The Democrats Finally Throw Platner Under the Bus

They overlooked the Nazi tattoo, the bizarre fantasies about port-a-potties, the rough and “unsettling” behavior with women, but now, a scandal has broken that could spell the end of Graham Platner’s short-lived political career, and his campaign to unseat Susan Collins in Maine.

Jenny Racicot had held back in her accusations against Graham Platner when she spoke with the New York Times. She didn’t want to derail his entire political campaign, being that she’s a progressive and all. But something obviously changed.

She decided to come clean with a story in Politico and an interview on Jake Tapper's show.

Her story backs up what others have said about him, but hers includes sexual assault, or what she thinks of as rape. She resisted but ultimately went along with “it” out of fear. He was drunk. She had told him not to come over, but he ignored her and eventually forced himself upon her.

At first, Platner wasn’t sure whether to drop out. But Racicot’s public testimony has forced even the Democratic Socialists to urge him to drop out.

From Zohran Mamdani:

To Bernie Sanders:

The rest of the Centrist Democrats had already urged him to do so:

Racicot doesn’t appear to have any agenda here beyond her own ethics as a progressive woman when it comes to sexual assault or harassment. But the question still hangs in the air. What made her change her mind? Who were the invisible hands behind the scenes, encouraging her to go public in time for Platner to vacate the nomination and allow for someone else to take on Susan Collins?

Remember Cheyenne Hunt? I wrote about her in the story of how Eric Swalwell was taken out from the Left before he won the nomination, and the Republicans dropped their damaging oppo. She’s a Gen-Z progressive who works with a network of other women to expose the sex pests, wherever they may find them.

From the Politico story:

After the publication of the Times report, Racicot connected with Cheyenne Hunt, a progressive Democratic lawyer who founded the nonprofit Reckoning Action, which launched earlier this year to fight misogyny. Hunt, who had endorsed Platner last fall but renounced her support for him after the Times article, previously supported women who came forward with assault allegations against former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), earlier this year, prompting him to drop out of the California gubernatorial primary and resign from Congress. NBC News previously reported that Hunt was working with multiple women who had past relationships with Platner. Hunt connected POLITICO to Racicot.

“Reckoning Action exists to confront misogyny in American life in all forms and manifestations, including in bad actors being elected to positions of power,” Hunt said. “We became aware of allegations before ever being connected with Jenny, and have been in contact with multiple women with really troubling allegations, and it just became clear that this is someone who’s not fit to hold public office.”

I don’t know if Cheyenne Hunt is really the one driving this behind the scenes or if she is being “guided” by someone much higher on the food chain. Her militant action, alongside her immature level of certainty that she knows who is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, is terrifying and will be a big problem for the Democrats, whether they realize it or not.

Here is what I know as a former Centrist Democrat. They don’t like the rise of the DSA, which is why Neera Tanden was fully on board with dumping Platner and perhaps using that to throw shade at the anti-establishment or DSA candidates:

On the other hand, their vetting allowed Eric Swalwell to hide in the shadows for years. But both Swalwell and Platner represented two potential high-profile and humiliating losses for the Democrats, which is why it’s hard to believe all of this is being spearheaded by a Gen-Z activist like Hunt.

Then again, Gen-Z won’t just go along with the Democrats or “vote blue no matter who,” and that has created chaos within the party. They aren’t used to being transparent or honest. They’re used to saying “shut up and sit down” and have everyone comply.

But perhaps Sean Spicer has it right:

And Tom Cotton:

As of today, Platner is not dropping out until he chooses a replacement:

Does this blunt the DSA’s rise ahead of the midterms? Does it embolden the Centrists to take the party back? Does getting rid of the guy with the Nazi tattoo give them the upper hand to call the Right Nazis again without feeling like hypocrites? Who knows. But one thing is for sure: they’re still undone by Me Too. That tells you all you need to know about where the power lies in the Democratic Party: with women.

These are their rules, by the way. On the Right, they mostly plow through accusations like this. But not on the Left. This is the bed they made for themselves. They’ll have to lie in it. Or lie about it.