizenship. But even in taking such a sort
of a you could argue a low hanging fruit, something that we
all want, something that Republicans have said that they
are for, you know, affordable healthcare access to for all
Americans. You know, I think we are seeing
(07:44):
in such stark relief, you know what, what this party has come
to stand for, covering up for corruption, oligarchy,
billionaires, and you know, at the bottom for some of the most
appalling, you know, and sordid behavior you can imagine in this
pedophilia and human trafficking, sex trafficking of
young girls that we see Trump iswas almost certainly implicated
in through his connection with with Epstein.
(08:06):
And, you know, it strikes me, Representative Swalwall, that,
you know, as the social order breaks down as the political,
this political party completely refuses to stand as a as a check
against this type of corruption,against this type of autocracy.
We're going to start to see moremanifestations of that disorder,
things like the assassination ofCharlie Kirk, which we all will
of course condemn, of course. And, and we've seen this, of
(08:28):
course, play out in in the context of the courts, which are
a major focus of our work here. And we, we watched with, with
great enthusiasm and support as you're off office and you
developed this really novel and I thought creative Bill to
simply protect these judges by moving the Marshall Service,
which protects these judges fromphysical threats of violence
(08:51):
from the executive branch, whichis driving so many of these
threats to the judicial branch where they can protect
themselves. And your bill is called the
Marshals Act. And, and I fear it's going to be
be, you know, more and more in the news and as a necessary
reform As for example, today we,we have another court order
saying, no, Donald Trump, you can't fire 10,000 federal
workers writ large. Could you tell our, our viewers
(09:11):
a little bit more about the Marshall Act and, and why, you
know, how you're thinking about,you know, protecting judges,
protecting other folks that findthemselves in harm's way in this
very scary era we're finding ourselves in?
So a cornerstone of our democracy is judicial
independence. Of course, we have 3 branches of
government. You know, a Congress that checks
the presidency and has the powerof the purse, the executive
(09:32):
branch, which, you know, carriesout bills that are passed and
appropriated by Congress. And a judiciary that decides on
the constitutionality of anything passed by Congress or
any action taken by the executive.
So it only works if the judiciary is independent.
The problem that we have run into and and has been exposed
(09:56):
and tested by Donald Trump is that our founders and the way
our democracy has played out over the years has allowed
judicial security to lie with the executive branch.
And in any other time, that probably is not going to be a
problem. In these times, Donald Trump
(10:17):
will routinely attack judges whorule against them, whether it's
a Trump appointed judge or whether it's any other judge.
He will attack publicly either on his social media platforms
and television interviews. He will go after them.
And then these judges will receive a high volume of death
(10:38):
threats that are aimed at them because Trump has put their
names on the radars of some of the worst individuals in
America. And so if judges are receiving a
high volume of threats and they know that their security is in
the hands of the person who is the genesis of the threats, the
risk is that they are no longer independent and that their own
(11:00):
security creeps into their deliberations.
And we can't have that. And so the Marshalls Act simply
moves judicial security into thehands of judges.
It would allow the Chief Justiceof the Supreme Court to appoint
the US Marshals who are assignedthroughout the country at the
(11:21):
district courts and who are in charge of judicial security.
It's just one more way to make our judiciary independent as
Donald Trump tests them and brings threats their way every
single day. And it's the kind of legislation
that would have been a bipartisan bill.
You and I was working in the Senate not that long ago.
You know, we worked on a number of judicial protect, judicial
(11:43):
security and protection bills when I was there.
We, we passed one into law in response to horrific attack on a
judge. And now, you know, we, you just
can't find that type of bipartisan support because, you
know, we can, we can all see that the, the threats are being
directed from the president of the United States, not from, you
know, random, you know, aggrieved litigants as we are
(12:04):
traditionally used to seeing, right?
We are in full-fledged politicalviolence.
And it, it's so vital that we have legislation like this.
Not not only obviously, you know, this is probably not going
to be made law anytime soon, butwhat, what it does is it shows
the country, it shows your colleagues that this is
something that we can do, right?Because this is not something
that that Congress has thought about for a while.
(12:25):
We haven't had to think about this, but this is a power well
within your constitutional authority as Congress to, to
protect not only the judges, butalso judicial independence writ
large and by extension, the citizen that the citizens of the
country and, and the Constitution.
So that's a, that's a little heavy.
And I know things are pretty heavy these days, but
representative, I think one of the things I most appreciate
(12:47):
about your politics is the levity with which you often
carry yourself. You I, I was watching some of
your recent TikTok videos. We'll put a link in them.
They're terrific. You're wearing, you know, King's
hat. You know, you seem super
accessible. Yeah.
I think as we're we're thinking about what average folks can do
to resist authoritarianism in this moment.
(13:09):
I think obviously the goal of somuch of what they're doing, this
whole shock and awe campaign is to intimidate us to to make us
feel fear. And and this type of mockery and
resistance, I think is just essential.
And in our showing that like, come on, your power is a joke.
And we can together, we can mockyou and and resist you.
Can you can you speak to that a little bit and maybe give some
(13:29):
words of encouragement to folks that are feeling that way,
especially on the on the eve of the No Kings rally, which is
coming up this right? This Saturday I'll be at a No
Kings rally in California. I'm excited to be a part of it.
Apparently there will be up to 2600 No Kings rallies across the
country. It'll be the largest protest
ever in the history of the United States.
(13:51):
And Republicans are already characterizing it as a hate
America rally. But when you have, you know,
almost 10 million people likely to turn out, you can't call that
a hate America rally. That that is a big segment of
our population who is saying, you know, hell no to these
abuses of power, this cruelty, this corruption.
(14:15):
But the way I look at it legally, because this is a legal
podcast, is that our democracy is essentially a table that sits
on top of four legs that that keeps it upright.
It's a check by Congress againstabuses of power.
It's a independent judiciary, a Free Press, and a town square
(14:36):
that is full of pissed off peaceful dissenters.
The check by Congress is gone. It was never there for this
administration. However, this table of democracy
can stand on three legs because we are still seeing, and you
just alluded to it, the judiciary is showing its
independence. District courts are ruling
(14:58):
against the president and and slowing down the pace of his
corruption and cruelty. The Free Press while wobbly, we
have still seen people rise to the occasion to cover, you know,
the illegal deportations of U.S.citizens, the corruption of the
president using his. I know this is hard to hear, but
(15:19):
it's important. The shooter who murdered my
beautiful butterfly Dylan carried a highly lethal weapon
professional office to enrich himself and his family
personally. And then, of course, the town
squares. We've seen town halls, you know,
filled to the brim across the country and these no kings
(15:40):
rallies continuing to turn out everyday citizens.
And so those three legs can holdand get us to the midterms.
And, and so as long as those those three legs are there, we
can win the midterms, get a majority in Congress, put that
fourth leg back in place and give ourselves the best chance
going into 2028 for the next presidential election, you know,
(16:04):
to turn the corner on this national nightmare.
So that's how I see it. The dark side of that, Alex, is
that if we lose the midterms, I fear that the next leg that
would fall, of the three legs that stand and hold up democracy
right now would be the town square.
That that people would be so demoralized that we lost the
(16:26):
midterms, that there's no check in place, that they'd stop
showing up to protest, They'd stop showing up to town halls.
And when that happens, that's when the president can really
ignore court orders because he figures nobody cares and nobody
will show up. And that he can continue to go
after the press and suppress them and silence them.
So winning the midterms is so consequential to making sure
(16:49):
that, you know, democracy wins out.
Yeah, we got a big fight ahead. I don't know, I'm a dad.
I don't know if you read the book, but we're going on a bear
hunt. Can't go over it, can't go under
it. We'll have to go through it.
So we're going to go through this.
Representative Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for everything
you're doing, for spending some time with us here today.
(17:10):
And friends, thank you so much for joining us here on Legal AF
with Court Accountability Action.
Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button.
It is how we grow this community, how we keep bringing
on more wonderful folks like youto dive into rich conversations
with amazing leaders like Representative Swalwell.
Thanks so much. And until next time, stay mad,
stay motivated, stay mighty. Can't get your fill of legal?
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