SOS: Eric Swalwell receives family death threats after Twitter feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene
On Wednesday, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) shared on Twitter a call that he received threatening to kill his three children. According to Swalwell, the call was inspired by a verbal attack against him made by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on the platform earlier in the day. In the recording that Swalwell posted, a man’s voice can be heard telling Swalwell, “We’re coming to your house this weekend. Gon’ get you and them little mutant bastards, them little mutant offspring of yours. We’re gon’ get ya.”
Have a LISTEN 🔊
Marjorie loves to play the victim. But she’s an inciter of violence. Her constant attacks — even after the FBI said I was never suspected of wrongdoing — lead to threatening calls like this. This caller from today threatened to kill my three children. https://t.co/MlR1ogAxN3 pic.twitter.com/xVWosh1Uco
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 23, 2022
Greene’s tweet refers to a post made by Congressman Swalwell several hours earlier, in which he detailed an exchange that he had with a Trump supporter while giving a Capitol tour when a father, accompanied by his young son, stopped Swalwell and yelled: “Hey Swalwell! That’s Swalwell. He’s trouble. He doesn’t back Trump.”
Today I gave a tour in the Capitol and was stopped by a father with his young boy. The father yelled at me “Hey Swalwell” and then told his son, “that’s Swalwell. He’s trouble. He doesn’t back Trump.” I kept walking and felt sad for the boy. He’s being raised in a cult family.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 22, 2022
In 2014, Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang worked on Swalwell’s campaign. Fang is alleged to have targeted politicians in the Bay Area, including the California congressman. Swalwell was never accused of wrongdoing, but it didn’t stop the right from embarking on a smear and disinformation campaign against him. It’s that disinformation that was mentioned by the man in the threatening call, who alleged that Swalwell had sex with Fang.
This threat to Congressman Swalwell’s children comes soon after Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) received a letter at his home similarly threatening to execute Kinginzer, his wife, and his five-month-old child.
The glorification of violence — and the increasingly threatening rhetoric coming from members of the GOP — have sounded the alarm for potential violence as we move closer to the midterms,  with the televised January 6th Select Committee hearings exposing just how deep the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election extends, from Trump on down.
The videos of the MAGA hordes chanting “hang Mike Pence” and of Capitol rioters saying they were “coming” for specific members of Congress have shown how easily the veneer of polite society can be stripped away, with deluded right-wing lunatics aligning themselves with far-right militia and white supremacist groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys who are accused of formulating a plan titled 1776 Returns to storm the Capitol building during the insurrection.
Several congresspeople, including Greene, used the term 1776 in tweets leading up to the violence on Jan. 6th. Text messages have surfaced between Greene and former White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows.
With all we know about January 6th and the violence that occurred, we don’t have the luxury of not taking threats to the life of Mr. Swalwell and his family seriously.
We should also make sure that the person who inspired the threats is investigated as thoroughly as the person who actually made them.
Original reporting by Josephine Harvey at The Huffington Post.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
