B (17:52)
Alright, that is it for the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take so in a lot of ways, I actually understand why Democrats might have a hard time letting platner go. Democrats 2024 election postmortem has produced an obsession with reconnecting to young men and populist policies. Can the left find their Joe Rogan or their Charlie Kirk? How can the party message its progressive populist ideas without sounding like out of touch Ivy League professors? And then in walks Graham Platner out of the blue. The party is gifted, this tough looking, burly ex Marine who talks like the offspring of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Unlike Ocasio Cortez and maybe Zo Rahmandani, though, he didn't have the demographic baggage that might scare off a moderate or a conservative. He's a white, hairy ex military dude, a tough working class man. At 41 years old, he's even young, especially for a senator. But he's got the gift of a gravelly voice that feels battle worn and wizened. His Wikipedia page is speckled with biographical foresight, like protesting the Iraq War as a senior in high school. Yet when he deployed for a few tours in the Middle east, he did so in a combat role as one of the tough guys actually holding a gun and fighting. He says he thought he could do some good. Best of all, he's not an urbanite teeing up a run in an already deep blue city or state. He's from Maine, running in Maine and runs an oyster farming business in Maine. On paper, Democrats were in heaven. A farmer, a Marine, a progressive, all in a state where they could actually flip a Senate seat. Politics and biographical details aside, Platner reminds me a lot of politicians like Mamdani or Marjorie Taylor Greene or John Fetterman. They just feel genuinely authentic. You get the sense, regardless of their political views, they that they are being themselves at a moment when the Democratic leadership seems so disconnected from their base, when the party feels unmoored to any post that isn't Trump is bad. When Congress has become so geriatric it felt like the political gods decided to hand Democrats a gift from heaven. At least that's what it felt like. The truth, as we learn repeatedly, is that when a populist uprising boosts an otherwise unknown candidate into the national spotlight, we still have a lot to learn about them. Right now, Platner is weathering several controversies the Nazi tattoo, the downplaying of sexual assault in the military, and the anti gay slurs, among other controversial posts from his past. Those scandals are important, but it's equally important that his resume offers little to counter them. He serves as Harbor Master in Sullivan, Maine and sits on the Town Planning Board. Both positions are appointed. He's never won an election of any kind, and I don't think he's ever managed more than a handful of people at a time. Now he's a couple of steps away from the United States Senate. That populist working class authenticity? Well, it might not be so authentic. He comes from a line of well off very left academic types. He went to a pricey private school. The biggest customer for his business is his mom, a restaurant owner, and he has told news outlets that the business doesn't make much money, but it works out because he lives off disabled veteran benefits. At 41, nothing on his resume indicates he's been a successful enough leader to become one of the most 100 powerful elected officials in the country. And to be clear, I actually think Congress could use a few more normie people with normie resumes. But if those resumes are loaded with this kind of baggage, there are some problems. We aren't even close to the general election yet where Platner would run against a Republican who the GOP will be trying desperately to protect. And this is what we know. After a few months in the friendly part of the cycle, I imagine that a whole year of opposition research will only unearth more problems for Platner. As for my standards, well, I've tried to make them clear. I called for Democrat J. Jones to drop out, and I was happy to see some accountability for the young Republicans whose text messages were full of racism, rape jokes, and support for political violence. At the same time, I'm also for redemption and grace. To me, Platner's case rests on a kind of razor's edge. I can genuinely see the case for either letting Mainers decide or rallying around a call for him to drop out. I appreciated progressive pundit Emma Vigeland's take that Casting Platner out seems like the censorious Hall Monitor liberalism that refuses to accept growth in people. And I actually think she's right. But if Democrats want to support a forgiveness and grace campaign, they should be consistent when an up and coming Republican is in the spotlight. It's not hard to imagine how they'd treat an important Republican candidate with a Nazi tattoo. Just look back at how they approached Pete Hegseth's controversial ink. Personally, I found Platner's apology for his past Reddit posts believable, genuine, and compelling. In some ways, it made me like him even more. He admitted he was wrong, explained his state of mind in a non defensive way, and promised to try to do better. It was as sincere an apology as you could ask for. The Nazi tattoo scandal, for a lot of reasons, has felt different. Platner's story doesn't quite add up. He said he didn't know the symbol had been used by Nazis, but others say he definitely did. He got it in Croatia drunkenly, but never decided to do anything about it in the nearly 20 years before it became public knowledge. What are we supposed to make of this? In my mind, I wonder, are the odds better that Platner holds some Nazi views or that he liked the way some edgy body art looked? Despite what the meaning might be, I'd put my money on the latter, but it's not a bet I'm particularly eager to make for a potential U.S. senator. Democrats like Representative Jake Auchincloss from Massachusetts, whom we know quite well here at Tangle, have called on Platner to drop out. I think this is a perfectly reasonable moral line to draw in the sand. If nothing else, it might be wise politically. Despite Platner's early success in the polls, the general election could get ugly, especially if the GOP can dig up something even juicier. Even at 72, Senator Susan Collins, the Republican, will be a formidable opponent for whomever she faces, let alone someone with Platner's controversies and thin resume. At the same time, I think there's also a case for Platner staying in and letting the voters decide. Mainers have the information they need in order to make an informed decision. Platner is in a primary race against the current governor, Janet Mills, an experienced, well funded establishment pick with high name recognition. If he can win this primary race against a party supported candidate who is currently the governor, what does that say about the Democratic establishment's staying power and why would they resist? At the same time, should his ability to address and overcome the controversies then win in an open Democratic process supersede the will of other Democrats who want to see him walk away? My answer, given the transgressions here, is probably yes. But I don't blame folks like Auchincloss for staking out a different high ground. Both extending grace and holding high standards are worthy principles to stick to. And if I were leaving the Democratic Party, I'm not entirely sure what I would do. Foreign we'll be right back after this quick break.