Latino GOP political consultant Mike Madrid revealed who President Donald Trump is most worried about.
In his Substack post published Monday, Madrid explained why Trump has begun viewing Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a Democrat running in a crowded primary for California's governor, as "public enemy number one."
Swalwell has publicly criticized Trump and his administration on a number of policies. And most recently, FBI Director Kash Patel has been pushing to publicly release a decade-old investigative file involving Swalwell and a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, although the lawmaker was never formally accused of wrongdoing.
"When the most powerful man in the world deploys the full machinery of federal law enforcement against a California gubernatorial candidate running in a crowded primary nobody’s paying much attention to, he’s doing more than just punching down," Madrid wrote. "He’s telling you exactly who he’s afraid of."
"Donald Trump may have just made Eric Swalwell the most important Democrat in America," Madrid added.
Democrats in California have signaled concerns over the crowded race and which candidate might take the lead in the primary.
"The race has lacked a gravitational center - a candidate capable of generating the kind of national attention that transforms a primary into a movement," Madrid explained. "Trump just provided one."
Trump's move to single out Swalwell and launch the federal investigation against his foe could end up backfiring, Madrid argued.
"Trump may have just solved the Democratic party’s primary problem for them," Madrid wrote. "There is something both sinister and almost poetically stupid about this moment."
Because Trump knows what could happen if Swalwell ultimately does win the gubernatorial election.
"A Swalwell governorship would hand Democrats something they desperately need: a national platform for the resistance lodged inside the largest state in the union, occupied by a man who has already proven he will spend every waking hour making Donald Trump’s life miserable," Madrid wrote. "A governor Swalwell with California’s budget, its bully pulpit, its legal firepower and its 39 million residents would be an adversary unlike anything Trump has faced from a state executive."
As Trump has attempted to destroy Swalwell's reputation, it may have triggered the opposite result.
"Sometimes the greatest gift a tyrant can give his opposition is his fear. Trump is telling the country that his fear is focused on one man at the moment and that man is Eric Swalwell," Madrid added.