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You really have to shake your head over the alleged sexual misconduct of former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, the Bay Area Democrat whose life has imploded after a handful of women (last count: five) accused him of egregious misbehavior, including rape.

All of the alleged acts are said to have taken place after the sordid revelations of the 2017 MeToo movement, when so many powerful men were toppled after dozens of survivors detailed the ways the men had used their power to sexually harass, abuse and assault subordinates.

Given the bloody professional and personal carnage of that shocking era, if you were a powerful elected official with sexual compulsions, wouldn’t you think twice about acting on them? Especially if you were seeking a higher office that would put you squarely in the national spotlight?

I mean, come on. Why is it so damn difficult for so many men with so much to lose to keep their pants zipped? Cautionary tales abound: Harvey Weinstein ended up in prison. Talk show titans Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose have disappeared. Bill O’Reilly, who once dominated cable news from his perch at Fox, now operates at the bleak margins of the conservative media landscape. Celebrity chef Mario Batali left New York for northern Michigan, and no longer owns the restaurants that made him famous.

Swalwell has heatedly denied the accusations, which have now sparked criminal investigations in New York, Los Angeles and Washington. Regardless of the investigations’ outcomes, the damage is done. Swalwell has resigned from Congress and dropped out of the California governor’s race.

“I do not suggest to you in any way that I’m perfect or I’m a saint,” Swalwell said in an Instagram video. “I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife, and to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.”

Three things strike me as ludicrous about his statement.

First, nobody is accusing him of being perfect or a saint. That language is classic deflection/innoculation/false humility (take your pick).

Second, his “mistakes” are not just between him and his wife. Unfortunately, the whole country, the state of California and his Dublin-area constituents have all been dragged into this imperfect, unsaintly mess.

And third, if he did anything untoward to the women accusing him, he should apologize to them. Even if he had encounters that he believes were consensual, that would be wrong if he was engaging with interns and staffers, women who say they believed their careers depended on staying in his good graces.

Now, it seems, women are coming out of the woodwork with Swalwell stories, including Lonna Drewes, who alleged during a Los Angeles press conference on Tuesday that Swalwell drugged and raped her in Beverly Hills in 2018. “He raped me and he choked me and while he was choking me I lost consciousness and I thought I died,” Drewes said.

When men behaving badly have boggled me, I turn to David Wexler, a San Diego clinical psychologist, founder of the Relationship Training Institute and the author and co-author of many books, including, most recently, “Choose Him Wisely.”

What must high-profile men be thinking, I asked........

© Los Angeles Times