The Graham Platner Affair | naked capitalism

No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison:

We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:

When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,

And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,

And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh

At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues

Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,

Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;

And take upon’s the mystery of things,

As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,

In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,

That ebb and flow by the moon.

—King Lear, happy to exit the game and watch from the stands

L’Affair Graham Platner. Much can be said about it. The public focus, of course, is on his transgressions, which most people now think are real. The sincerity of his accuser is not in doubt, and though the timing of these accusations is highly suspicious — one week before the last day he can withdraw and allow the Party to choose someone else — no one now doubts his accuser. (If you want a more skeptical view, listen to this.)

That said, let’s look at the layers.

Personal Tragedies

The personal part of the story has several parts. First, the arc of Graham Platner’s life. As a human tale of flaws and horrible outcomes, this is worth novelizing all on its own. The pain he has managed, the pain he is said to have caused; the massive national stage on which this is played; the lies, the betrayals; the heights and the fall. Seen from inside, the story has arc and sweep, desire and pain, tragic intensity, with unspeakable pain to come. The tale of his next six months, at home and alone, would itself draw eyes if those eyes could be carefully distanced, like those at a play, safe from the trouble on stage.

We could say the same about his two chief accusers, Jenny Racicot, the ex-girlfriend, and Lyndsey Fifield, the Kavanaugh-defending operative who dated him. Two complex stories as well. Racicot especially: Had she the purest of motives, her life and peace will be awful for years to come. This story is bad for everyone trapped inside it.

Tragic tales, played in the press before millions — thank God for our own anonymity, I hear all of you say.

The Mode of Attack

Second, the method used for the attack is worth our thought, independent of its validity in Platner’s case. The attack took place during a high-stakes political campaign; the combat took place entirely in the press. And the mode of attack is common, used many times.

Ian Welsh has this to say about how the great bring down those they want gone, what works and what doesn’t when deployed by the self-described left. Note: Welsh was writing in June, before the recent reports.

Establishment Attacks On Platner Are Classic Woke Attacks On The Populist Left

I think everyone who’s observed American, indeed, Western politics is aware that whenever a strong economic left winger comes along the attacks on him are almost always primarily about violations of “woke”.

Corbyn was attacked for anti-semitism, when he might be the most anti-racist person on the Earth. The idea that he was anti-semitic was laughable on the face, he’d be the first person putting his body on the line if there were actual threats to Jews. …

Woke is used because it works, especially sexual harassment allegations. It doesn’t just work against the left. New York Governor Cuomo was taken down for sexual harassment, which I always found hilarious, because this is a guy whose policies killed thousands of people during Covid when he stuck Covid patients in old folks homes. That’s gross negligent manslaughter, in my books, and he should have gone to prison, not just lost his job, but it was the sex stuff that took him down.

That doesn’t mean the Democratic establishment wanted him gone. Oh no. They supported him to the hilt against Mamdani in the NYC elections. Anything can be forgiven if you serve corporate interests, nothing can be forgiven if you don’t.

Platner’s the latest target, and man is he ripe. …

Al Franken was taken down by not much of a sin, a careless, sexist joke caught on film. His fall was engineered by one of his colleagues, a Democratic senator. Again, the same mode of attack.

So, added to the striking arc of Platner’s own story, we can add this observation: Someone wanted him gone, and this was the route. Cuomo was taken down by his sexual harassment. A man who murdered hundreds in nursing homes, and this instead was his enemies’ weapon of choice.

Why is this true? Though the reason is clear to many, it’s a subject all to itself.

Someone Wanted Him Gone…

Now let’s consider the impersonal part of the story, the part not involving people so much as power and political structures. Someone wanted him gone, and they found a way. Someone who? And why? What will the outcome be?

Let’s take these one at a time. Someone who?

The perp, I think, is the Democratic establishment — the party in Maine, the Senate bigs in DC, the vast machine that composes the DNC, its well-paid consultant class and wide-ranging servicing groups like print and televised media. The pile-on, when the accusations were more smoke than fire, began early, were clearly political, and deployed in defense of Janet Mills, the establishment’s preferred choice. Platner’s anti-genocide, anti-AIPAC stance didn’t help with that group, and is likely a cause on its own of his strong opposition.

And chief among all the perps is Sen. Chuck Schumer, who clearly places seating compliant Democratics above beating Republicans. The late Howie Klein’s DownWithTyranny is full of these tales. Here’s one from 2016:

A publicity-hound and dogged careerist, Schumer is widely considered a modern-day version of Boss Tweed, especially in the Senate, where he routinely tells candidates that it’s his way or the highway.

Recently he had a run-in of this nature with Admiral Joe Sestak who he tried playing the my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours game with. Basically, he told Sestak that when he (Schumer) says “jump,” the only acceptable response is “how high, sir?” That’s an odd thing for some draft dodging chicken hawk to say to the highest ranking military officer ever elected to Congress. It didn’t end well and Schumer went out and helped recruit an unbelievably incompetent candidate for the primary, Katie McGinty, who has no chance of ever becoming a senator but will sop up Sestak’s cash so he can’t compete with [incumbent Republican Senator Pat] Toomey. That’s how Schumer plays the game. Toomey, of course, is over the moon.

Toomey beat McGinty in the general election, proof that Schumer would rather a Republican win than a Democrat who won’t obey. This kind of story is salted all through DWT. Klein went to school with Schumer at Brooklyn’s James Madison High, and according to Klein, he was “aggressively selfish and greedy,” even back then.

That answers the why. Control of the party comes before winning elections. And support for Israeli genocide is clearly a must, certainly for Schumer and other top Dems of his type. In case he hadn’t heard, total Israel-related contributions to Schumer total $1,727,974. That money buys something, happily given or not.

What’s Next?

The battle is shaping up now. As I write, I’m watching Rebecca Traister on MSNOW say Platner was always disliked by establishment Maine and national Democrats, largely because he brought people real hope for change. Yes, that what she said: real hope for real change. In my view, only the genuinely anti-establishment can do that.

There aren’t many Platner-like candidates ready to hand, but the name I’m hearing most is Troy Jackson. And Shenna Bellows is getting MSNOW support. I haven’t researched either.

Watch how the Party decides, and whom they nominate. Will Maine get a Harris-like coronation? A loyalist, solid pretender, or someone more real?

Then watch how Maine voters respond, especially those inspired by Platner’s rebellious stance. You’ll learn a lot.