And just like that, Eric Swalwell’s political career is over.

I mean, maybe in a decade or so, after he’s done his time and paid his debt to society, he could call in a few favors and eke out a win as Alameda County dogcatcher. Only if he’s running unopposed, and only if he gets everyone else thrown off the ballot like Barack Obama did. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

If we learned anything during the past 24 hours — from the time when Swalwell’s career dissipation light began a-flickering to the moment late yesterday afternoon when he announced his resignation from Congress — it’s that Democrats can move really quickly when they want to. If only they wanted to prevent illegal aliens from voting in our elections.

The chronology is head-snapping. On Thursday, Swalwell was the leading Democrat on deep-blue California’s “jungle primary” ballot of gubernatorial candidates — meaning he was the favorite to be California’s next governor. Friday, the paywalled San Francisco Chronicle, followed by CNN, published a report of four women who say they were sexually abused by Swalwell, including a former staffer who says he raped her. That night, Swalwell took to social media to tell us not to believe our lyin’ eyes. On Sunday, he withdrew from the California gubernatorial race. And yesterday, he resigned from Congress with a whimper, via a cut-n-paste statement on social media.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” said the scumbag. “I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

Swalwell’s lightning-quick fall from grace is the sort of thing that reminds us — as if we ever needed reminding — of Ben Franklin’s observation that “God governs in the affairs of men.”

Here, I suppose I should proceed with a bit of humility, huh? There but for the grace of God go I, right? Of course, I’m not a sniveling, self-important, serial abuser of women. So screw the humility. Swalwell is getting what’s coming to him, and he’s getting it good and hard.

What’s interesting, though, and more than a bit infuriating, is that we’re only now learning about Swalwell’s creepiness. Only now, as National Review’s Jeffry Blehar points out, after he’s become inconvenient to the Democrats. As Blehar writes:

Everybody knew Swalwell was an adulterous lech — except you. Swalwell’s name was being whispered through the Democratic grapevine on Capitol Hill by 2017 at the latest, when CNN almost surely mentioned him as the California representative cited by “more than half a dozen interviewees independently” for pursuing female staffers. Of course, CNN didn’t specifically name who they were referring to in that piece — “because the stories are unverified.”

Yep, they all knew. But they didn’t think you needed to know. So any media members trying to claim the high ground of having helped expose Swalwell should shut their lousy soup coolers. They’re as complicit as their fellow Democrats. Heck, former Clinton strategist George Stephanopoulos and his fellow ABC lickspittles didn’t even think you needed to know what political party Swalwell belongs to. Face it, folks: You don’t hate the media enough.

As for Swalwell’s “friends” in Congress, it’s remarkable — though not at all surprising — how utterly toxic he became overnight. “I want to be clear,” said Demo senator and Swalwell bestie Ruben Gallego of Arizona in a hand-wringer of a statement. “I had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric Swalwell. The women who have come forward have shown courage. They deserve to be believed, to be supported, and to see justice served.”

So the victims of Swalwell’s sexual assault “have shown courage,” but at no time until now did the victims of this open secret merit any investigation from Swalwell’s Old Boy Democrat Network.

On that point, where are the Democrat women in all this? The silence of these feminist lambs reminds me of the way they circled the wagons around Bill Clinton.

Swalwell is out of Congress, but he’s not out of hot water. Indeed, far from it. Given the seriousness of the crimes being alleged, a stint in prison might be in his future — and especially so given that Job One for the Democrats is to win back the House of Representatives in November, and given that the last thing they need is the appearance of a Democrat double standard for sexual abusers of women. For this reason, Swalwell might well be on his own, and his former colleagues might actually welcome a vigorous investigation and prosecution.

FBI Director Kash Patel sure seems interested. Yesterday, Patel invited Swalwell in for a friendly little “sit down.” Also yesterday, Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said that she’s seen some forensic evidence of one of the incriminating videos of Swalwell, and she suggested that the video was shot by a minor and has recommended that the New York DA look into it. Thus, this “defender of women” is really a debaucher of women.

Make no mistake: Congressional Democrats have acted with such dispatch because they’re clearly hoping this just goes away. If I had to guess, though, I’d say that they won’t get their wish. If Republicans and the Rule of Law have any say in the matter of Eric Swalwell, it’s likely that this story will continue to dog the Democrats for months to come — meaning well into the midterm election cycle.

And that’s just as it should be. Remember: This is the same Eric Swalwell who smugly said to Donald Trump and his associates as the Biden Democrats weaponized their Department of Justice against him: “You’re not above the law. You’re not an elite. You’re not untouchable.”