New Media Flavor of the Day….Graham Platner

Jonathan Last: “Platner is new. He’s a post-Trump figure. He does not carry scars from a decade of Trump wars. Which means that he never had to make opposition to Trump and Trumpism central to his political identity. He can start from scratch in establishing who he is and what he represents.”

“It also means that he can plausibly position himself as concerned with only the future and not the past.”

“One of my theories about 2028 is that Democrats will succeed not by doing what I want them to do—reform government to make it harder for an authoritarian takeover—but by pushing all of the pro-democracy stuff I hold dear to the side and focusing on economic populism.”

“Platner, never having had to be part of the pro-democracy movement, can do that. He never carried the burden of opposing Trump when it mattered most—which will be a huge advantage.”

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NY Times Op-Ed….

Bret Stephens: Graham Platner, Frank. Really?

Frank Bruni: I see you’ve taken the bait.

Bret: In all the years that I’ve been your admiring (if not always agreeing) reader, I’ve never disagreed more with one of your columns. Democrats should not be in the business of creating monsters for the sake of slaying monsters. And Platner — the Nazi-themed-tattoo-sporting and Israel-despising presumptive Democratic nominee in the race for the Maine Senate seat held by the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins — represents everything the Democrats should not be.

Frank: As I wrote in that column, Platner gives me great, great pause. I wish he weren’t the presumptive nominee, for a range of reasons that include but aren’t limited to alarming statements and behavior in his past. But an election is a binary, and, yes, Bret, I would choose him over Collins, who voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Russell Vought, and whose vaunted moderation doesn’t match her fear of President Trump’s supporters.

You think that the guardrails are mostly containing Trump, and I think that he’s showing us how fragile they are and what peril we’re in. To believe as I do is to root for the candidate less likely to rubber-stamp his agenda.

It’s that simple….

By Frank Bruni and Bret Stephens

Note….

The guy hasn’t aced November 2026 yet….

image….New Center Maine