Graham Platner is just the latest manifestation of a desire to re-center White masculinity in the Democratic Party––and he has all the same weaknesses of the other avatars of masculinity consultants have thrown at voters. My two cents here: www.jfassler.com/p/graham-pla...

Name one warning sign. Okay, the rapey reddit posts, but what else? Okay, the racist reddit posts, but what else? Ok, the Nazi tattoo, but what else? Ok, the way he talked about his wife's infertility, but what else? Ok, going on antisemitic podcasts, but what else? Ok, but focusing his campaign on-

this is disingenuous insulting fucking horseshit. it’s fine to say any dem is better than any republican, but the obama boys made a bad early bet with platner and this is their attempt to make that *your* fault and to put that on *you*. vote platner if you’re in maine, but fuck these guys.

Seems bad that the best argument for Platner is "Sure he's been lying to our faces about everything in his background, but hopefully he's not lying about the platform he's running on."

As a military brat I have pointed this out lol. It's incredibly standard for vets and the fact his unit cross pollinated with 502nd during their Mamudiyah scandal period is basically inviting you to assume the worst imo.

As a veteran™️, I don't think normies get how much of a red flag it is that *none* of the people Platner served with have gone on record to say even something basic like "oh yeah, we were in the same company, didn't know him well but he seemed like a good guy".

it is interesting how Platner has made "I served!" such a big part of his campaign story but none of the Marines, none of the Soldiers he served with in Iraq or Afghanistan have come up to stump for him or record an ad or even say "oh yeah Graham was fun"

Find someone to love you with the passion of a Platner supporter making excuses for literally anything he ever did, does, or will do.

Whew. If they can prove he actually bought cocaine on military leave... A really petty VA could then argue that his PTSD is actually not service connected and was instead a byproduct of illicit and illegal drug abuse. Thank goodness the Trump administration isn't petty, right?

“Street value. I always wonder what street you’re buying your cocaine on because it’s not the street I’m buying my cocaine on.” -Graham Platner, 2020. It’s only June 1st. This is still from Reddit posts. Buying cocaine while on military leave is not his worst oppo. freebeacon.com/democrats/no...

Literally the only thing this guy has to offer is antisemitism and the left is like "yes please"

what's the first A stand for, Graham

This is just the protocols of the elders of Zion, suggesting a foreign prime minister owns Americans donating to an American nonprofit & suggesting Jewish people control people from behind the scenes. How prone to blackmail is he with 10 years on Kik & an internet history he can’t delete properly?

Are you beginning to wonder why whether he regularly lies to people who trust him is relevant to these issues

He's lying. First of all, if he got that tattoo in 2007, he'd have been courts martialled for violating Art 92, 107, and 134. Secondly, that tattoo would've gotten him RE4ed, banning him from ever reenlisting. Thirdly, even IF he managed not to get caught at 3/8, MEPS would've caught it.

Platner told Tommy Vietor he was denied for the sleeves because of a "stupid policy". They chuckled together about it. In an old Reddit post he admitted the sleeves were grandfathered and blamed his commanding officer for losing paperwork for his whole unit. Which reporters could fact-check. 1/

No one should afford Platner the presumption of regularity when he makes wildly implausible claims & tells conflicting stories. It is journalists' job to make things clear, and the Dem party's job to know about their candidates. Janet Mills reminded voters today she's still on the ballot. Ask why.

The chances of 1-5 magically all working in Platner's favor is tiny. He's shown he lies over even little things, and even while shitposting on Reddit (e.g. he regularly exaggerates his number of combat deployments). Reporters should investigate his claims! The hope was that they would. 6/

The Good scenario: Corporations support Pride because they want to The tolerably good scenario: Corporations support Pride for profit The acceptable scenario: Corporations do the minimum Pride thing because they fear bad PR The Very Bad Scenario: Corporations do not celebrate Pride at all

I see another NYT focus group has hit the timeline and people to their astonishment are discovering all over again that many people do not share their information level and do not want to think deeply about things. There could be a lesson here, but there won't.

dude has no public service record to draw on as he decided to jump right in to the senate, so the only thing we CAN judge him on is his entire adult life, which has been one form of cheating and assholery after another nazi bigot should’ve started with city council + built a decent record, but no

I absolutely think a senate candidate's personal life is my business, because he is running to be one of the most powerful people in the United States. This is not a position where you can maintain a principled privacy for your serial infidelities *that took place last year.*

United for Georgia. Let’s win this—together.

"we can be as bad a Republicans! its fine!" dick head its a bad thing that Ken Paxton is in public office its a horrible thing that Trump is President, why would I want another one?

If you don't know what your red line is, figure it out now. Write it down. Put it some place safe. You don't need to tell strangers on the internet about it but you do need to have it. And then if you still support a candidate who breaks it? You need to be honest about who and what you are.

i don’t even give a shit what the parade is about. it could be the “puppies are good” annual parade, but if smotrich is there the response to the invite should be “no, and i’ll denounce it”

Mamdani got some shit from the usual suspects (including the NYT) for not attending the parade, but "nah man, I'm not going to do anything in the same area as someone like Smotrich" sure does seem to have been the smartest move

I suspect it's an extremely unpopular opinion, but I do not see a way to argue loudly (especially AFTER the primary is over) "Platner sucks ass but you have to vote for him." If the second half is true, you shouldn't admit the first. If he NEEDS to win, make him win.

He's happy to spew it on Fox, because the Overton window on the right has shifted just that far. "This is who they always were" - no. I mean, maybe in their heart of hearts this was always available but getting to the point where it was open and proud was a PROCESS.

And so what we're ending up with is an array of people on the left who are effectively speedrunning what happened on the right: they've found a guy whose (claimed) policy preferences they like and who they think is likely a winner, and they'll engage in whatever cognitive contortions they need to in

I'm sorry, but I've got to talk about this, because this shit is dangerous. It's a truth universally acknowledged that *at the very least until relatively recently,* Graham Platner was a scumbag. The type of reddit chud who'd blame women for being raped and muse about imagined failings of Black ppl

It's funny how perfectly the *strait of Hormuz will open in two weeks!" stories parallel the phenomenon of "a recession is 100% guaranteed to for sure come next quarter" stories in the runup to the 2022 midterms

Let's not even grant this premise - everyone is telling themselves a story where if Platner wins, through sheer dint of Faustian bargain & sacrifice, victory in Maine is assured & therefore victory in the Congress & probably impeachment of Trump. None of this is assured. It's all narrative brain.

Betting the farm on nothing but the mouth noises coming out of a SS-branded serial cheater "yOu tHiNk hE's A sEcReT NaZi?!?!?!"

Platner is also a person with no actually relevant experience or skills to the job he is seeking, literally all he’s running on is his character, the fact that he also lacks that is sort of troubling!

I’m sorry, but “unlawful web scraping” is not itself a human rights violation unless you have a view of either property rights or privacy rights that is itself incompatible with the human right to free expression and in deep tension with substantive equality. www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

For example, housing costs are based on the 40th percentile. Childcare costs are the average value. Health care costs are based on average healthcare spending. Transportation costs are based on a regression of transportation spending and household size (fancy average).

Let's not lose the detail where Platner's campaign is paying his wife. Just more wonderful, ethical behavior that should have donors stoked!

The methodology here is fairly close to "half of families have below median consumption".

If you define “affordability” as “what the average family spends” you’re going to find that life is unaffordable for approximately 50% of families at all times. When there’s a boom, and spending goes up, that will continue to be true. If there’s a recession and spending goes down, also still true.

trump's "skill" in making deals has always been based on one thing: his ability to refuse to honor the deal he just made he'll agree to do something and then just not do it and dare you to impose consequences on him for it if you can actually do that, well

it sucks to get sick, but if you can’t find 2000 signatures in eight months, you can’t run a statewide general election campaign

Eye-widening headline, but this part of Brookings's analysis is giving me pause: "In nearly every year since 2014, more than 40% of American households struggled to make ends meet." In 2025, it was 45.5%—that's "nearly half."

We don't even have to guess here! The federal court ruling keeping the Guard out of Chicago *specifically cited* Pritzker's approach as one of the reasons why Trump admin couldn't do it!

Dems made a massively foreseeable, avoidable, and unforced error with encouragement from David Hogg and the Pod Save guys, who all fancy themselves as strategists.

The pithy casualness of white people about Nazi tattoos is a huge part of the problem here. It's not just him that looks extremely untrustworthy. It's you too. "I should count myself lucky" to vote for idiot white supremacist in THIS political climate? You're delusional.

this is what I mean about the media being largely in the tank for Platner. is it plausible to fuck up like this? yes. is it plausible to never check what your tattoo was for the next decade plus or to claim that you had no idea when you're an active war history buff.. absolutely the fuck not.

also replacing a senator from your party once elected is difficult as hell given inertia so if he does win he’s probably normalized and holding that seat for a while. but like. even if you set aside the Nazi tattoo this is not a man with great track record for honesty or judgment or forthrightness