Graham Platner and the Politics of Accusation
A candidate in Maine drops out, and hypocrises abound.
Maine Democrat Graham Platner last night ran a video address staunchly denying a recent flurry of sexual assault accusations, while still dropping out of the race for the U.S. Senate “for the good of the movement.” Platner said farewell to a campaign that he said “went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world” — the history of the world, folks — and won. But now, that same “entrenched system” will not let his run continue, not “if it’s me.” And so, for now, adieu, but like Frankie and Sid before him, at least Graham did it his way:
The ensuing furor is causing unprecedented cancel culture paralysis. To a demographic that’s long used a vaporize-by-numbers calculation for shunning and ruining the lives and careers of the impure, which litmus test takes precedence? Is it more important to be anti-Trump, pro-Palestine, or a feminist ally? Will the majority of Democrats (Platner won 71% of the primary vote) suddenly rediscover a love for due process in the case of Platner, when they said nada in the cases of Eric Swalwell and God knows how many others? Will the party establishment finally face revolt for using dirty tricks to eliminate intramural competition, after voters kept mum while primary challengers were ratfucked away to make way for Joe Biden? Let’s find out!
What a hilarious mess the Democrats have created for themselves. The party has spent the Trump era building a culture of guilt by accusation. Now one group of uncompromising purity-testers will duke it out with another, in a battle pitting moralizing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his strategist Morris Katz against imperious insiders like Chuck Schumer and #MeToo influencer like Cheyenne Hunt. Is there a way for everyone to lose? As the great Terrell Owens said, “Getcha popcorn ready”:
