Graham Platner vs. The Democratic Establishment (G&R 504)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Graham Platner vs. The Democratic Establishment"

Green & Red Podcast – Episode 504
Release Date: June 18, 2026
Hosts: Bob Buzzanco & Scott Parkin

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Overview of the Episode

This episode dives into how the Democratic Party establishment is attacking anti-establishment candidates on the left, specifically focusing on the case of Graham Platner, a populist Senate candidate in Maine. The conversation unpacks the history and current tactics of "punching left," the use and weaponization of identity and purity politics, how AIPAC and media play into these dynamics, and examples of both older and newer progressive wins and defeats within the Democratic coalition. Bob and Scott bring their signature irreverence, historical perspective, and radical critique to explore the cracks appearing in Democratic Party unity amidst a world “on fire.”

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Democratic Purity Politics & Punching Left

• Focus: How establishment Democrats use "purity politics" as a weapon against insurgent left candidates, often through character attacks rather than issue-based criticisms.
• Main Target: Graham Platner, anti-establishment candidate for Maine Senate, is the most recent example subject to a "ham-handed, over the top" smear campaign. (04:06)
• Scope: Similar tactics seen with Abdul El Sayed, Chris Robb, Adam Hamaway, and James Talarico.
• Contextual Backdrop: Ongoing conflicts (Iran ceasefire, Gaza/Israel), economic hardship, and increasing disconnect between the establishment and public sentiment. (02:25–02:55)

2. The Smear Campaign Against Graham Platner

• Nature of Attacks:
  • Accusations centering on tattoos, personal relationships, and sexting—framed as character failings or "purity" violations rather than policy issues. (04:55–06:27)
  • Media and AIPAC involvement, with notable support from Republican operatives in sourcing hit pieces.

    "I've never seen one just so over the top and didn't even try to hide it." — Bob (02:48)

• Platner's Background: War veteran (Marine/Army, Iraq/Afghanistan), rural advocate, anti-billionaire, sharply critical of establishment’s Israel policy and economic priorities. (05:05–06:27)
• Voter Response: Despite smears, Platner won his primary with 73%—an unprecedented turnout. (07:58)

3. Media, Political Betrayals, and Double Standards

• Establishment Figures: Other Democrats openly criticize Platner (AOC, Mark Kelly, Chris Robb), in contrast to unified GOP support around candidates like Trump.
• Historical Double Standards:
  • Noting past icons (FDR, JFK, Bill Clinton, LBJ, Ted Kennedy) with significant personal flaws, yet their conduct tolerated.
  • Platner’s alleged "sins" pale in comparison to known abuses from both parties’ figures.

    "You're worried about being moral compared to those guys? Jesus Christ." — Bob (11:10)

• Puritanical Attacks: Seen as a desperate fallback when “all else fails” — rarely effective against the right (i.e., Trump), but damaging for intra-party policing.

4. Role of Identity, Class, and Ideology in Democratic Politics

• Historic Shift: Bob explains the trajectory from the post-civil rights era, where new political diversity was coupled with class-conscious, progressive politics, to the contemporary era where racial/gender diversity exists but without corresponding ideological breadth. (25:37–34:32)
• Current Phenomenon: Identity now often used to mask or excuse establishment, corporate-aligned, or AIPAC-friendly candidates (e.g., Kamala Harris, Wesley Bell, Gretchen Whitmer).

  "Diversity now ... in terms of way they look, their appearance, but not in terms of what they think." — Bob (30:04)

• Progressive Exclusion: True class-based or anti-war politics, especially when voiced by candidates of color or progressive women (Bowman, Bush, Mamdani), are systematically marginalized or attacked.

5. Recent and Ongoing Battles

• Progressive Victories: Despite establishment attacks, a new wave of candidates (Platner, Robb, Hamaway, Taleb, Mamdani, Talarico) are winning key primaries and shifting the Democratic base’s expectations.

  "We're actually seeing more left progressive candidates get into office... It's not just the squad. The squad seems to be almost irrelevant at this point and they're unapologetic." — Bob (16:48)

• The Texas Parallel: The same establishment smear tactics are used in Texas’s gubernatorial primary (Talarico vs. Crockett).
• The Role of AIPAC: Aggressive spending and influence in primaries (Missouri, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) repeatedly used to defeat or damage left/progressive candidates.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Establishment sets up insurgents as “unelectable” through smears and then blames the progressive base if the seat is lost. (24:19–25:07)
• Allegiance to Status Quo: DNC would rather see Susan Collins win in Maine than risk a Platner-type class politics breaking through. (18:34)

6. Broader Reflections on Party Cleavage and American Politics

• The Coming Split: If the Platner experience continues, Democratic unity may fracture further as the party base radicalizes around Gaza, economic inequality, and party hypocrisy.

  "If by some means they were able to force Platner off the ticket, you would see a massive revulsion against that." — Bob (34:34)

• Republican vs Democratic Responses: GOP discipline—willing even to throw out Liz Cheney for crossing lines—contrasts with Democrats’ indulgence of Manchin, Sinema, Fetterman, even as the party leadership keeps policing from the left.
• Future Trajectory: There’s fertile ground for class politics, but the party remains determined to preserve establishment power at all costs.

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Timestamps and Notable Quotes

• 00:19 – “Welcome to the silky smooth sounds of the Green Red podcast.” — Scott
• 01:09 – "They are in power because of what we're going to talk about today.” — Bob (on the rise of the right)
• 02:48 – "I've never seen one just so over the top and didn't even try to hide it." — Bob (on the Platner smear campaign)
• 04:55–06:27 – Details on Platner’s personal life used in smears; hosts decry the focus on non-issues.
• 07:58 – Platner wins primary with 73%; record turnout.
• 11:10 – “You're worried about being moral compared to those guys? Jesus Christ.” — Bob (contrasting Platner’s life to notorious Democrats)
• 13:24 – “Platner, to his credit, shrugged that one off. I thought he handled that really well.” — Scott
• 16:48 – "We're actually seeing more left progressive candidates get into office... The squad seems to be almost irrelevant at this point and they're unapologetic." — Bob
• 18:34 – DNC would rather lose Maine than elect Platner (Maine not on official DNC Senate map).
• 24:19–25:07 – Critique of identity politics as self-imposed limitations/excuses for establishment candidates.
• 30:04 – "Diversity now ... in terms of way they look, their appearance, but not in terms of what they think." — Bob
• 34:34 – "If by some means they were able to force Platner off the ticket, you would see a massive revulsion against that." — Bob
• 35:41 – DNC's post-2024 "autopsy" edited out references to Gaza/Israel; leadership still in denial.

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Memorable Moments

• [20:42] – "Donald John Trump decided to weigh in ... and Trump said, 'Graham Platner is a pig. He's worse than any human being that's ever run for office.' ... Maybe that'll win him the election.” — Scott (wry commentary)
• [22:40–23:44] – Texas gubernatorial race as microcosm of national Democratic schism; establishment still policing from the right, even as progressives surge ahead in polls.
• [36:49] – Republicans were willing to cast out Liz Cheney, while Democrats tolerate or empower party contrarians.
• [39:14] – "These guys are good politicians...I'm not saying they're radicals, but they're really good politicians." — Bob, on Platner and Talarico.
• [39:36–39:38] – "Bring back Ron Dellums and Shirley Chisholm." — A hope for truly progressive, principled leadership.

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Conclusion

Bob and Scott argue that the Democratic establishment's attacks on insurgent left candidates are motivated less by personal ethics than by an attempt to suppress any politics that challenge corporate power, U.S. foreign policy (especially around Israel), or entrenched interests. As more anti-establishment, class-conscious candidates gain footholds—even as the establishment tries to punish or exclude them—the party faces a potential “major cleavage.” The hosts express hope that the movement will not back down in the face of ongoing smears and that genuine progressive politics will find its moment.

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Key Takeaway:
The Democratic establishment’s current crisis—exemplified by the Platner affair—reveals deep disconnection from its voting base's priorities and portends a struggle between class-based, anti-elite politics and the old guard’s defensive tactics rooted in identity and purity policing. The insurgent left, while embattled, is winning ground and transforming the party from within.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Green and Red Scrappy Politics for Scrappy People, a regular podcast on radical environmental and anti capitalist politics brought to you by Bob Bozanko and Scott Parkins.

[B]

Welcome to the silky smooth sounds of the Green Red podcast. I'm your co host Scott Parkin in Berkeley, California. And as always, I am joined by

[A]

Bob Bozenko in Appalachia. And a belated 80th birthday wishes to President Caligula.

[B]

Oh, yeah, Happy birthday, President Joffrey or whatever. Joffrey is a character in Game of Thrones based on Caligula before we.

[A]

That works. That works for me much better than Hitler or anything else.

[B]

Yeah, I think, I think you're right.

[A]

I mean Hitler actually had an ideology and some bizarro ideas. Trump is just pure ID and God knows what.

[B]

The German Nazi state was very efficient if nothing. Right. Management, leadership development going on there, unlike what's we're dealing with right now.

[A]

Real quick.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They are in power because of what we're going to talk about today.

[B]

Yeah, it's true. I do want to throw out real quick before we get started, we just had our 500th episode. Our program, Independent Media is made through the generosity of our audience. So please consider becoming a [e-mail] Green Backslash Green Red Podcast or make a donation at GreenRed Podcast at or by hitting that support button. And we're going to be talking about Democratic purity politics and punching left. It has been in the news a lot. It's been on the, it's been on the pages of the New York Times in the last two weeks and the Wall Street Journal more than we usually see it, although we see it pretty often. And so we're going to be talking about some of these political races, these races for Congress where we really see the establishment punching left on a lot of people and. But then using this, they weaponized purity politics in order to try and derail identity and identity. And identity. Which is a little bit what I was meaning by purity politics. Yeah, they're most viciously going after Graham Platner. They're trying to really derail his candidacy. But we see that with Abdul El Said. We see it with a number of people who run in for the House like Chris Robb and Adam Hammaway that I would say there's a level of where they're doing it with James Talarico in Texas as well.

[A]

Yeah, it's right now the world is on fire. Horrible war in Iran, which may or may not be in a ceasefire ongoing.

[B]

It was Trump's Birthday present was the deal. Right.

[A]

It was actually a memorandum of understanding which anyway, you have Israel's ongoing genocides in Lebanon, now repression here at home. We see this continuing crisis at Dilly and the one in New Jersey.

[B]

Delaney Hall.

[A]

Yeah, Delaney Hall. And this going on all over. And yet if you, the last three, four weeks, the media, you would think the biggest story in the world was this Senate race in Maine. I don't know if there's any kind of vitriol. And you've seen smear campaigns, those are par for the course. Right. And the people involved, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, apac, the dnc, they're always doing it. I've never seen one just so over the top and didn't even try to hide it. Right. And I think that's really crucial because I think we can get to the minutiae of it and what Graham Platner is or isn't. But clearly Platner's saying things that they don't like and he's saying things about Israel and he's saying things about the ruling class and wealth and ice and Chuck Schumer, he's basically said Chuck Schumer should not be majority. Right. And they're going after him. And it's such a ham handed over the top of town. Right. Which involves tattoos, sex and apparently bad relationships. Right. And the irony is the tattoos and the sex, he, Naruto himself, those were part of the like you do opposition on yourself. That's where those came from. And the last one, the going after was just an over the top hit jog by aipac. And I'm not saying that with hyperbole. It really was by Apex Activist of the year.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. No, it's just. And the way this is happening is the Democrats aren't going to come out and say we don't like Graham Platner because he's threatening these interests which we hold dear. Aid to Israel and tax breaks for billionaires and data centers, which is another issue in Maine. The Democrat running for governor, running for the Senate. Schumer's handpicked Senate candidate Janet Mills had vetoed a bill to restrict data centers in Maine. They're not going to say that. They're not going to come out and say we want more money for Israel's genocide and we want more tax breaks for all of our can we want more day, we want more crypto. They're not going to say that. Right. So they have to go at you based on this long Standing history they have of identity and character. And so Graham Platner becomes this big bad wolf white guy. He's gruff, he talks in a deep voice. He has guns.

[B]

And so he was a Marine. He was a Marine. Marine.

[A]

He was in both. Both Afghanistan and Iraq. Right. Or tours, I believe. Right. Both Marine and Army, I think, actually didn't.

[B]

He was a machine gunner at Fuja.

[A]

Yeah. And they're going after him, which is funny, too, because he has a war hero, too. They didn't do that to John Cary. Right. Who came home in a post of Vietnam War. So it's really. And this is what, like, I call puritanical, the Democrats, puritanism, when all else fails, they rely on this. Now, this has been one of the bases of the attack on Trump, and it really hasn't worked. That's the thing. Like, they keep doing this. It doesn't work when you do it to the other side. Trump is a rapist, child molester, most likely, and yet doesn't seem to matter. But internally, it works because they have these certain identities within their party which are really important to them. And I want to talk about the kind of history of that later and. Piss a lot of people off, but. And so they're going after Grant Graham Prattner as puritans. Right. We want our candidates to be pristine and clean and never have a problem in their life. And this is where we are in 2026. The world is burning. And they're worried about this guy's interaction with some of the women he went out with. And to be clear, we're not talking about abuse. I think everybody knows plenty of men do that. They are physically violent. There's no allegation of platinum. There's one that says woman, says he put his arm on his shoulder and he said he didn't do that even. But we're not talking like there, because that's also the stereotype of the vet veteran who comes back and he's abusive and threatens people. And we've all run into.

[B]

Drinks too much.

[A]

He drinks too much, drinks too much, he threatens people. He's potentially violent. People are afraid of him. That's not part of this narrative, despite what a lot of people would have me believe. Yeah.

[B]

Just to throw a couple of other things out, there is that especially since October 2023, we've seen this, we've seen increasing popular opinion that's against Israel, that there was a Pew poll that I looked up that came out in March that said 80% of Democrats and people who lean towards voting in the Democratic Party have negative views on Israel, with nearly half of Democrats around 50% holding a very unfavorable view. Platner represents that. Platner also is very much in the tradition of populist, anti ruling class, anti billionaire. And that's a main part of his rap. And he talks about how rural hospitals are being closed down. There's a big story that came out in Maine about how some private equity guys shut down, shut down a paper mill, which is like a big piece of the economy in Maine. There's also a lot of stories out which I wish I actually dug into this a little bit more, but there's something like 10 billionaires which have just dumped a bunch of money into his opponent, six term Susan Collins. And so he very much represents what's very popular opinion right now. People are hurting, there's hardship, there's economic precarity. And Platner's I'm going to fight for you. He doesn't say he's going to change. It doesn't say he's necessarily the solution, but he's going to fight for people who need this. And it's made him very popular. He won the Maine primary last week by something like 73% of the vote. Right. More people voted in that primary than has ever voted in a Democratic primary in Maine's history. So it's just really important to note that he is really channeling this anti establishment, anti elite, anti anti incumbent sort of attitude that's out there. Trump actually represented that himself in 2024. And so it's just really important to note that this is who Platner is. He's the, he's this person on the left. And there's other candidates within this sphere on the left in the Democratic Party who are also doing this too, some of which we named.

[A]

Yeah, we've talked about the Democrats punching left forever. Platner. It's interesting too, because these stories were timed to inflict damage upon him. The tattoo story came out early. He was in the army in Croatia drunk. And he got people keep think it's a Nazi tattoo, but I've read it's an old German tattoo that actually preceded the Nazis. I don't know. But at the time he says he didn't know what it was. A bunch of people who were with him and got the same tattoo said, yeah, we didn't know what it was. That's believable. He covered up, but there's nothing in his bag. Background. People have gone back. Dave, I don't Know if. Can you imagine your job in life is to look at everything that Grant Platner ever wrote on Reddit and on Twitter. You need to get a life if that's what you're doing. But no one's ever found anything on Reddit or anything else that corroborates that. In fact, he was like talking about intervention and gay rights and all this throughout the entire period. So I don't know what the tattoo means or not, but thank God I'm not held accountable for everything. I didn't said when I was that age because we would be on this podcast right now and I wouldn't have been a. None of us, all of us were dumb asses. So that the sexting. He's a single guy. He said he's a single. This is like, people of my generation don't get it. And I only do because I talk to younger people. Right. They're like, I can't believe he's with that many women. But I think that's just the world today for guys that age.

[B]

They're on dating apps. It's the dating apps, man.

[A]

And the fact that he went out with multiple women and sex that with them and sent selfies and shit to me at my age, that would be like, in my generation, we didn't do that. But now everybody I know who's 40ish or younger, that's just. They don't shrug. That's just their normal life.

[B]

The part of their point is that he did it well after he was married.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the other important part here is that he told his wife about it and they've actually sought counseling. It's their personal business, too.

[A]

Is.

[B]

Is the other part here.

[A]

Yeah. Which is always been my line on that Gary Hart. That's between him and his wife, or even Bill Clinton and Monica losing, that's between him and Hillary. Right. And his wife. By all accounts, they're good. They're in a good place now. So the last one was like, what did the New York Times say women described unsettling behavior.

[B]

Dude, that what one did. A second one, the one who was a Heritage foundation operative who worked with

[A]

Susan Collins to establish a Women for Kavanaugh Group. When this guy who was accused of rape by more than one woman, Susan Collins, made him a Supreme Court justice, where he gets to overturn Roe.

[B]

She was the deciding vote.

[A]

She was a deciding vote. And like, this is the woman who's saying Graham Platner is a bad guy because he was mean to me. Like, again, I'm not making light of this. And I know that feminists will have issues with this, but, like, everybody's in a bad relationship. Everybody's had at least one bad relationship. Everyone I know at least has had a bad relationship. And many of them, many times, voices were raised by both partners. And again, and to be even more. If you want to be cynical, like the US Senate, really. That's your peer group. You worried about being moral compared to those guys? Jesus Christ. Yeah.

[B]

Bob Packwood just died, by the way. We could.

[A]

They had a nickname for him about like, Hands. I forget what it was, but like. But you're talking about. What gets me to. Is these people who are the icons of this. These people politically. Fdr, right. When FDR had his fatal stroke, his mistress was in Warm Springs, Georgia with him. Eleanor was in dc, Lucy Mercer with him.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Jfk, dude. Marilyn Monroe. We know about jfk.

[B]

Angie Dickinson.

[A]

Yeah. JFK was compromised. He was like fooling around with Nazis and like that. Lyndon Johnson, who by all accounts impregnated an aide and made one of his like a secretary and made one of his aides marry her to make it look right. Bill Clinton, who again, is pretty credibly charged with rape by more than one woman. And they're concerned about Graham Platner. One of my favorite. This is off the thing, but it's still. It's one of my favorite stories ever. Teddy Kennedy. There was a. In the. One of those tabloids way back probably the. What was the big One in the 70s and 80s, the Inquirer had a picture of Ted Kennedy on some beach wherever, naked, with some young woman. And they got back to D.C. and Oren Hatch, who was his best friend, believe it or not, Mormon. Ormond Hatch or Hatch, said, hey, Teddy, I see you change your position on offshore drilling. But anyway, these are Democratic icons and now they're concerned about Graham Platner. The morale. And of course, we don't have to go into what the President is. Jesus Christ. And fucking Mika Brzezinski had the nerve to say, basically, compare him to the Epstein people. Could you credibly open the Epstein files as if what he's. Even if he did what he's accused of, that doesn't equate with an entire global ring of child trafficking and child rape. Right.

[B]

Platner, to his credit, shrugged that one off. I thought he handled that really well.

[A]

He handles all of them well. I mean. Yeah. I don't know. Would most people. Most of the people would be saying, like, go yourself.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. And the other Part here is that the New York Times is the one who surfaced this story. I think the Wall Street Journal did as well. The one with Lindsey Fifield, who is the Heritage foundation operative, the Republican operative. But the way in which, not beyond the New York Times now has all. All of them have dug in and gone after platinum on these character. On these character grounds. It's just unbelievable.

[A]

And. And Democratic politicians are joining in.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like elected officials. Right. AOC said he was disgusting. Mark. Mark Kelly said he's disturbed by. You don't have to praise the guy, but you can be a lot more temperate compared to the way the Republicans treat Trump. They put him on this pedestal and say he's never done anything wrong. And for aoc, this is a woman who stood up there and said commerce is tirelessly working for peace. To me, that's one of the most.

[B]

24, 7, 24.

[A]

That's one of the biggest lies I've heard in the last decade. And whatever you think of her after that, she's. Nah.

[B]

And this is just another episode in this Democratic establishment punching left. And that's what they always do. And that I do think that there is a bit of a turn that has happened. Platner's not Al Frank. Al Franken's actually another comparison that has come up in here. And Al Franken eventually resigned his seat. Platner's not done that. He may lose. It doesn't seem like he is, but he's ahead in the poles. But this is just another episode of punching left. And it just seems like it's less effective. And there's been a turn. I actually really think it has to do with Gaza, but it could be related to. It's obviously related to a number of other things, too. And that people are just fed up with what these establishment politicians are doing. Forget about Trump and the Republicans. But just even what the Democratic leadership does, just over and over they went a year ago or a little less than a year ago, they're going after his own mom, Donnie, like this. And they were going after him because he was a Muslim. They were going after him. He was going to bring Sharia law. And that was like a lot of billionaire backers who are Zionists who were like supporting Andrew Cuomo, who's maybe has some character issues of his own. Right.

[A]

Only 13 women he physically touched in the office.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And we're just.

[B]

The more we see left progressive candidates make gains, and I think they're particularly terrified of what's happened with Mamdani. I think we're just going to see more and more of this, but I'm also very heartened to see that we see the sort of like progressive left really making a lot of inroads right now. Like Chris Robb, who is a Congress who's who also denounced Platner too. So not super thrilled about that. But. Yeah, but he said he had concerns or he had heard concerning things or whatever. But he just won a pretty solid Democratic district in Philly based on it.

[A]

Where APAC was like maybe the main issue.

[B]

Yeah. Where APAC was the main issue in New Jersey. Dr. Adam Hamaway, who was a doctor in Gaza, an American doctor in Gaza. He was also a doctor in the army in Iraq, basically just also won another solid he and he's also progressive DSA type candidate. I don't know if he's in dsa, but he also just won a pretty solid Democratic district in the primary. And so we're actually seeing more left progressive candidates get into office which is or had headed to office. It's not just the squad. Right. The squad seems to be almost irrelevant

[A]

at this point and they're unapologetic. I think AOC has always been apologetic and AOC is always. She ran in 2018 talking about Palestine and she immediately renounced that and she immediately fell in line with Nancy Pelosi. These people aren't doing that. And Mamdani is a great point. Right. He's in many ways created that A lot of folks are wondering, at least on social media. And do you think this is the beginning of potentially a major war within the Democratic Party?

[B]

I. I think it's been actually already been playing out. I actually think maybe it started definitely. I feel like it was happening with Mamdani and.

[A]

Well, I mean you go back to Sanders, it's kind of.

[B]

Yeah, actually that's what I was going to say is to go back to 2016.

[A]

Bernie didn't really fight either.

[B]

Yeah, it's true.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they In 2016, it was very obvious how they rigged the system against him. Their system. 2020, they kind of did that too.

[A]

But we have had in both 2016 and 2020, despite what the centrist Democrats or whatever you want to call them say Sanders people voted for the Democratic candidate. Sanders people voted for Hillary Clinton despite all the that data shows that they voted for Hillary Clinton and they voted for Joe Biden overwhelmingly. Yeah. Far more Clinton. In 2008 when Clinton lost the primaries, 16% of people who voted for Clinton in the primaries voted for McCain in the general election. In 2016 when Sanders lost the primary. Only 8% of Sanders voters voted for Trump. So Clinton's people were far less loyal to the Democratic Party than Sanders has ever were. We're not seeing that now. I think if they want to keep going after Platner, essentially what they're saying is we prefer Susan Collins. Which people say, oh no, I actually believe they do. I think Schumer and the establishment clearly would be a much. Feel much better with Collins than they would with Platner.

[B]

Yeah, there's a lot of stories coming out too now that they can still win the Senate without winning the Maine.

[A]

Yes, the map, the official DNC map doesn't include Maine on it. Right. They're throwing in the towel. Can you imagine the Republican Party? These people, they have convicted felons in the White House. Right. Adjudicated rapist. They would never open white supremacists.

[B]

The New York Times had a story yesterday about how Miller was trying to figure out how to abolish habeas corpus and bring about the Insurrection act over Minnesota.

[A]

Remember the Simpsons?

[B]

And there was a non story by the end of the day yesterday.

[A]

Yeah. Do you remember the Simpsons when Marge had a gambling problem and at the end Homer's sure, I burned down the house. But you have a gambling problem. And this is what they're doing, Right? Sure. They wanted to suspend habeas corpus, sure, he's accused of rape. Sure, they have a child sex trafficking ring. But you sexted women. It's insane that. And you know, like we can shift but. And the other thing I think is important, the New York Times story is based on the allegations of this woman. Is it Lindsay, Lindsay Feld, who was. Is an old Republican operative who, like I said, I'm not making that up, created a group, Women for Kavanaugh, Ladies for Brett Kavanaugh. Yeah. And then the woman who wrote it was voted Apex Activist of the year when she was in college.

[B]

Yeah, there's that too. I didn't even bring that up.

[A]

Did they think no one was going to figure that out? It's so over the topic. And then the next day they had a story how Susan Collins broke a record with her 10,000 straight vote. It's like the kid in school who gets the perfect attendance. The kid, nobody knows who he's. Nobody cares. The teacher's pet, a brown noser. And you got to give everybody an award at the end of the year. So they give them the perfect attendance award. That's Susan Collins. She's a fucking Trump acolyte. She votes with Trump 96% of the time, just a wretched, sick individual who was having an affair with a married lobbyist whose wife was dying of cancer. And he's now a defense lobbyist. She's wretched. And that's why Platner, I think, is going to win, because that's what he's talking about. He's not letting this bullshit get to him. Right. And the other thing you mentioned earlier, and you can say more about Platinum if you want, but I think that

[B]

there's one last thing I want to

[A]

say about, because I want to talk about the Texas thing too in a minute because I've been following that way too closely.

[B]

Just, I just want to wrap up on my side with Platner is that he got the best endorsement that he could ever get last week, which is Donald John Trump decided to weigh in on that. I guess the press maybe asked him about it and Trump said, graham Platner is a pig. He's worse than any human being that's ever run for office. And, and how can you go against that? Right? That's maybe that'll win him the election.

[A]

The best part was when he said we would never let him run in the Republican Party. And John Toon is sitting there and Chubbs would we. And dude, you could just see doesn't want to deal with this. No, sir, we wouldn't. Planners ain't angelic compared to, to these guys. But anyway, it's indicative. But the Texas thing, it's not the same as this because I think Calorico actually does have establishment support and is considered a pretty strong candidate there. But what's interesting though, and if you look at it, and I don't know what to make of influencers and Internet, I'm an older guy. The whole thing was still weird to me, right? But one thing I've noticed during, before the election, before the primary in Texas, and it's continuing since then, is a lot of the old Crockett people are still attacking him. And it's the same dynamic with Planner. They're saying he's unelectable. We're going to smear the hell out of him and raise all these concerns about him so that he loses. And then we could say he's, he was unelectable and it's the left's fault the same thing's happening in Texas, right? So before the primary you have these Crockett people who are saying she's a dynamic, great candidate, blah, blah, blah, and he's unelectable, right? Crockett is not A dynamic. It's weird. You can't say anything bad about her. She's a dismal candidate. The only accomplishment she has were saying she's good at sound bites and could get in good cat fights with Marjorie Taylor Greene and things like that. She's big supporter of Israel, takes APAC money, takes crypto money. Right. And she didn't. She ran a half ass campaign. She just took it for granted that she deserved the nomination. Which is what a lot of Democrats like Kamala Harris did. Right? Yeah. Yep.

[B]

She was endorsed by Kamala Harris too.

[A]

Endorsed by Common. Right. She lost pretty convincingly. And now what's continuing. See tall Rico governor, but he can't win. He's actually ahead in the polls. And the Republicans have their. A guy who makes Ted Cruz almost look like a decent candidate. Right. In Paxton.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And it's continuing. These old Crockett supporters are just all over tall Rico. He's racist. Which. And I think it's really. That's over the edge. That's just not cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Nothing in Talarigo's past to indicate that. Right. He's ignoring the black community. I don't know. I see. Maybe they're just photo ops or something like that, but you see him in churches and things like that. But.

[B]

And meantime, since he's won that primary, he's made many visits to black churches.

[A]

I don't know what they want, but. And what's Crockett done since then? She went to St. Louis to endorse Wesley Bell, the incumbent against Cori Bush. Bell beat Bush in the primary two years ago because who threw millions of dollars in his campaign?

[B]

Apac.

[A]

APAC did. Right. So you're seeing this in Texas, where they're trying to.

[B]

And she went and endorsed in Texas. In California too.

[A]

This is another one that liberals sometimes. Often liberals were attacking Tom Stier. He's a billionaire. Right. And you. And I talked to. You're in California. Right. I get it. Right. Yeah. Even if the guy says the right things, you got to be a little sketchy. Right. Was he hedge fund guy or.

[B]

Yeah, here's a hedge fund guy.

[A]

But Becerra, if you look at pretty much their entire careers, Stiers, I think verifiably more liberal, progressive, whatever. Becerra is horrible. Just on many different levels. Right. And if you look at corporate support, there's no doubt corporations tend to support people who are going to. And Becerra got the corporate support there. Right. It's funny.

[B]

He was at the max amount of donations he could get from Chevron.

[A]

Was he. Was he Secretary of what? Transportation? What was he.

[B]

He was the Secretary of Transportation Station.

[A]

The Biden people have a text, text, chain. And they all just made fun of him. They couldn't believe it. They're like, this guy was like the most do nothing, nobody. And so Crockett lined up with him and now they're saying Crockett, he won because of Crockett. Right. So the point is, I think that's something worth looking at too because they tend to create these Democratic liberals, or whatever you want to call them, create these self fulfilling prophecies. So. And so is a bad candidate because of all these scandals, whether Platner with his text or Calorico ignores the black community or whatever. And then if they lose, they're like, see, we told you and it's your fault. Right. And this is. Goes back to this kind of like the primacy, the overwhelming primacy of identity in the Democratic Party. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it. But it only applies to certain people. It doesn't apply to Corey Bush or Jamal Bowman. Right. African American. Great African Americans in Congress. Great African American Congress members who were both defeated by apac. Right. Is Richie, Would you put. Is Richie Torres a good guy? Is that somebody you want to be? Like summer league, really great In Pittsburgh, however, the black mayor in Pittsburgh was defeated last year by the Democratic establishment in the primary. I forget the name. Ed Gaines was. It was the mayor.

[B]

Yeah. I think it was around apac. It was around Israel.

[A]

Yes. And this is. Give me a minute here because I want to go on a riff about the history of this, because this is something, I'm a historian. That's something I've actually studied and written about and thought about for a long time in politics from the 60s on is really fascinating because what we've seen is this really incredible movement of the Democratic Party so far to the right. So now when they talk about right and left, it just, it makes us crazy. I think I could speak for you. When they talk about the left. What's the left like? Platner, I would say, is the left. Right. But when American politics today. Right. But to go back like I grew up in an era and you more or less, but not quite as much because you're younger. But I grew up in an era where everyone in political life was essentially a white male. Pretty much everybody was. I don't. Yeah, there was one black senator, a Republican from Massachusetts. Right. A handful of black representatives from major cities, but. And then obviously the Civil rights movement and the Civil Rights Act And Voting Rights act began to change that. So by the 1970s, you started to see in bigger numbers, not, you know, distributed according to population, but in bigger numbers, you started to see the emergence of black and female candidates in major positions, winning races. Right. The thing that's important to note there to me is because I think all of us would agree diversity is important. People are going to be governed, then people who represent their interests should be part of that body to make those decisions, to govern them. That's very simple. It's participatory democracy. Right. Which is what King and SVS talked about. But the part that everybody forgets is they weren't just talking about changing colors or genders. They were talking about what they often refer to as an interracial coalition of the poor. They were talking about class and diversity and equal equity and inclusion. Never for the Democratic Party involve class. In that first phase after the civil rights movement, the people elected often did represent working class interests. So you had like, really, I would call giants like Shirley Chisholm and Ron Dellums, who were not just. They were pioneers. Right. They were trailblazers. Right. But they were like great progressive politics. The kind of people, like, if liberals were like that today, we wouldn't be bitching so much. Right. Ella Grasso, first woman governor of a major state in Connecticut. Right. Italian American too. Right. Augustus Hawkins and in California. So these folks were really good on civil rights issues, voting rights and all that poverty. They talked about education, they talked about labor, they talked about unions. So it wasn't just that there was a diversity in terms of their gender or their race. When you had the emergence of Latin candidates and things like that too. Right. So it wasn't just. It was that they represented actual progressive working class interest. Right. And a really significant level means education, wages, all those issues like that King talked about at the end of his life too. Right. Which is why we don't talk about King. We talk about King as this civil rights icon, which he was. But this is also the guy who was waging the poor people's campaign at the end. At the end of his life. But then you start to say Jesse Jackson is part of that, even though he's never elected through the 70s and 80s, you see this. So when you think about black politics or women's politics in those eras, it's essentially progressive politics. There are obviously exceptions, but basically everyone who was in some kind of an elected position or had some kind of. Andrew Young who got fired because he spoke to the Palestinians. Right. Julian Bond, fantastic political Career. Right. Anybody who was in that position, any black or female politician, would almost, if so facto, be progressive and believe in those issues that we find important. Then you start to see a shift, right. With this increased corporatization of the Democratic Party, you have even more diversity in terms of gender and race and ethnicity, but less, less, much less diversity in terms of what they actually believe politically. So they fell in line. Right? And so this is how we get to this position where we are today, where the main candidates tend to be like Kamala Harris, Kapmala, who got tons of corporate support. You can speak about her more than me. You're from California, right. Kamala Harris is. The media calls her left because I guess she's in favor of trans rights or something like that. Right. There's no way, no world in which Kamala Harris would be on the left. Right. Cory Booker, who's arguably AIPAC's best friend after Chuck Schumer in Congress. Right. Cory Booker is black. Right. And in no way is he progressive. And he doesn't speak about these issues that are of grave importance. Don't stand at the ice or anything like that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

The women in Michigan now, Gretchen Whitmer, who basically said, the voters, we're going to have a data center. Right. We tell them one thing, we do another. What's the woman Schumer's handpicked, Angie or Haley Stevens? Haley Stevens, right. Hardcore. I dream of Israel in my sleep. Right. Mallory McMorrow, who's subtly APAC. She's not APAC, but she was Associated Groups. She's. Her husband is invested in data centers. They take money from crypto. Right. WESLEY Bell in St. Louis, taking money from Becerra. Right. So this is what you get with diversity now. You get diversity in terms of the way they look, their appearance, but not in terms of what they think. And when you do have. And you still have exceptions to that, I would say Rashida Taleb is one of the greatest Congress members ever. You know Omar. Right. Summer Lee. Right. But what did the Democrats do, as you said earlier to Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush, they got rid of them. Right. They don't want Platinum Platter is the exception because he's a white guy, which normally, you know. But Al said in Michigan. Right. Mohammed Al said. Abdul. Abdul. I'm sorry. And, oh, going back to. I talked about. I forgot the most important one of all, Barack Hussein Obama. The name was his political identity. His politics were utterly corporate centrist, big banks, Wall street investment class, just Bill Clinton's. Were Clinton and Obama politically are identical. Right. They believe in the same stuff, and they still do. Neither of them have said a word about what's going on in the world today. They don't talk about ice, they don't talk about guys, they don't talk about anything. They just collect money and go out on Geffen's yacht. That kind of shit. Right. So this is where we are like diversity. It's funny because the Democrats get nothing out of it. They. It's the main line of attack and a lot of Republican attacks on them. Right. DEI became like, especially in 24, that became the buzz where people don't even know what your dei.

[B]

And it's a corporate phenomenon, too. Just. We could do a whole show on that at some point in the future.

[A]

But yeah, and the point of DEI was to make capitalism better. You're excluding huge. If you exclude women, you're excluding over half the population just because of who they are. Right. What would the world be like without women as doctors and researchers? It's just insane. Right? Of course it's a way to make capitalism better. Right. But they turned it into unqual. Like, what's this Charlie Kirk, unqualified women flying airplanes. And I'm afraid. But it becomes all these crazy stereotypes. So the Democrats suffered political defeats because of that. And then internally, they weren't promoting the best people. They're promoting people based on, like Kamala Harris or Wesley Bell or whatever, while they were actually throwing aside people who I think would be incredibly valuable and make America a better place, like Jamal Bowman or Cori Bush. So identity politics for the Democrats became a convenient way to engage in these performative ideas about democracy, while even more throwing aside class interest and ignoring the legitimate grievances of working people. And in turn, that led to the emergence of Trump in 2016. Everybody talked Trump is a racist. I don't think that's not even questionable. Right. But in 2016, and I think data has shown this. Right. Anti Elitism in 2016 was as important as race or gender or anything else. Because Trump went around. He didn't mean any of it, but he was smart enough to understand that that would work. But to say these people don't care about you, they're a bunch of coastal elites, they don't give a shit about you, they don't understand you, they think they're too good for you. He was. That's true. They were right. Trump went through the effort of law. It's like in 2024, Trump said, I'm not going to go to war. No more forever wars. People like, oh, how could you believe them? You know why you can believe them? Because the other side didn't even say that. They guaranteed you more forever wars and they guaranteed you more intervention. They guarantee you more aid to Israel, like Iran. Who was going to not do Iran? Clinton and Biden and Harris, all of them promised to attack Iran. So this is your Democratic Party and they covered up their democracy. Their left now is based on the diversity of their candidates, the way they look, their outward appearance, not what they believe or what they do. And if a legitimate class politics emerged, it would blow away American politics. If you ran for office, said, we're going to stop aid to Israel, we're going to stop all these data centers. Right. We're going to give you health care. That's enough. You'd want 65% of the vote and regulate the.

[B]

No more. No more trillionaires. Right?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Just the basic stuff. Three or four key points. If you said that the Democrats have been handed this gift, here's your blueprint, here's your template. Unfortunately, it was handed them by Graham Platner and others. And just it's intolerable to them because that would ruin their grip on power and control. Schumer. So this is why the Democratic Party, I think, is on the verge of a major cleavage if they continue to mess with Platinum. If by some means they were able to force Platinum off the ticket, you would see a massive revulsion against that. It's just like in 2024. Like the autopsy in 24, which they refused to release. Right. They still won't come to grips. So they won't even acknowledge and discuss the idea that Gaza, as much as anything, destroyed Kamala Harris. Right. Yeah. She went around saying, yeah, do the same thing as Biden. Israel's our best friend.

[B]

The edit they released the edited version of the autopsy, which what they edited out was Gaza was how people were revolted by what Biden and Harris did in supporting Israel.

[A]

If apparently, if you did a control f on gods and genocide, they wouldn't come up. Right. Anyway, I think that historical overview is really critical here because this isn't something that just happened. It's been going on for 40 or 50 years. Right. Democrats have always gone after. And we talked when Jesse Jackson died, we talked at some length about that. Right. What they did to Jesse Jackson is really quite incredible. Right. And I think that that historical background, because this isn't just about. It has nothing to do with Graham Platner's ethics. Nothing. No. Yeah. Sorry. About that. This is about Grant Planner's position on Israel. It's about Grant Planner's position on data center, position on billionaires. Right. And they're more than willing to bring Susan Collins back. One of the most wretched people in. In political life. Right. They're content. They have no issue with bringing that back. Right. Yeah. There. It's funny, like, in. In recent times, just like in the last four or five years, both Pelosi and Obama have said they want to see a strong and vibrant Republican Party. Right. What's Trump always say about the Democrats? Does he say, I want to see a strong Democratic Party? Wants to put them all in jail and kill them all. Right.

[B]

And he picks attorney generals based on their willingness to go out and destroy his political enemies. And he goes after them like, yeah, pretty regularly. It's cash. Patel still has a job. Todd Blanche is in there. Because they are willing to do what, like, even Pam Bondi would do, but who knows? Or she didn't do it. Well, maybe she's.

[A]

That the Republican Party threw Lynn Cheney overboard. That is, like, she's one of the founders of this, like, vampirical, monstrous Republican Party that we know today. Her father was like Trump with a little more style or something. They threw her overboard. The Democrats have mansion and cinema and now, like, Fetterman, and they're fine with it. Do you think Chuck Schumer ever once has sat down with Fetterman and giving him, like, a Don Corleone speech? No. Anyway, there's a lot going on. This is something we've talked about a lot, but it's, like, really been. Because we are at a point now where the world is in worse condition than we've ever seen it. The world's on fire, and the Democratic Party is more concerned about destroying a candidate running for the Senate in Maine than, like, stopping ice or ending. That criticism of the Iran war was never that. It was, like, wrong or genocidal. It was like, oh, she's not winning. They were. They're down with it. So this is where it stands. And now's the time, like, for whoever actually is, like, legit progressive to, like, really bunker down and get serious and not back down from this shit.

[B]

Yeah. I'm gonna wrap it there. Unless you have anything else we can do.

[A]

One going. One person we didn't mention at all was your favorite governor, Gavin Newsom.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Who's now under investigation from the doj.

[B]

Who's now under investigation. Him and his. No, his wife. It's his wife.

[A]

I think I thought it's both. Oh, I thought it was both. But do you think that's Trump's way of doing him a favor to make him the front runner for the Democratic nomination?

[B]

Maybe. Trump has also said that he thinks Gavin Newsom is a very well put together fella and thinks that he would be make a great president.

[A]

He's also talking about the glistening bodies at the wrestling thing the other day. No, see, it's weird and not to be like. Yeah, but just the homoerotic imagery that these guys always do is just. It's odd. They give lectures on masculinity and then. Which is what. Talarico is actually really parried back on that stuff. Really well. They attack his masculinity and he's really good at that. He's a good politician. So is Platter. So that's the thing. These guys are good politicians.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm not saying they're radicals, but they're really good politicians.

[B]

No, no, I agree.

[A]

Anyway, sorry for that. But you know how I get. You've been listening to me talk about this for 25 years.

[B]

No, I think this is important stuff to be bring up. Lots and lots of people. Other people said it, but it's good. I think it's good for us to bring up and go into that history as well and how ties in with today.

[A]

Bring back Ron Dellums.

[B]

Yeah, bring back Ron Dellums and Shirley Chisholm.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Folks, you've been listening to the Green and Red podcast. Please check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Blue Sky. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. If you're listening to us on audio platform, give us a rating review. And if you really like us, go to patreon.com backslash green red podcast or Green Red Podcast, hit that support button. And until we talk again, everybody out there make trouble and misbehave.

[A]

Sam.