Watch Eric Swalwell mop the floor with Ben Shapiro over Project 2025 & gay sex

The right-wing agitator was testifying about a fake Republican conspiracy theory and tried to pretend Project 2025 was essentially unknown to him.

The drama of Americanpolitics took center stage on Capitol Hill Wednesday as U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, aDemocrat fromCalifornia, delivered a scathing interrogation of conservative firebrand Ben Shapiro — the subject of the confrontation: Project 2025 and its controversial stances onLGBTQ+ issues and reproductive rights.

Swalwell wasted no time diving into the heart of the matter.

“The country has, in the last couple of weeks, talked a lot about and Googled Project 2025. It’s one of the most Googled search terms right now,” he began, setting the stage for a tense exchange.

Shapiro, ever the provocateur and founder of the far-right Daily Wire website, attempted to dismiss the relevance of Project 2025 with a characteristically flippant remark. “I think, like PresidentTrump, I haven’t looked all that deeply at Project 2025, but it seems that Democrats on this committee, sort of like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, if they say Project 2025 enough, their presidential candidate becomes alive again.”

Shapiro appeared before the GOP-led hearing — titled “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” — to testify in support of the far-right conspiracy theory that media collusion is suppressing conservative voices.

But Swalwell was undeterred. He pressed Shapiro on the specifics of the Heritage Foundation’s plan, particularly its impact on reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections. “How about banning the abortion pill? That’s part of Project 2025. Do you support that part?” Swalwell demanded.

Shapiro, with his trademark rapid-fire delivery, responded, “I’m a fully pro-life person, which means that I’m not in favor of the distribution of the abortion pill.”

Swalwell shifted the conversation tomarriage equality, sensing an opportunity to corner Shapiro further. “But you think it’s a sin to have same-sex marriage? I’m just asking, is it a sin to be gay?”

“From a religiousJewish perspective, orientation is not a sin, but activity is,” Shapiro replied, leaning on his religious beliefs to justify his stance.

Swalwell pressed further, “And just because we found some receipts, you did say, ‘I think homosexual activity is a sin.’”

“Yes, I’m a religious Jew,” Shapiro admitted. “You found me out.”

Swalwell, not missing a beat, repeated Shapiro’s words from a 2018 Slateinterview. “And you said, ‘I may have a desire to sleep with many women, but I do not.’”

“I agree with me,” Shapiro said, resulting in laughter in the audience.

“I’m sure it’s very hard to restrain yourself,” Swalwell quipped.

The exchange continued as Swalwell questioned Shapiro on other aspects of Project 2025.

“And bans against books about slavery. Do you support that part?” Swalwell asked.

“Why would I possibly be in favor of bans on books about slavery? That would be absolutely ridiculous,” Shapiro replied, adding, “What I am in favor of is the idea that school libraries should be able to make decisions along the lines of what exactly is appropriate for, say, a seventh grader and whether they ought to be treated to cartoons and [the LGBTQ+ memoir] Gender Queer” That’s not quite the same thing.”

In recent weeks, after Democrats highlighted the dystopian and authoritarian Project 2025 plan that would upend the federal workforce and change American society into a shell of itself, Trump andRepublicans have tried to distance themselves from the plan. However, Project 2025 has the fingerprints of dozens of MAGA loyalists on it, and the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, recently said that the plan is to “institutionalize Trumpism.”

Swalwell didn’t stop there. He turned his attention to the broader Republican strategy of promoting blockbuster hearings that ultimately fizzle out. “We were supposed to have votes on articles of impeachment, and we didn’t. We were supposed to have Hunter Biden testify, and now he’s not testifying. Republicans write great press releases, but the payoff seems to never come. Instead, they continue to engage in posturing rather than legislating,” Swalwell said.

He also highlighted the conspicuous absence of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who secured 34 guilty verdicts against Trump, a twice-impeached convicted felon running for president again. Swalwell pointed out the wastefulness of such hearings that focus on political grandstanding instead of substantive governance.

Watch Shapiro squirm in the congressional hearing below.