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Notes -
This is an image of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's profile pic on the messaging app Kik. Notice anything?
I know the real story is supposed to be the fact that he was sending sexually explicit texts to women while married, but I can't stop laughing at the picture. It's obviously no coincidence that his hand perfectly covers the giant totenkopf on his chest. This is art.
It is certainly enjoyable to see a Democratic candidate get run through the wringer the way a Republican would, but I must confess that I find his scandals to be endearingly relatable in a way. Prediction market odds for Platner in the general are collapsing, but I think this is less of a reaction to this specific leak and more of a realization that he is the kind of candidate who will have a scandal every other month all the way up to election day, and then a scandal every other year for his entire term if he wins.
EDIT: Additional unverified reports that I cannot vouch for but would be hilarious if true.
Another wrinkle in the Platner story: his working-class man of the people presentation is a complete schtick:
His military background, while legitimate, was with the private military contractor Blackwater, rather than the US armed forces. He sometimes criticises his opponent Susan Collins by claiming he fought wars she sent him to fight in, but as she pointed out, this is a bit of a reach considering he was never drafted.
Wealthy nepo baby who went to an expensive private school signs up to fight for a PMC. After tending his resignation, his father buys him a house, and he starts a business whose primary client is his mother. Despite later presenting himself as a socialist, he gets a tattoo heavily associated with a far-right political ideology (the significance of which he's obviously aware of, given his efforts to hide it from cameras), and only reluctantly agrees to cover it up on sufferance. He gets married, but either cheats on his wife or tries to, while attempting to conceive via IVF.
If this guy was a Republican candidate, the Dems would be calling him a wealthy scion of intergenerational privilege who harbours crypto-fascist leanings and doesn't respect women. The other week I linked to an article by Jeff Maurer, who predicted that Platner might change his tune and become much more openly conservative, perhaps even running as a GOP candidate. Nothing I've learned about him since makes that eventuality seem less likely.
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