When Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) became embroiled in his latest FBI-related entanglement, conservative commentator J.R. Dunn saw a pattern. Writing for American Thinker, Dunn argues the episode is just the latest in a wave of “well-earned comeuppance” befalling notable figures on the left — and he maintains it’s no illusion.
Dunn’s column, published August 21, 2026, catalogs what he characterizes as a surge of scandals and controversies involving prominent Democrats, spanning just the past few weeks. The list, as he presents it, includes several figures whose troubles have drawn varying degrees of media attention.
A quick round of recent troubles
Among the incidents Dunn highlights from the last week or two, he references Swalwell’s “latest encounter with the FBI” without offering additional detail. He also lists several other Democratic figures — some named, others left vague — whose legal, political, or personal issues he says have recently surfaced.
Expanding the timeline to a month or two, Dunn points to the case of Graham Platner, the Maine senatorial candidate he describes as an “SS admirer and sexual predator” who was forced out of the Democratic primary last month. Platner was replaced by Troy Jackson, who, per Dunn, is married to his cousin — a detail he seems to include for rhetorical flavor.
Dunn also references Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pleading the Fifth 111 times before Congress, an episode he notes occurred a month and a half after ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones did the same. He adds that just a day before his column was written, ActBlue founder Matt DeBergalis also invoked the Fifth before a closed congressional hearing. “This is becoming a habit,” Dunn quips.
Widening the lens
Opening the aperture further, Dunn cites Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and what he calls her “vanishing thirty million,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “there-are-no-bad-Somalians schtick,” Rep. Adam Schiff’s “mortgage difficulties,” and what he describes as “Kamala’s drinking problem.”
The column acknowledges that the list is not exhaustive, suggesting there are “plenty of others” that he has overlooked. Dunn places some blame for this on the legacy media, which he says, “for some obscure reason, refuses to give these stories adequate coverage.” He notes that what he calls “Arday’s bogus career” has gone unmentioned, as has “El-Sayed’s family terrorism connections.” He also claims the “Heidi Beirich SPLC story just kind of went away” and that the “Elmi-Sampson story remains local.”
A volcanic metaphor
Notably, Dunn offers no indication these controversies will subside. Instead, he draws an analogy to geological disaster. “It reminds me of what happens before a catastrophic volcanic explosion,” he writes. “A few tremors weeks apart, growing more frequent and severe until it’s a daily thing, some smoke, some ash, and then … say goodbye to Pompeii and Saint-Pierre.”
The column closes with a broader lament about the state of the republic. “This just ain’t granddad’s republic anymore,” Dunn writes. “The Dems can’t get away with anything. The times, as the man said, they are a-changin’.”
As with many opinion pieces, Dunn’s claims are presented from a particular political vantage point and are not independently verified in the column. Readers may wish to seek additional reporting on the individual cases he references to form their own conclusions about the broader pattern he asserts.
Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/can-tt-the-dems-get-away-with-anything-anymore/