When it comes to the most insufferable Democrat in Congress, Rep. Eric Swalwell, there's always the stench of something.

This time, it's raw campaign finance corruption, given Swalwell's amazing life of luxury lived out to the max on campaign funding.  It sounds like the same kind of grift that put his California Republican congressional colleague, Duncan Hunter, Jr., in a prison cell.

According to Fox News:

Eric Swalwell's campaign shows no signs of slowing its luxury spending, racking up more international costs at the likes of a five-star Paris hotel, federal filings show. 

The California Democrat's campaign has consistently dropped cash into high-end items, such as limousine services, flights and posh accommodations. His latest filings show the trend has spilled over into this year's second quarter. 

Swalwell's campaign, comprised of just two paid staffers, reported spending nearly $38,000 on travel expenses between May 19 and June 30, including $3,538.94 in late May for catering for a fundraising event at France's "iconic" Ritz Paris, a posh hotel that features several upscale bars and reservation rooms.

"Whenever you require nourishment for both body and soul, the Ritz Paris is ready," the highly-rated hotel's website states.

He's a sitting congressman representing the Bay Area in California.  Why the heck does he need to go to Paris to carry on with his campaigning?  Funny how much luxury he manages to squeeze in on ostensibly campaign expenses.

He even got told by a judge yesterday to knock it off with using campaign finance funds to pay for babysitters for his kids during his romantic Parisian getaways.

His taste for luxury doesn't only run to Paris.  He's also into livin' it up in Miami:

This is weird stuff when you think about it.  Doesn't the Bay Area have comparable places for a California congressman to go to for his campaign finance needs that might just be in sync with his actual campaign needs?  It's not as if California lacks for such places.  But he spends his campaign cash among the sybarites in Miami.

And among the wealthy sheikhs of Qatar, touristing away.  This doesn't exactly sound like business:

Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell appeared on a camel shirtless in pictures that were reportedly posted to Instagram, according to Business Insider. The photos were taken on a trip to Qatar funded in large part by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council during the pandemic, it was reported Friday.

The story was originally published by Business Insider after the photos surfaced on Instagram. The trip was funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council to the tune of $84,621.59 according to the New York Post. The trip included Swalwell and his wife along with Reps. Ruben Gallego, Luis Correa, Sara Jacobs, and Lisa McClain.

Now, some may be tempted to think the only people being stiffed by this apparent misuse of campaign cash are his own donors.  But that's sorely mistaken.  Special interests, including ones with foreign sponsors, can easily launder illegal donations in through campaign finance mechanisms precisely to shower a guy like Swalwell with fancy vacays and other luxury details — in exchange for...something.  In Swalwell's case, word has gotten out about what a fertile field he is for a honey trap spy operation, which China figured out first.  

The thing is, Swalwell doesn't need money — and yet he has it.  Someone is still giving it to him, despite his being in a safe Democrat district.  Open Secrets notes that he raised $2.9 million, a phenomenal amount for a congressional seat, spent $2.4 million, and has no debt.  With Swalwell in a safe district among the leftists, he rarely has anything to worry about as far as not being re-elected to office, yet somehow he manages to draw these huge campaign donations...for these trips to Paris, because he doesn't need to worry about spending cash on ads, which he would if he were in a competitive district. 

Perhaps he's managed, as one of House speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest allies, to get a sweetheart assurance that he can break as many campaign finance law as he likes, since she has his back.  Too bad about you, Duncan.  Perhaps he's found enough loopholes in the law to enjoy his diamond life legally.  The one thing that can be said for sure about this is that it's very bad optics — living the high life in Paris while everyone else back home is told to mask up and lock down.  Worse still, Swalwell, with his champagne tastes, is constantly claiming to stand for the little guy.

During his ill-fated presidential campaign, he bloviated shamelessly about his purported concern for "the little guy":

"I see a country in quicksand, unable to solve problems and threats from abroad, unable to make life better for people here at home. Nothing gets done," he said, citing student debt and gun safety among the problems that he thinks aren't being solved. "None of that is going to change, until we get a leader who is willing to go big on the issues we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer and do good in the way we govern. I'm ready to solve these problems."

There's a reason he dropped out of the Democratic primaries earlier than even Kamala Harris, failing to obtain a single delegate.

Since then, his phony populist act has only gotten worse.

According to Fox News:

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was the latest Democrat embarrassed on Twitter for his attempt to spin high gas prices.

On Tuesday, Swalwell started a #GasPricesAreSoLow hashtag to celebrate gas prices falling from their peak of $5-a-gallon national average in June.

"Gas prices are so low Ted Cruz cancelled his flight and drove to Cancun. Post your best #GasPricesAreSoLow," Swalwell tweeted.

He's been caught maskless on at least one of his many vacations, at a time when he was urging Americans to mask up and lock down.  For him, it's always rules for thee but not for me.

Now he's thumbing his nose entirely at the populist act with his amazing lifestyle funded by campaign cash.  It's hypocrisy in the extreme, which is about his pace as the most pompous and insufferable member of Congress.  Any surprise that he doesn't practice what he preaches?

Image: YouTube screen shot.