The Graham Platner controversies.

I'm Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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Today’s read: 14 minutes.

Trump isn’t the only one to blame.

Last Friday, we published a subscribers-only edition from Executive Editor Isaac Saul arguing that, nine months into the second Trump administration, things are actually pretty bad (paywall removed). Tomorrow, in another subscribers-only edition, we’re running a response to that piece. Associate Editor Audrey Moorehead will be making the case that the current political climate is a direct result of the cultural and institutional dominance of the left. 

Quick hits.

1. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the two reached an agreement to lower U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for a promise from China to crack down on the trade of chemicals used to make fentanyl, ease exports of rare earth materials, and buy U.S. soybeans. (The meeting) Shortly before the meeting, President Trump ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis,” alluding to other countries’ nuclear programs. (The order)
2. The Federal Reserve voted to lower the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75%–4%, the second rate cut in 2025. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the current outlook for employment and inflation appears similar to September, when the central bank voted to cut rates for the first time. (The cut)
3. More than 30 deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic as rescue operations continue. The hurricane was downgraded to a Category 2 storm and is moving toward Bermuda as of Thursday morning. (The latest)
4. The Senate voted 50–46 to advance a resolution to repeal tariffs on Canadian imports imposed by President Trump using emergency powers. Four Republicans joined all voting Democrats in support of the measure, which now moves to the House. (The vote)
5. A police raid targeting a drug gang in neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, resulted in at least 119 deaths. The raid sparked protests at the state’s government headquarters. (The raid)

Today’s topic.

The Graham Platner controversies. In recent weeks, Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, has faced controversy for some prior statements and actions uncovered by news outlets. Platner is running against Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and several other candidates for the Democratic nomination; the winner is expected to face Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the general election. 

Back up: Platner launched his bid for Senate in August, running on a platform of campaign-finance reform, Medicare for All, and breaking up large corporations, among other progressive priorities. Before his entry into politics, he was deployed three times to Iraq with the Marine Corps then served in Afghanistan with the Maryland Army National Guard. According to his campaign website, he “struggled with undiagnosed PTSD and physical challenges” from his service and moved back to Maine to seek treatment. He subsequently began work as an oyster farmer in his hometown. 

Platner has risen to national prominence for his explicit challenges to the Democratic Party’s establishment, drawing comparisons to ascendant progressive figures like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has also endorsed Platner.

However, controversy has followed his newfound spotlight. On October 16, CNN published comments Platner made on Reddit years prior. In the most notable posts, Platner calls himself “a vegetable growing, psychedelics taking socialist” and a “communist,” says all police officers “are bastards,” and suggests white people are “racist or stupid.” Platner disavowed the posts, telling CNN, “That was very much me fucking around [on] the internet… I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really.”

On October 17, The Washington Post published additional deleted Reddit posts from 2013, in which Platner appeared to downplay concerns about sexual assault in the military. Platner apologized for the posts, which he said he made in a difficult time in his life after his fourth deployment. “I don’t want people to judge me off the dumbest thing I said on the internet 12 years ago,” he said. The Advocate also uncovered posts in which he used homophobic slurs and the term “gay” as an insult, which Platner apologized for, saying, “Today I find that stuff abhorrent.” 

Separately, recent reporting revealed that Platner had a skull symbol tattooed on his chest that is associated with Nazi police. He says he got the tattoo during a night of drinking in 2007 while in Croatia on leave from the military, claiming not to know the symbol’s association. Platner covered the tattoo up after its existence was made public (though a former acquaintance claimed Platner had known about the Nazi association for years). 

The multiple revelations have disrupted Platner’s campaign. His political director, Genevieve McDonald, resigned over the Reddit posts, and Kevin Brown, a longtime friend, stepped down as campaign manager just days after assuming the role (Brown said he recently found out his wife is pregnant, and he would not be able to dedicate sufficient time to the race). Platner has also escalated his criticisms of the Democratic Party, telling attendees at a town hall event on Monday that the party is trying to “destroy” his life. 

Today, we’ll explore the controversies surrounding Platner, with views from the right, left, and Maine writers. Then, my take.

What the right is saying.

• The right criticizes Platner’s defenders, calling out a double standard.
• Some say Platner’s candidacy is based on a fraudulent image. 

In The American Conservative, W. James Antle III wrote about “Platner, partisanship, and problems.”

“Maybe none of it is disqualifying anymore. Platner is a ‘candidate with a regrettable tattoo,’ is how one prominent progressive commentator put it. ‘Censorious, hall monitor liberalism that refuses to accept growth in people’ is bad for Democrats, opined another,” Antle said. “A University of New Hampshire poll that was partially conducted after all the negative news broke shows Platner beating Janet Mills, the incumbent governor and Chuck Schumer’s choice for Senate, in a Democratic primary by 34 points.”

“It is impossible to imagine this kind of grace being extended to Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk, a young Donald Trump campaign worker, or really anyone a millimeter to the right of, well, Susan Collins, even in a limited ‘What a shame that a promising person fell apart once carefully vetted’ sort of way. Certainly not in an unabashed, ‘We all make mistakes when we’re young and this guy has interesting stuff to say about war, the working class, and wokeness’ manner,” Antle wrote. “Whether [Platner’s Reddit history] represents genuine bigotry or bizarre, anti-woke contrarian horseplay, it isn’t healthy and it isn’t bad coalition politics to say so, no matter how low-level those involved might be.”

In The Daily Caller, Amber Duke criticized Platner’s “contrived ‘working-class’ act.”

“Platner is described by left-wing activist and podcaster Emma Vigeland as ‘authentic[ally] working class.’ Except Platner’s dad was a lawyer with his own private practice who was reprimanded for professional misconduct, ran for local office and as a candidate supported painting crosswalks in LGBT pride colors, and donated $50,000 to Democrats over the years,” Duke said. “His mother owns two restaurants and a gift shop, helped fund Platner’s oyster business, and is apparently his biggest customer. His grandfather was a renowned modernist architect who graduated from Cornell. His aunt runs the children’s care facility at Yale New Haven Hospital. Platner went to private high school.”

“Is this a working-class phenom or the son of wealthy left-wing activists who spent his life struggling with his identity before finally creating a false one?” Duke asked. “Platner’s uncovered Reddit posts do even more to deny him credibility with real working-class folks. He calls all police ‘bastards,’ describes himself as a communist and an Antifa supersoldier, and says that white rural Americans are stupid and racist… Color me skeptical that Platner has [the working-class’] best interests at heart.”

What the left is saying.

• The left is mixed on the controversies, with some arguing Democrats should continue to pursue energizing candidates, even if they’re flawed.
• Others say Platner’s appeal won’t extend beyond the Democratic primary.

In The New Republic, Alex Shephard said “Graham Platner is a disaster. Democrats need more candidates like him.”

“I don’t think anyone could take a look at the state of the Democratic Party or, relatedly, the larger Democratic brand and conclude that the party’s ‘kingmaking’ is going well,” Shephard wrote. “Platner generated a ton of attention online by seeming like the kind of candidate Democrats need — an authentic person with a knack for communicating a populist message in the social media era. It turned out he was a dud. That is going to happen sometimes when backing inexperienced candidates, perhaps more often than when backing experienced ones.”

“Democratic leaders and incumbents are, on the whole, so old and uninspiring that anyone with a bit of charisma will generate the kind of hype that Platner did. He didn’t work out, and now Democratic Party leaders can boast that they got this one right. But they got it right by doing the same thing they always do — the same thing that has left the party powerless and in its weakest position in years,” Shephard said. “The Democrats need excitement and youth. That requires taking some risks, which means elevating more candidates like Platner — so many of them that none of them carries the burden of being the party’s fresh-faced future.”

In The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait wrote about “what progressives keep getting wrong.”

“Platner is toughing it out, as scandal-plagued candidates almost always do. What’s surprising is that his supporters appear completely unfazed by the bad-news avalanche. Rather than abandon his candidacy, or even back off slightly until they’ve seen the end of the damaging stories, they have accepted his apologies and backed him to the hilt,” Chait said. “Indeed, progressives have treated the Platner revelations as a scandal revealing more about the perfidy of his enemies than about him.”

“The left’s continued embrace of Platner has a certain logic. Progressives have a theory of political change for which he remains, despite his massive and ever-expanding political baggage, the ideal prototype. That is, rather than abandon unpopular positions, Democrats should court voters by nominating more candidates who look like, talk like, and ideally even are working-class people,” Chait wrote. “But the reason Democrats are underdogs in this race is that its incumbent, Susan Collins, has won election after election by cultivating a reputation as a moderate, which illustrates the value of ideological moderation. So far, Platner is making little effort to do this.”

What Maine writers are saying.

• Some Maine writers say Platner’s scandals are disqualifying.
• Others argue Platner should stay in the race and make his case to voters. 

In The Portland Press Herald, Steve Collins said Platner should “bow out.”

“The trouble is, there’s nothing special about Platner. I’m willing to believe he’s a decent guy today. But I can’t lose sight of the fact that he’s never won an election, never earned a college degree, never achieved any distinction except as an enthusiastic organizer for socialist and other left-wing causes,” Collins wrote. “Platner’s biggest achievement in life thus far is that he has persuaded a large number of Democrats that he ought to be their Senate candidate in Maine. I’m flummoxed at the notion that his ability to sway activists is extraordinary enough for them to overlook a growing number of shocking revelations.”

“With Platner as their candidate, Democrats won’t just lose big to Collins. They’ll hand Trump’s team the opportunity to smear other candidates with the charge that Democrats are cop haters who despise rural voters,” Collins said. “Platner risks spoiling races around the country for candidates who really do possess the experience, education and eloquence to help stop the MAGA agenda. He should stick to oyster farming and let [Janet] Mills focus on what she’s good at: winning elections.”

In CentralMaine.com, state Rep. Valli Geiger (D) wrote “Graham Platner deserves grace.”

“I worked at the Togus VA for six years as a nurse and talked with hundreds of veterans. Unless you are a psychopath, if you have seen combat, you likely returned to the U.S. with physical and moral injuries,” Geiger said. “My own nephew was a Marine. He returned from service whole in body but with moral injury… My nephew, like Graham Platner, sought mental health treatment at the VA and is healing with their support and the support of a loving family. Graham Platner is a success story. He returned, lost and struggling, but found his way back.”

“Platner is a reformer and reformers are angry. He understands that the true enemy of the American people is the oligarchy, the oil men who keep us going to war and burning fossil fuels as the planet heats up, the weapons industry that profits from war and uses young idealistic men as cannon fodder and the politicians who serve them,” Geiger wrote. “[Platner’s] opponents intend to silence a man who would disrupt the status quo, fight for a better life for those who work for a living, who would demand that the obscene profits of the few are shared by all who made those profits possible.”

My take.

Reminder: “My take” is a section where I give myself space to share my own personal opinion. If you have feedback, criticism or compliments, don't unsubscribe. Write in by replying to this email, or leave a comment.

• Graham Platner seemed like a dream candidate for Democrats, and I get why they want to extend him grace.
• At the same time, enforcing a line in the sand gives the party some moral high ground.
• I think “extending grace” and “taking the moral high ground” are both defensible principles in Platner’s case.

Executive Editor Isaac Saul: In a lot of ways, I understand why Democrats might have a hard time letting Platner go.

Democrats’ 2024 election post-mortem 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?

Then, in walks Graham Platner. Out of the blue, the party is gifted a tough-looking, burly ex-Marine who talks like the offspring of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Unlike Ocasio-Cortez or someone like Zohran Mamdani, whom Platner is ideologically aligned with, he fits a demographical mold that often performs better with Republican and moderate voters that Democrats will need to win in Maine: He’s a white, hairy, ex-military working 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, and 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, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or John Fetterman. They just feel genuinely authentic. You get the sense, regardless of their political views, 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 the heavens.

At least, that’s what it felt like.

The truth, as we have learned 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 harbormaster in Sullivan, Maine, and sits on the town planning board; both positions are appointed. He has 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 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 100 most powerful elected officials in the country.

To be clear: I actually think Congress could use a few more people with normie resumes, but not if those resumes are loaded down with baggage. We aren’t even close to the general election yet, where Platner would run against a Republican whom the GOP will be trying desperately to protect, and this is what we know after a few months in the “friendly” part of the race. 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 Jay 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 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 “Censorious, hall monitor liberalism that refuses to accept growth in people.” 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 more: He admitted that he was wrong, explained his state of mind (in a non-defensive way), and promised to try to do better. It was as good 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 the Nazis, but others said 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. What are we even supposed to make of this? In my mind, 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 Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA) (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, Sen. Susan Collins (R) 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, a well funded establishment pick with 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 leading the Democratic Party I’m not entirely sure what I’d do.

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Your questions, answered.

Q: Why do you continue to categorize the Washington Post editorial board under “the left”? 

— Several Tangle readers

Tangle: This question most recently came in after we included the Washington Post editorial board under “What the left is saying” in our coverage of President Trump’s East Wing demolition, but we’ve fielded similar inquiries for some time now. 

It’s an understandable inquiry given the board’s recent shake-up. Almost exactly a year ago, Post owner Jeff Bezos reportedly stepped in to halt an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president. Shortly thereafter, the paper’s publisher announced it would forgo presidential endorsements in the future, prompting a number of editorial board members to step down. 

Then, in February, Bezos announced a shift in focus for the opinion section, writing to Post staffers, “We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” That announcement prompted Opinions Editor David Shipley’s resignation, and one month later, liberal columnist Ruth Marcus also resigned, claiming that the paper had killed her piece criticizing Bezos’s decision. More changes have followed — most notably, the paper hiring three conservative columnists earlier this month. 

This sequence of events paints a picture of a news outlet moving decidedly to the right, and their defense of President Trump’s ballroom project could be seen as the ultimate indicator of that transition. However, we’re not ready to categorize them as “on the right” just yet. 

Their recent editorials displayed less of a rightward slant and more of a centrist shift toward criticizing the left and right. For instance, their piece on mid-decade gerrymandering efforts criticized Republicans and Democrats for engaging in counterproductive “partisan warfare” — several other recent pieces take a similar approach. 

Many of their other articles make conventional center-left arguments, like this piece denouncing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s comments about Jimmy Kimmel or this one supporting a federal judge’s decision to block the National Guard deployment to Portland. With some exceptions (welcoming Javier Milei’s midterm success in Argentina), most of their editorials stake out positions between the center and center-left, almost akin to an editorial board like Bloomberg’s, which is still considered “left” but is much closer to the center. 

Ratings from media bias evaluators back up our assessment. AllSides rates the board as “lean left,” AdFontes rates it as “skews left,” and Media Bias/Fact Check rates it as “left-center.” So for now, we still think The Post’s editorial board fits best under “the left.” All of this, obviously, is indicative of the messiness of trying to label news outlets or journalists with complex views. We’ll continue to use our discretion; if the board starts to make right-leaning or left-critical arguments more regularly, we’ll recategorize them.

Want to have a question answered in the newsletter? You can reply to this email (it goes straight to our inbox) or fill out this form.

Under the radar.

On Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) called a special legislative session to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, which would make it the fourth Republican-controlled state to do so in the middle of the redistricting cycle (after Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina). Republicans currently control seven of nine districts in the state, but new maps could be drawn to give the party control of all nine. However, Republican lawmakers are divided on the move. The session will be held as several other states controlled by both Republicans and Democrats pursue or consider mid-decade redistricting to boost the controlling party’s representation in the U.S. House. NBC News has the story.

Numbers.

• 222. The number of days until Maine’s Senate primary on June 9, 2026. 
• 41. Graham Platner’s age.
• 72. Maine Sen. Susan Collins’s (R) age.
• 77. Maine Gov. Janet Mills’s (D) age. 
• 8.6%. Collins’s margin of victory in Maine’s 2020 Senate election.
• 13.3%. Mills’s margin of victory in Maine’s 2022 gubernatorial election. 
• $3,248,760. Contributions to Platner's campaign to date.
• 58% and 24%. The percentage of likely Maine primary voters who say they support Platner and Mills, respectively, according to a University of New Hampshire poll released on October 23.
• 36% and 41%. The percentage of likely Maine primary voters who say they support Platner and Mills, respectively, according to a SoCal Strategies poll conducted between October 21 and 25. 

The extras.

• One year ago today we covered Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
• The most clicked link in yesterday’s newsletter was Isaac’s interview with Dick and Emily of This American Life fame.
• Nothing to do with politics: A monkey got loose in a Texas Spirit Halloween store.
• Yesterday’s survey: 1,812 readers responded to our survey on sports betting with 45% saying it should be legal with restrictions. “This is the land of freedom. If people want to risk funds they could otherwise invest, let them,” one respondent said. “I hardly think this is worthy of coverage considering everything we’re facing as a nation,” said another.

Have a nice day.

Sequoia Park Zoo is California’s oldest zoo, but it’s still experiencing some “firsts.” Earlier this month, an employee discovered a wild black bear interacting with the zoo’s black bears through their enclosure’s fencing. The wild bear went “nose-to-nose” with its counterparts, making what zoo staff called “introductions.” The entire episode was friendly, and the bear was eventually drawn out of the zoo and sent back into the wild. How exactly the bear managed to enter the zoo, which is surrounded by an eight-foot-tall fence topped with barbed wire, remains a mystery. The New York Times has the story.