This Politician May Have Farted on National TV

It’s rare for the entire internet to be unified by a single moment these days, but this year it’s happened twice: first with the uncanny trailer for the Cats movie, which sent Twitter into a meltdown, and then last night with Fartgate.

California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who earlier this year had a brief presidential run, and currently sits on the House Intelligence Committee, appeared on the MSNBC political analysis show Hardball with Chris Matthews, to add his thoughts on whether President Trump illegally used taxpayer dollars or not during the 2016 election.

In the middle of a sentence, in which Swalwell stated that the evidence against Trump was “uncontradicted,” a loud noise can be heard. A very loud, unmistakable noise. Listen for yourself.

OMFG SOUND ON pic.twitter.com/StziH3Yh49

That’s undeniably the sound of somebody breaking wind, right? Twitter, as it is wont to do, swiftly latched onto what was deemed an embarrassing but also highly amusing moment. A detailed examination of the evidence certainly seemed to confirm that Swalwell had, indeed, farted.

I’ve isolated and slowed the moment of the fart. You can clearly see Swalwell brace forward, tense up for a moment, and then relax. He dealt it. pic.twitter.com/Nzo93RoNfR

In a text message to a BuzzFeed reporter, Swalwell denied it, but does that mean he supplied it? “It wasn’t me!” He said. “And I didn’t hear it when I was speaking.”

Sure, the camera might have been on Swalwell at the time, but could there be another suspect? Speculation surrounding whomstever dealt it soon became a full-blown conspiracy, with Hardball host Chris Matthews at the center. It turns out, he has something of a record when it comes to on-air flatulence.

* me in an overcoat talking to a journalist in a dark parking garage *

You really think it was Eric Swalwell who farted on Hardball?

* hands over envelope *

Connect the dots pic.twitter.com/WClqbeIiHf

There are plenty of receipts:

as a guy who has reveled for years in the fact that Chris Matthews loves to blast hot clouds on live tv, i am here to clear Eric Swalwell’s name

a thread https://t.co/IEpDedScFX

It wasn’t long before the official Twitter account for Hardball waded into the fray, claiming to have pinpointed the real culprit… a coffee mug. Seriously?

Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists – it was the #hardball mug scraping across the desk. Get yours today and let’s get back to the news! https://t.co/SG8Owm2IBw

Perhaps we’ll never know the real story, and the true fartist will continue to elude us, like the second gunman, but for letting rip. One thing we do know, however, is that passing gas is perfectly normal and healthy. Here are some foods which make it more likely, and some ways to minimize your risk of untimely farts.

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