Rep. Eric Swalwell visits “The Story With Martha MacCallum” at Fox News Channel Studios in New York City on July 22, 2024. (John Lamparski / Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz October 27, 2025 at 11:10am
Present-day psychologists and future historians could build careers by studying and explaining modern Democrats’ unhinged loathing of President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, we may settle for mocking those Democrats when they say and do things indistinguishable from parody.
For instance, Sunday on the social media platform X, Jeff Blehar of National Review referred to Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California as “You magnificent idiot” because Swalwell, in demanding that the next Democratic presidential nominee must promise to take a “wrecking ball” to Trump’s ballroom, fulfilled Blehar’s half-joking prediction.
Democrats, of course, have made a spectacle of themselves in denouncing Trump’s planned ballroom. They have no good reason for their opposition. They simply hate the president.
Thus, on Friday in National Review, Blehar, having observed Democrats’ anti-Trump hyperbole for the last decade, predicted that before the ballroom hubbub subsides, “we shall see which Democrat is willing to escalate first, by publicly demanding a wrecking ball on Day One of the next Democratic administration.”
Blehar meant that prediction as parody.
“The voters are guaranteed to respond well to that,” he added.
Indeed, only a gargantuan moron would urge Democrats to campaign on a ballroom-destruction platform. But Trump Derangement Syndrome has produced plenty such morons.
Would you approve of Trump naming the ballroom after Melania?
Enter the TDS-addled Swalwell.
“Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE,” Swalwell wrote Saturday on X.
Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) October 26, 2025
In other words, it took Swalwell only one day to fulfill Blehar’s prediction.
“You magnificent idiot, you,” Blehar wrote while sharing the congressman’s post.
You magnificent idiot, you. https://t.co/GWItJiFUyn pic.twitter.com/g6i5cJ5nyN
— Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) October 26, 2025
Swalwell’s comment — not to mention TDS in general — requires explanation.
For one thing, Democrats hang their hopes on anti-Trump hatred because they offer nothing else. Having pledged to defend the indefensible, such as open borders and men in women’s sports, they cannot convince voters of the soundness of their policies, so instead they rely on demonizing Trump and his supporters, for instance, by slandering them as “Nazis.”
On a deeper level, many Democrats have turned their TDS into an idol. Since they do not worship Jesus, they use their hatred to fill a spiritual void.
This spiritual element alone explains their otherwise inexplicable hyperbole about a White House ballroom.
“The left is unable to mentally distinguish between Islamic terrorism that kills thousands and … building improvements. Horrific break with reality we’re watching here,” Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist wrote on X in response to one Trump hater comparing the ballroom to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The left is unable to mentally distinguish between Islamic terrorism that kills thousands and … building improvements. Horrific break with reality we’re watching here. https://t.co/RKMvCutR0I
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 24, 2025
When Trump-haters voice their hatred in such absurd ways, the president may cheerfully ignore them.
In fact, he might even consider naming the new ballroom after first lady Melania Trump. That would do nothing to soften the present hatred, but it might make a (Heaven forbid) future Democrat president less likely to adopt Swalwell’s “wrecking ball” pledge.
Either way, the best response to Swalwell in particular is always mockery.
Recall, for instance, that in December 2020 reports surfaced that a Chinese spy known as both Christine Fang and “Fang Fang” had professionally and romantically targeted politicians, including Swalwell.
The California representative also inadvertently drew laughs in 2019 when he appeared to pass gas on live TV.
Eric Swalwell appears to drop a massive fart during live on television
Turn the sound on, this is real pic.twitter.com/DyElNSwYog
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 19, 2019
Catturd, a pro-Trump account with more than 3.9 million followers on X, has never allowed Swalwell to forget.
“What’s your claim to fame besides being an easy John for a Chinese honeypot spy and farting like a mountain goat eating tofu on live TV?” Catturd replied to Swalwell earlier this month.
What’s your claim to fame besides being an easy John for a Chinese honeypot spy and farting like a mountain goat eating tofu on live TV?
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) October 9, 2025
In short, TDS is no laughing matter. For Democrats, it has both political and spiritual significance.
When TDS sufferers focus their wrath on inane things like ballrooms, however, we have nothing else to do but relentlessly mock them.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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