Ana is Tired ✡️

@IamLaurenSlater Not just DC

Almost every young woman I know in DC has experienced being made to be uncomfortable or has been propositioned by married men in positions of power. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, we must clear out this culture of silence that is protecting powerful men in DC.

@BanquoDyar Yeah, she is a problem.

Dont vote for this person

@evanwch A pattern of aggressively hitting on random women while you are married is not just harmless "flirting". That is predatory behavior.

A man FLIRTING is an indicator that he is a predator/rapist?! DO you HEAR yourself???

@tatertotsconor Exactly. He is clearly a problem, and a bigger one than many knew, even though his sliminess with women was a poorly kept secret.

Look, a clear pattern is being established and you cannot ignore or deny that. It’s a pattern of inappropriate behavior with women at work. That’s not acceptable, even if you believe everyone consented to it. (Which I doubt.)

Whatever you believe about whether Swalwell sexually assaulted anyone, it is looking increasingly like he frequently cheated on his wife and engaged in an inappropriate amount of drinking around staffers. That type of behavior is not compatible with any serious elected office, in my opinion. As Democrats, we need to sit down and discuss why so many men in American politics behave like this, and why, with that in mind, we think that being a female politician is less electorally appealing. What is it about men that act this way that makes them charismatic to voters? What is it about women, in general, that does not? Whichever way these accusations go, the fact remains that female politicians cannot act this way, and never have acted this way, and yet, their very integrity somehow makes them less compelling to the media, their colleagues, donors, and voters. What does this say about us as a society? Nothing good, I'm sure.

@LisaCameBack @RepRobertGarcia You clearly have no understanding of trauma and human behavior.

No @RepRobertGarcia It takes courage for abused victims to come out right after they’ve been abused, not yrs later when their accuser is the front runner in an election. I also don’t know any survivor who was raped & then 5 yrs later called her rapist to have drinks with her. 🙄

@Silver_Coupe @Justin145565519 @AdamParkhomenko Because of dumbasses like you who behave like this!!!!

@Justin145565519 @AdamParkhomenko Haha....you told me. I don't give a fuck you dickhead. If true, then he deserves whatever punishment he gets. But, they had 14 years to do this. And now they come out? Why now, and not 14, 8, or 5 years ago, dumbass?

Come sue the fuck out of us. File tonight. It will never happen. You know why???? Every single thing that Eric Swalwell did is in writing. Y’all are drinking from the fucking Kool-Aid.

@magi_jay A thousand times this. 👏

A reminder to people that many of your friends on here are victims of sexual violence &/or abuse. You are, in real time, essentially telling them there is very little they could provide, in terms of evidence, to inspire even a bare minimum of possible belief. Three other women alleging the same acts, from the same man=You're not inspired to start feeling some belief. Women telling their friends, mothers, partners, and even doctors=Still not enough to inspire your belief. Rape kits, STD tests=not enough. And god forbid, our assaults or abuse involved alcohol. All of the other evidence is not good enough for you; Then, alcohol is what? Your counter-evidence? What would be enough? I'm not talking about criminal conviction. I'm talking about what it would take for you to treat these allegations seriously. For you to think, "I am inspired to believe these stories could possibly be true." Because, at the end of the day, the Swalwell story is a strong one. A strong enough one that he should not be running for Governor and the Democratic party should not risk political capital defending him. And yet you are arguing that the story is not to be believed. Not in whole. Not in part. You do not feel even the spark of "maybe this could be true enough that we should politically walk away from this guy." Most of your friends who have been assaulted and/or abused do not have this level of evidence. They don't have multiple women saying, "The same thing happened to me." They probably don't have doctors' reports. They don't have investigatory reporters corroborating facts. Many of them probably were drinking, because predators use that as a mechanism. The argument many survivors are hearing today is that, in essence, it will always be impossible for you to believe us. This isn't just about Swalwell; it's about all survivors. What do we have to provide for you to believe us?

@magi_jay Agreed, people were way too excited. But those who knew his reputation were holding our breath (though I had never heard actual assault allegations before).

This is how everyone should feel. The insinuations prior to the story *damaged* the story's credibility. Thankfully, the story is *so* well-corroborated it can sustain what would have been damaging to a less well-corroborated story. The insinuations were wrong and gossipy. Glee over the story is simply lurid. Sexual assault is no one's political weapon. Nor is it their entertainment.

I find comments like this very interesting. She read the San Francisco Chronicle article in which it can only be described as a date rape. And she saw there were multiple other women who had similar experiences to her or worse. She made the decision to go on the record with her name. Seriously admirable. Yes, stuff like this comes out when someone decides they want to run an entire state (one of the biggest in the country) and women come forward and say, let me tell you about this guy. This whole idea for four or five years people sat around waiting for this moment is ridiculous. He’s a serial abuser.

@PCJADC @magi_jay Yup, his reputation is not good with women (as in, sleeps around & hits on young women). People who are politically connected and claim they never heard about it either were not paying attention or had their head in the sand.

@magi_jay People who are downplaying this don't realize that the general sentiment is "Yeah, that tracks, he's a sleaze." It wasn't known to be this explosive, but there have always been rumblings about him making women (including a former staffer I know) uncomfortable.

The claims contained in this story & those reported by CNN are incredibly well-substantiated. There are multiple alleged victims who describe a similar pattern of behavior across incidents. The victims made contemporaneous disclosures to friends, a boyfriend, & medical staff

@tify330 I was sexually assaulted as a teen and f*ck everyone who thinks they know how *I* should have reacted or done.

As a survivor of sexual assault, I empathize with this woman’s feelings because it is very similar to what happened to me. It’s unfortunate that this needs to be explained to people who do not have to live with this type of guilt or the memories of being taken advantage of sexually.

@L_G_R2410 @AdamParkhomenko Oh please. There are plenty of things we don't share in a marriage. Things that are embarrassing or you don't want to think about or don't occur to you.

@AdamParkhomenko The fact that your own wife held this info from you is extremely fishy. I don’t care what you say, it looks extremely coordinated. Plus, what kind of significant other doesn’t tell their husband about stuff like this? Where is the trust. It’s weird man. Really weird

I would just like to reiterate that if Eric Swalwell and his attorney believe any statements that my wife and I have made are not true, he should sue us immediately. He can DM me, and I’ll let him know where to serve us. But this will never happen.

@TrinityMustache @EastCoastWaves @Penguin57a If you withdraw consent and the person doesn't stop, it is rape. People make poor decisions all the time to do things that are a bit risky, especially when they question their own judgement. I have heard her type of story many times. Politics and power attracts this kind of sh*t.

@CatAna4414 @EastCoastWaves @Penguin57a This story doesn’t add up. And I’m not impressed with the attempts to bolster it with stories of him hitting on other women in DMs. While that’s sleazy, it’s not rape. Now if other women with more credible stories come forward, I will change my mind

The timing of the Swalwell op from Roger Stone/Katie Porter is suspiciously deliberate. They waited until right after the California ballot governor candidates were certified and no other Dem can now jump in late. I’m not voting for Steyer or Porter under any circumstances.

@BanquoDyar I wish Kounalakis was still in it

Steyer is preferable to Katie Porter — but these are lousy choices — wish Harris had run for Governor of CA Even if it was all consensual and files defamation suits, Swalwell is toast after admitting he’s ‘made mistakes’ and those mistakes are between ‘him and his wife’ —

I don’t believe people in D.C. thought he was capable of sexual assault, but rumors circulated that he was a creepy creep while still married. There are many cheaters in D.C., so it’s somewhat of a norm. There are boundaries he allegedly crossed and that info is now out there.