Graham Platner’s downfall is a warning: Don’t vote – Latest News
He rose on grievance — and he fell on grievance.
Graham Platner’s wild journey via national politics began as a charmed fairy story and led to a screeching halt Wednesday night time, stopped by a pile-up of allegations starting from unsavory to probably prison.
In an 11-minute video posted to X, Graham Platner introduced he was dropping out of the Senate race — and blamed everybody however himself. by way of REUTERS
You would hope this could be a lesson for Democrats: You can’t construct a political profession on vibes alone.
His fall got here two days after ex-girlfriend Jenny Recicot instructed Politico that, in 2021, Platner got here to her home and compelled her to have intercourse in opposition to her will.
Following that declare, many of the high-profile names — together with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer — who had backed him for the US Senate race in Maine disavowed Platner, urging the Democrat to drop out.
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In an 11-minute resignation video posted on X, the 41-year-old was defiant, narcissistic and conspiratorial as he raged in opposition to the Democrat machine.
First, he denied Racicot’s explosive declare: “I just want to make it clear this is all false,” he mentioned in his deep Batman voice. “The things that have been claimed did not happen. It’s not real.”
Before dropping out of the Senate race in Maine, Platner was championed by Bernie Sanders and different high-profile Democrat politicians Getty Images
Then he launched into a rant blaming the institution for utilizing claims in opposition to him “as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign.”
“We’re not doing it because of the allegations,” he mentioned of dropping out. “We’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”
He’s a man in denial. The buildings had been taken away as a result of of the allegations in opposition to him, and solely as a result of of them. Yes, oppo analysis is a actual factor — however, on this case, it wasn’t even obligatory.
“We won,” Platner mentioned of the Dem major. “Now they are not going to let us have it. Not if it’s me.”
Is this a grizzled Maine man or a spoiled toddler whose toy was confiscated?
Jenny Racicot accused Graham Platner of raping her in 2021. He has denied the allegations, however they steamrolled his assist within the Democrat get together. CNN
The left-wing progressive believes he is one other sufferer of large politics — the type he was making an attempt to defeat.
But he obtained suckered into considering that he was the chief of surging left-wing populism. In actuality, he was merely an actor forged to guide it.
Indeed, Platner’s rise was like a film.
With no political expertise, he was plucked from relative obscurity by Dan Moraff and Leanne Fan, Ivy League-educated scouts searching for the progressive motion’s new face like they had been working a small-town model search.
Platner, a fight veteran, was residing in Sullivan, Maine, surviving principally off authorities advantages and dabbling in oyster farming (his mom was his solely buyer). Taken together with his left-wing politics and blue-collar costume, they known as Morris Katz, the younger operative behind New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s marketing campaign.
Former Democratic candidate for US Senate Graham Platner and his spouse Amy Gertner at a rally. Platner was gassed up by the consultants who instructed him he was a star within the making. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
The New York Times reported that the trio gassed Platner up, telling him that “he was ‘the one,’ a ‘hero of the movement’ and ‘a historical figure’ who could be ‘leading a revolution,’ according to half a dozen sources.”
They rolled him out to probably the most outstanding place within the showroom with out correctly wanting below the hood.
Platner rapidly rose to national prominence due to constructive press and a fastidiously crafted po-origin story of a hardscrabble life — regardless of having attended posh prep faculty Hotchkiss and shopping for his home with a $200,000 loan from his lawyer father.
The newcomer drew huge assist from family names together with New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and California Rep. Ro Khanna. The “Pod Save America” bros fawned throughout him.
“As Mr. Platner’s star rose through the winter and early spring,” the Times wrote Wednesday, “Mr. Katz was privately promoting him as a future presidential candidate for as soon as 2028, if he won his senate bid.”
Platner spoke to enthusiastic supporters during a major election night time watch get together. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
All these excitable supporters ignored masses of pink flags. The Totenkopf Nazi tattoo. The revelations — from his own spouse — that the married veteran had been sexting different ladies. The allegations from one other ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fiefeld, that he had locked her in a room and bodily pulled her out of a car.
Fifield is a Republican, so of course her declare was dismissed.
Dems clearly felt emboldened as skeleton after skeleton fell out of his closet and his supporters didn’t appear to care.
But the wheels got here off with Racicot, an avowed leftie who mentioned she agreed together with his politics however got here ahead as a result of of his character.
Platner ought to blame his marketing campaign’s implosion on his own unhealthy conduct and shopping for into the oldsters who offered him a fantasy.
Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, together with Morris Katz (not pictured), plucked Platner from obscurity to be the face of the rebel left. @danielezramoraff/Instagram
Meanwhile, it’s unclear if people in Maine are as bereft because the rebel national lefties who pushed him as their large hope at taking back the Senate.
The morning after the video broke, the Bangor Daily News’ most learn story was not about Platner — however concerning the return of feminine hummingbirds to feeders.
