Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was brutally mocked by political commentators after Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro lambasted him during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Swalwell attempted to derail the committee hearing that featured Shapiro testifying on an alleged conspiracy to silence conservative media outlets by asking the Daily Wire host questions on unrelated policy positions. The California Democrat began his line of questioning by asking if Shapiro supported the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a proposed set of presidential transition policies that the Left has recently focused on in an attempt to paint conservatives and Donald Trump as extremists.

“The country in the last couple of weeks has talked about, googled Project 2025 … and you’re not going to get any censorship from me, so I just wanted to know from your perspective, I think it would help us understand, on just like a scale of 0-100 percent, how much do you support Project 2025?” Swalwell asked.

“I think like President Trump, I haven’t looked all that deeply at Project 2025,” Shapiro replied. “But it seems that Democrats on this committee [think that] — sort of like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell — if they say Project 2025 enough, their presidential candidate becomes alive again.”

Swalwell — who is best known for reportedly engaging in a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy named Fang Fang — continued to pepper Shapiro with policy questions on issues such as immigration, abortion, and social security. The Daily Wire editor emeritus promptly answered Swalwell’s questions while asking the congressman why they were relevant to the topic of the hearing. The congressman then brought out a poster that displayed a 2018 quote of Shapiro calling homosexual activity “a sin.”

“Yes, I’m a religious Jew. You found me out,” Shapiro said. “I agree with me. Yes, that’s true.”

.@RepSwalwell attempts to spar with @benshapiro. It doesn’t end well for China’s spy guy.

FULL EXCHANGE: pic.twitter.com/Fp3R4n42Ac

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 10, 2024

After Swalwell’s time was up, acting Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) eviscerated his Democratic colleague.

“The gentleman’s time is expired, and I remind him the first rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging,” McClintock said.

The exchange quickly went viral on social media, and numerous conservatives chimed in, applauding Shapiro’s response to Swalwell.

“I want to 👏👏👏 @benshapiro, but his evisceration of@RepSwalwell — which didn’t even bring up Fang Fang b/c Ben is a gentleman — was like watching a Mike Tyson-Swalwell fight. Not fair at all,” radio host Hugh Hewitt posted on X. “So 👏👏👏 for Chairman @RepMcClintock for sticking the dismount on Swalwell’s forehead.”

“Swalwell should have remembered that old Sean Connery line: Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight,” wrote Sean Spicer.

“@benshapiro is a national treasure 🤣,” wrote Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen.