“I’m gonna kick the s**t out of you”: McCarthy, Swalwell Nearly Exchange Blows on House Floor

Oh, the scandal, the drama, the sheer audacity of it all!

Are we talking about the next hit reality TV show?

Nope, just another day on Capitol Hill where threats replace policy debate and petty insults reign supreme.

What exactly went down between Representatives Eric Swalwell and Kevin McCarthy?

How did an argument turn into a schoolyard threat from the Democrat congressman, right on the floor of the House?

In a story that’s been buzzing around the capital, it seems decorum has taken a backseat in our hallowed halls of government.

And you won’t believe who’s leading the pack in this race to the bottom.

Democrats?

Resorting to name-calling and threats?

Say it ain’t so!

If you listen closely to the clip below, you can actually hear Swalwell call McCarthy “weak.”

U.S. House censures Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

House Democrats chant "shame" and interrupt the pronouncement of censure. @SpeakerMcCarthy: "I have all night." pic.twitter.com/VZTUVnkBBt

— CSPAN (@cspan) June 21, 2023

And after Swalwell called McCarthy “weak” and a “p***y,” McCarthy threatened to kick Swalwell’s ass.

Now that I’d like to see. Might change my impression of the Speaker. Lol. https://t.co/NGmmfsUtTX

— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) July 28, 2023

McCarthy put Swalwell in his place!https://t.co/jJpj9G1R7M

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) July 28, 2023

The Daily Beast has the inside scoop:

There’s a story going around Capitol Hill that Democrats insist you just have to hear. It’s about how Speaker Kevin McCarthy is “a pussy.”

On June 21, the day Republicans voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Democrats stood on the House floor and shouted “Shame!” at their GOP colleagues. As the spectacle was taking place, one of the leaders of the demonstration, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), was standing in the well of the House near the speaker’s podium and delivered some harsh words to his fellow Californian.

“This is pathetic,” Swalwell allegedly told McCarthy, who was presiding over the House at the time. “You’re weak. You’re a weak man.”

(You can actually see—and slightly hear—Swalwell staring at McCarthy and calling him “weak” at 3:49 in the tweet below.)

[…]

As the story goes, McCarthy was visibly upset with Swalwell. “He had a vein popping out of his forehead,” one member told The Daily Beast, in a likely flourish of storytelling. Another Democratic member who witnessed the exchange said McCarthy stared down Swalwell for about 10 seconds before walking away.

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But the next day is when things got interesting. On June 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Capitol Hill for a joint address to Congress. Just before Modi took the Speaker’s podium, Swalwell was on the House floor, making his way to a bathroom just outside the chamber on the Republican side.

That’s when McCarthy saw him.

“McCarthy said, ‘If you ever say something like that to me again, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you,’” a member claimed to The Daily Beast.

Another member who witnessed the exchange provided even more context: “They were in each other’s faces. Basically nose-to-nose. And Swalwell said something like, ‘Are we really gonna do this?’”

It’s easy to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but really, this is no laughing matter.

It’s a symptom of a deeply troubling issue at the heart of our politics.

It shows a disrespect for the offices these men hold, and worse, a disdain for the American people who elected them.

But don’t think this is a one-off incident, oh no.

It seems the whole Congress is infected with this infantile behavior, with members unable to control their tempers or their tongues.

And all this while important issues are left untouched, gathering dust in some forgotten corner.

I'll Kick Your A**' – Chaos In The House As McCarthy Gets In Swalwell's Face. pic.twitter.com/kw5PQHZGRT

— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) July 28, 2023

“You are a pussy,” Eric Swalwell said to Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy responded with, “Call me a pussy again and I’ll kick your ass,” as the two went nose-to-nose. https://t.co/LPwlPYgutg

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 28, 2023

"Call me a p**sy again."

McCarthy put Swalwell in his place!https://t.co/nW5celkyvr

— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) July 28, 2023

Isn’t it about time we asked ourselves if this is the behavior we want to see from our leaders?

If we want a politics that’s more WWE than C-SPAN? Is this the best we can expect from those elected to serve us?

If unity is a punchline for these folks who claim to want it, isn’t it our responsibility to hold them accountable?

These are serious questions and they demand serious answers.

Our great nation deserves nothing less.

Here’s how the far-left Jezebel covered the story:

Things only escalated the following day, June 22, which saw Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi deliver remarks to Congress. As Swalwell emerged from a bathroom, McCarthy confronted him, and the two were allegedly “in each other’s faces,” another House member told the Daily Beast. According to both sources, McCarthy told Swalwell, “If you ever say something like that to me again, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you.” There was some back-and-forth between the two, the witnesses said, leading up to McCarthy telling the Democrat, “Call me a pussy again and I’ll kick your ass.”

To this, Swalwell offered a wonderfully mature response: “You. Are. A. Pussy.” Per the Daily Beast, two different members recounted this stand-off between the two adult men, and both “delivered Swalwell’s response in exactly the same way.”

Neither Swalwell nor McCarthy have commented on Daily Beast’s report, nor did they comment for HuffPost’s reporting—but it’s quite telling that neither party is taking the opportunity to deny any of this. Swalwell and McCarthy have clashed before, particularly over Swalwell’s removal from the House Intelligence Committee when McCarthy became Speaker. Swalwell joined other House Democrats who were removed from the committee for a joint statement that accused McCarthy of “[striking] a corrupt bargain in his desperate, and nearly failed, attempt to win” the Speakership.

[…]

Of course, Swalwell and McCarthy are hardly the only members who hate each other’s guts—there’s also Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Co.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the latter of whom reportedly called the former a “nasty little bitch” on the House floor and was recently thrown out of the far-right Freedom Caucus over this. Oh, Congress—sure, they can’t deliver a single vaguely useful piece of legislation due to partisan gridlock, but they can certainly deliver all the drama.