Graham Platner has traversed a long and unlikely road to become the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Maine. Can he beat longtime GOP incumbent Susan Collins and live up to the promise of his firebrand populist campaign?
Yeah, tell me all about how the guy who wants to destroy MAGA and fight for health care, is worse than the corrupt, treasonous, racist, pedophiles we have now. At least this one has a D next to his name, and adds to a Democratic majority in the Senate. I’m tired of being lied to by Susan Collins and her ilk.
Idk man, joining the military because you want an adventure and to kill some people + having had a swastika on his chest (that he’s covered up, of course)… doesn’t paint a great picture.
Yes, Platner went on 5 combat tours, some as a PMC, and has pontificated on how much he loved it.
The tattoo was a Nazi tattoo, but not a swastika. It was a skull.
I’ll add: Americans focus almost completely on domestic policy and ignore the international component. People like Planter are more of the same when their international policy is considered: a strong military that perpetuates US imperialism, a system that robs Americans of their funds and funnels it into bombs, war crimes, and genocide, all the while fostering resentment for the US internationally. We need our leaders to act as stalwart guardians of peace, not agitators and oil barons and gun-toting killer ideological missionaries.
It’s time to consider candidates that are not DNC dogs. Mamdani, Platner, AOC are all beholden to the imperialist, hyper-capitalist DNC; nothing in the US will meaningfully change when EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE is still taking bribes from corporations as the DNC does and will always do.
You should look into the way the DNC slandered and sabotaged Maureen Gallindo’s race for the Texas House. It’s eye-opening.
NOTHING WILL MEANINGFULLY CHANGE UNDER THE DNC AND RNC. THEY ARE PARTNERS IN CRIME WHO SERVE THE EPSTEIN CLASS AND CORPORATIONS ALONE AND USE IDPOL TO KEEP US DIVIDED. DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU INTO THINKING THAT IS NOT THE CASE. MEANINGFUL CHANGE MUST COME FROM OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM.
Okay but who does my sister’s in-laws in Maine vote for in the general election? They’re republicans mind you. Speak to them and about their tree farm now. You have a lot of words, use em. I’m sure you can whip them into shape to skip voting republican and skip voting for this guy and get them to vote for the real change. I’m rooting for you, you can do it! Looking forward to your response. You are the true leftist, after all. Your opinion is the correct one amongst us fools. Please forgive us for not seeing your enlightened ways.
You’d think Platner was Trump himself, from all these supposed “leftists” in the thread. They are the reason the party can’t move left. They all sit home on Election Day waiting for Jesus himself to be on the ballot.
How about when Kamala Harris ran and instead of voting for her, a bunch of leftists sat home and let Donald Trump win instead to teach her a lesson. I don’t really see a difference here. Leftists demand moral purity and then end up with an actual Nazi instead being elected.
In that case, it was because Kamala walked the line on Israel. In this case, Platner has actually taken the side you want on Israel and you STILL find a gripe about the Democrat to let MAGA win the election over.
Also, you need to understand that people are capable of making mistakes and growing from them. Did it not occur to you that Platner likely did not even know the context of the tattoo when he got it? It was just a bunch of marines bonding and doing a group thing. He went along with it and probably didn’t understand the historical context. I’m willing to bet 99% of the people complaining about his tattoo would not have understood the historical context if they saw the tattoo two years ago. But, now that the DNC did opposition research you’re all suddenly in the know. Well, the opposition research had its chance to dissuade voters in the primary and it failed. Making one mistake in your life doesn’t disqualify you from ever participating in anything ever again. Get the fuck over it. At this point, the primary is over and you have two candidates to choose from.
You people have no plan. Your solution is what? Don’t vote or vote for Susan Collins? Either way, you’re supporting the Republicans and therefore supporting Trump. You are therefore my enemy.
Leftists demand moral purity and then end up with an actual Nazi instead being elected.
You’re voting for the guy who had an SS tattoo. Pot, meet Kettle.
How about when Kamala Harris ran and instead of voting for her, a bunch of leftists sat home and let Donald Trump win instead to teach her a lesson.
A lesson libs like you clearly have yet to learn. Kamala alienated parts of what should have been her electoral coalition, because she wouldn’t distance herself from Biden who was deeply unpopular, wouldn’t take a proper stance on Palestine, and adopted Republican border policy. Running to the right doesn’t work.
To platner’s credit, he’s not doing that (ot at least hasn’t yet. We’ll see what he does if in office), but he’s a controversial candidate for good reason.
Also, you need to understand that people are capable of making mistakes and growing from them. Making one mistake in your life doesn’t disqualify you from ever participating in anything ever again. Get the fuck over it.
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. I don’t think anyone is beyond redemption. I’m a prison abolitionist ffs. But if you can’t see why the SS tattoo might give people pause, you’re just not taking a sober look at the situation.
You people have no plan. Your solution is what? Don’t vote or vote for Susan Collins? Either way, you’re supporting the Republicans and therefore supporting Trump. You are therefore my enemy.
Ok, take a deep breath, and chill out. I am a stranger on the internet. You don’t know me, and you don’t know if I voted, or who for. Voting is a tool. It is one singular means of political engagement. Not every election is the most important election ever, and whether someone chooses to vote for someone like Kamala, or Platner, is up to them. Those people aren’t necessarily your enemies, they’re people who’s conscience told them to take a position different from yours.
Unionize your workplace, if it’s already unionized, get involved. Canvas for a ballot measure, or attend a city council meeting. Find a mutual aid network in your area and hand out food or hygine kits to the homeless. Opposing Trump is sometimes about voting, but it’s also about building something beyond the systems which allowed him to come to power in the first place.
I like unions, but not uncritically. The AFL-CIO suppressed left-wing labor movements in Latin America during the Cold War, something I find reprehensible.
You seem to have an awfully black-and-white view of the world.
Not every election is the most important election ever, and whether someone chooses to vote for someone like Kamala, or Platner, is up to them.
This is privilege. Meanwhile POC here, we’re being dragged back to the 1950s under Trump I and II. Similar for women, LGBT, etc. He’s speedrunning imperialism. Stopping the MAGA agenda should be paramount. I’m not thrilled about Platner but I am willing to take a chance with him over the perpetually concerned Collins who aligns MAGA when it counts. Unionizing, attending city council meetings, advocating for prison reform, etc. should accompany voting, not replace it.
Yeah, so I’m trans, and we too are under serious threat, not just from MAGA. It’s not privileged to recognize that mainstream Democratic party opinion is that trans people should be thrown under the bus to appease some mythical centrist voter.
Consider the inverse, that it is a priviledged position to be able to hem and haw over every election in a rapidly decaying pseudo democracy, as opposed to doing the very difficult work of workplace, tenant, or mutual aid organizing to secure immediate material necessities.
Yeah, so I’m trans, and we too are under serious threat, not just from MAGA. It’s not privileged to recognize that mainstream Democratic party opinion is that trans people should be thrown under the bus to appease some mythical centrist voter.
Welcome to the transactional real world. If you make it a point to not show up, politicians will not waste political capital on you.
Also, allies are imperfect. It is only the left that has trouble seeing this and intentionally conflate those who don’t ace purity tests with the opposition. Meanwhile, those before us who got us rights we take for granted had to whip up support with much less desirable people who held much more regressive views.
Consider the inverse, that it is a priviledged position to be able to hem and haw over every election in a rapidly decaying pseudo democracy, as opposed to doing the very difficult work of workplace, tenant, or mutual aid organizing to secure immediate material necessities.
Oh stop. Voting is a very simple process you’re distorting into some sort of crisis. Also voting and being active in one’s community is not an either/or.
Yeah, tell me all about how the guy who wants to destroy MAGA and fight for health care, is worse than the corrupt, treasonous, racist, pedophiles we have now. At least this one has a D next to his name, and adds to a Democratic majority in the Senate. I’m tired of being lied to by Susan Collins and her ilk.
Idk man, joining the military because you want an adventure and to kill some people + having had a swastika on his chest (that he’s covered up, of course)… doesn’t paint a great picture.
You’re 95% of the way there!
Yes, Platner went on 5 combat tours, some as a PMC, and has pontificated on how much he loved it.
The tattoo was a Nazi tattoo, but not a swastika. It was a skull.
I’ll add: Americans focus almost completely on domestic policy and ignore the international component. People like Planter are more of the same when their international policy is considered: a strong military that perpetuates US imperialism, a system that robs Americans of their funds and funnels it into bombs, war crimes, and genocide, all the while fostering resentment for the US internationally. We need our leaders to act as stalwart guardians of peace, not agitators and oil barons and gun-toting killer ideological missionaries.
It’s time to consider candidates that are not DNC dogs. Mamdani, Platner, AOC are all beholden to the imperialist, hyper-capitalist DNC; nothing in the US will meaningfully change when EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE is still taking bribes from corporations as the DNC does and will always do.
You should look into the way the DNC slandered and sabotaged Maureen Gallindo’s race for the Texas House. It’s eye-opening.
NOTHING WILL MEANINGFULLY CHANGE UNDER THE DNC AND RNC. THEY ARE PARTNERS IN CRIME WHO SERVE THE EPSTEIN CLASS AND CORPORATIONS ALONE AND USE IDPOL TO KEEP US DIVIDED. DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU INTO THINKING THAT IS NOT THE CASE. MEANINGFUL CHANGE MUST COME FROM OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM.
Okay but who does my sister’s in-laws in Maine vote for in the general election? They’re republicans mind you. Speak to them and about their tree farm now. You have a lot of words, use em. I’m sure you can whip them into shape to skip voting republican and skip voting for this guy and get them to vote for the real change. I’m rooting for you, you can do it! Looking forward to your response. You are the true leftist, after all. Your opinion is the correct one amongst us fools. Please forgive us for not seeing your enlightened ways.
You’d think Platner was Trump himself, from all these supposed “leftists” in the thread. They are the reason the party can’t move left. They all sit home on Election Day waiting for Jesus himself to be on the ballot.
If you think that a 3 tour (or was it 4?) Blackwater merc is going to move you left, you are the reason why the party isn’t moving left.
Look, I get the point you’re trying to make, but I can’t begrudge anyone for being skeptical of the guy who got a Nazi SS Tattoo.
Maybe pick a different example next time?
How about when Kamala Harris ran and instead of voting for her, a bunch of leftists sat home and let Donald Trump win instead to teach her a lesson. I don’t really see a difference here. Leftists demand moral purity and then end up with an actual Nazi instead being elected.
In that case, it was because Kamala walked the line on Israel. In this case, Platner has actually taken the side you want on Israel and you STILL find a gripe about the Democrat to let MAGA win the election over.
Also, you need to understand that people are capable of making mistakes and growing from them. Did it not occur to you that Platner likely did not even know the context of the tattoo when he got it? It was just a bunch of marines bonding and doing a group thing. He went along with it and probably didn’t understand the historical context. I’m willing to bet 99% of the people complaining about his tattoo would not have understood the historical context if they saw the tattoo two years ago. But, now that the DNC did opposition research you’re all suddenly in the know. Well, the opposition research had its chance to dissuade voters in the primary and it failed. Making one mistake in your life doesn’t disqualify you from ever participating in anything ever again. Get the fuck over it. At this point, the primary is over and you have two candidates to choose from.
You people have no plan. Your solution is what? Don’t vote or vote for Susan Collins? Either way, you’re supporting the Republicans and therefore supporting Trump. You are therefore my enemy.
You’re voting for the guy who had an SS tattoo. Pot, meet Kettle.
A lesson libs like you clearly have yet to learn. Kamala alienated parts of what should have been her electoral coalition, because she wouldn’t distance herself from Biden who was deeply unpopular, wouldn’t take a proper stance on Palestine, and adopted Republican border policy. Running to the right doesn’t work.
To platner’s credit, he’s not doing that (ot at least hasn’t yet. We’ll see what he does if in office), but he’s a controversial candidate for good reason.
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. I don’t think anyone is beyond redemption. I’m a prison abolitionist ffs. But if you can’t see why the SS tattoo might give people pause, you’re just not taking a sober look at the situation.
Ok, take a deep breath, and chill out. I am a stranger on the internet. You don’t know me, and you don’t know if I voted, or who for. Voting is a tool. It is one singular means of political engagement. Not every election is the most important election ever, and whether someone chooses to vote for someone like Kamala, or Platner, is up to them. Those people aren’t necessarily your enemies, they’re people who’s conscience told them to take a position different from yours.
Unionize your workplace, if it’s already unionized, get involved. Canvas for a ballot measure, or attend a city council meeting. Find a mutual aid network in your area and hand out food or hygine kits to the homeless. Opposing Trump is sometimes about voting, but it’s also about building something beyond the systems which allowed him to come to power in the first place.
You like unions? So does Platner. He was found by the AFL-CIO to run for Senate. If you like unions, Platner is your guy.
Otherwise, you can help Collins get elected.
I like unions, but not uncritically. The AFL-CIO suppressed left-wing labor movements in Latin America during the Cold War, something I find reprehensible.
You seem to have an awfully black-and-white view of the world.
The election is black and white, you either support the anti-Trump candidate or you help the Trump candidate win with your comments and actions.
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This is privilege. Meanwhile POC here, we’re being dragged back to the 1950s under Trump I and II. Similar for women, LGBT, etc. He’s speedrunning imperialism. Stopping the MAGA agenda should be paramount. I’m not thrilled about Platner but I am willing to take a chance with him over the perpetually concerned Collins who aligns MAGA when it counts. Unionizing, attending city council meetings, advocating for prison reform, etc. should accompany voting, not replace it.
Yeah, so I’m trans, and we too are under serious threat, not just from MAGA. It’s not privileged to recognize that mainstream Democratic party opinion is that trans people should be thrown under the bus to appease some mythical centrist voter.
Consider the inverse, that it is a priviledged position to be able to hem and haw over every election in a rapidly decaying pseudo democracy, as opposed to doing the very difficult work of workplace, tenant, or mutual aid organizing to secure immediate material necessities.
Welcome to the transactional real world. If you make it a point to not show up, politicians will not waste political capital on you. Also, allies are imperfect. It is only the left that has trouble seeing this and intentionally conflate those who don’t ace purity tests with the opposition. Meanwhile, those before us who got us rights we take for granted had to whip up support with much less desirable people who held much more regressive views.
Oh stop. Voting is a very simple process you’re distorting into some sort of crisis. Also voting and being active in one’s community is not an either/or.