Regardless of Graham Platner's future, Democrats still need more candidates across the country who don't always fit the script and focus their campaigns on the working class.
If we want to show solidarity with the working class-- find candidates who went to public schools. Platner went to Hotchkiss School. Crockett went to Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School. Both affect a blue collar persona. Go to Central Labor Councils, find promising candidates there.
Platner comes from an elite family background, but has no bachelor's degree, making him a working class person by definition. His extensive combat experience and work on a lobster boat are not affectations.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison also do not have bachelors. That is not where the divide falls.
If you come from a wealthy family and go to Hotchkiss, you have very different life experiences than someone whose parents were a secretary and a plumber and went to a public school.
If you then make working class life choices, you still will have very different ideas about working class life than someone who was born to it.
You are both struggling with the inexplicable. Working class is without a degree. While it's true that many working class people are more successful and more intelligent than those with a degree, it never negates the fact that they are working class.
Many working class people of all different backgrounds have different perspectives on things and come from different life circumstances, one thing they all do have in common is none have a bachelor's degree, and rightly or not, without a degree your opportunities in life are restricted. In the USA, a bachelor's is where we draw the line. This division is widely used by pollsters, polisci types, and the general public.
Besides his degree Platner did three combat tours as an NCO with an infantry unit that took a lot of casualties, and works a lobster boat.
That is incorrect. A typical definition is “Working class is a contested socioeconomic term used to describe low-income people. Typically people in the working class have jobs that provide relatively low pay and/or require physical labor. A college degree is often not necessary for this work.”
And it usually means a lot of other not so wonderful experiences like eviction, food scarcity, lack of medical and dental care. Little travel. Contingent work. Home-made clothing. No $$ for fancy schools or private lessons in music, etc. Working class jobs that have unions do better economically.
Says you. You had to search to find a definition. Other definitions, like by google, and wiki, and every pollster, define it as a lack of bachelor's degree.
I wonder why those with a degree are so adamant to be included in the working class? Maybe they phone it in, working out of the house, who knows.
People with a degree who are truly working class are typically first generation students from working class backgrounds who did not find hoped for financial advantages from their degree.
Claiming that you are working class can be a political advantage if voters believe you can relate to their needs. Generally, there is an increased respect for practical knowledge and common sense.
Plattner is working class himself. Often people with degrees, especially advanced degrees, for reasons I don't understand, are disdainful of the working class designation.
Plattner was also in the infantry, an NCO in a unit that took a lot of casualties.
Kind of like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pretending to be “a girl from the Bronx” when her father was a successful businessman and she mainly grew up in an affluent white town.
AOC has a degree from BU, double major econ and Int relations. That makes her not working class. Plattner almost but not quite has a degree, that makes him working class. It's one of those either you have a degree or you don't. Like pregnant or not. No almost.
You seem to be missing the entire point (likely deliberately). It is not about class a candidate is from. It is the social persona that they present to attract and in some cases manipulate voters.
AOC is clearly trying to pretend to be “just a Bronx girl.” At the very least, Plattner is leaning hard into a social persona that greatly conflicts his real upbringing.
No, working class is something that is fine. I grew up in the working class. Neither of my parents finished h.s. We were a union family. I had a veteran father and carpenter union husband who was a VN veteran. No one in our world had even heard of Hotchkiss School or St. Louis Country Day School. Public schools only.
He may be working the boats, but maybe he doesn't fit into the suit and tie world because of a renegade personality and PTSD. I have a degree but ended up working construction because I didn't fit into the suits world. I empathize with the working stiff but I didn't come from that world. Even though my folks were not that well off, they did at one time come from money. Hell, even at 88, I'm still doing small construction projects, all be it a lot slower.
Notice Matt had to drop that he went to Concord. Is Concord worth bragging about? Taibbi says he is the same as Plattner given their private education. Except that degree from Bard Matt has. Says "I basically am Graham Platner" because they are both from the north east, Jersey is a long way from Maine. Taibbi has been a writer his entire life. No three combat tours for Matt. Matt fantasizes maybe of having done the kinds of things Platner has done.
Taibbi is the guy who wrote the article trying to dump on Plattner. Plattner is the guy the article is about. Both people have bios available via wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Taibbi
He began as a freelancer in Moscow and wrote something controversial during that time, from memory some kind of fear and loathing with sex, earned him the ire of those prone to ire. More recently the twitter files. Matt is a pundit/writer.
The Nazi tattoo is disqualifying if he gets the nomination, Susan Collins blast him right off the ballot, and the Democrats will lose any advantage they may ever have when they call out all kinds of Nazi symbols for instance, the so-called salute by Elon Musk and anything that even resembles that
A misstep as a drunken Marine on R&R in Croatia does not define the current day Platner. His Reddit posts of the past have also exposed his "communist" leanings. Through the course of his life, he has worked through significant PTSD, disillusionemnts, and has found grounding in his friends and community. I am Jewish and do not sense any concern that Platner is a Nazi.
We are moving past cancel culture disqualifications. Just like electing Carter after Nixon, we do seem to find our balance. We are clamouring for candidates that have solid integrity, inteligence, and sincerity.
Ahh, a "misstep." Like the misstep of sending text messages wishing your political opponent's death and the death of his children. Democrats sure do airbrush the missteps (when they're made by Democrats of course).
How do you even know what he stands for? What SPECIFICALLY has he offered except identity politics and the politics of envy. How is that "new" - Democrats have been running on that for years.
Listening to Taibbi and Kirn ruthlessly mock him and anyone who buys into his schtick. He went to a private $75,000 high school. Yes, just your typical working man ha ha.
"We are clamouring for candidates that have solid integrity, inteligence, and sincerity."
Platner has shown none of those. Please: look at who this guy *is,* not who you want him to be.
He wore a Death's Head on his chest for 18 years, and as a Jew, you're willing to overlook that, based on nothing but his word? Are you aware of just how important that symbol was to the Nazis? And that it was worn by the SS, the people tasked with annihilating Jews? Who would have wanted to see YOU gassed or worked to death at Auschwitz? Who were recruited because of their fanatical dedication to the Third Reich's goals?
You support him, especially in light of his comments about Israel? In light of him holding up a sign saying "Free Palestine" when he was graduating from high school? Did he have PTSD then? Or will you excuse that because he was "young"? Even though his opinions haven't changed? Or maybe you think Israel should be wiped out from the river to the sea?
You support a man who said we need to understand the “motivations” of the 9/11 terrorists?
I am Jewish. I served in the Marine Corps 1964 -1972. Your candidate is a Nazi and he is a disgrace and that has nothing to do with PTSD and you are a damn fool and you can kiss my fucking Marine ass.
Perhaps the Platter’s accusers don’t circulate with the younger crowd or with military types who sport all kinds of mysterious tattoos. Or, they could be political hacks looking to dirty up a non-establishment candidate. So, their assertions that Mr. Platner's tattoo is a Nazi symbol aren't unexpected.
Oh, did they mention that the Israeli hexagram "Star of David" has been seen as an ancient pagan satanic symbol?
Perhaps the fault lies in the eye of the beholder.
Love that people twist like pretzels in order to defend the indefensible. I know lots of younger types and military types - and they don't sport Nazi tattoos. And it isn't an "assertion" it's a fact.
Soon the apologists will be telling us that swastikas are *really* just positive expressions of ancient religions, and those little swastika badges on their jackets are *really* just there to express a wish for prosperity and happiness.*
Just like "from the river to the sea" *really* just means living peacefully together.
It's amazing what people can believe if they ignore history (or even if they don't, but it's easier when they do). Or maybe if they just want to believe it.
*Okay, they actually are ancient symbols, but we all know what they've meant in the west for the last hundred years or so. Just like we all really know what "from the river to the sea" actually means.
Whatever Platner's flaws, and regardless of whether he wins, if Democrats want big, long-lasting majorities, they're going to need more candidates with his style, and more candidates with the style and policy stances of Fetterman.
Agree on Fetterman. Not Platner. I was on our Central Labor Council when we interviewed candidates. It was 2-days of interviews at the IBEW Hall. The intellectual rigor and insightful comments of the different unions reps was so impressive. Right there at the table of interviewers were a dozen people who would be the real deal. Standout was a fellow from Sanitation Workers union.
How are candidates like Platner going to help? The core problem with the Democrats is not their messaging or their candidates, it's that there is an enormous values gap between the Democrats and everyone who isn't white, secular, and with a college education. "The personal is the political," as the Democrats have been saying since the 1960s, and their values are actively making life much harder for a large majority of Americans.
And of course the Democrats are working to primary Fetterman because he is willing to vote against the Democrats / with the Republicans when he believes the Democrats have gone too far. That’s the fundamental question about all of these supposedly “blue collar” Democrats. Will they vote how they campaign even if it, shudder the thought, puts them even halfway in agreement with Trump
I think they would do better to look at people who might actually know how to change their own tires. People in the mode of Mary Peltola. Jared Golden. John Tester.
Look at people who didn’t graduate from Ivies but who are smart.
I keep warning ya. Every other sentence cannot trash Trump and even remotely hope to restore "working class" voters. Why? Because increasingly people correctly see this as a continuation of the hate-and-terror campaign associated with the current Democrat Party. New polling (and I don't do polls, but just throwing this out) by Pew says that the D brand is an automatic 10 point deduction over just an I candidate when they use fictional candidates. That poll does not quite grasp what I've been saying here, which is that the current iteration of the D party is subliminally saying to people, "We want you dead." Congresswoman Joanda Jones just said she wants to slit Republicans' throats. And Trump bashing continues to underscore this. Not until Ds start WORKING with President Trump to actually fix things do they have a hope of restoration. I personally think they are way, way past the point of no return and are headed for extinction. You can't go "Nazi, nazi, nazi" vs. Trump/Rs then expect that when one of your own shows such tendencies, it was just "old."
More voter reg data to back this up. Now FL gained 5,500 Rs in the last month along with over 500 D losses for a mind-boggling statewide R lead of 1.4 million. (Remember, FL saw a slight D lead just a decade ago). NM saw a stunning shift of 5,000, which is amazing for such a small state. So continue to ignore voters at your peril.
After which, again, the leader of the Republican party said calling the governor of the state, as is tradition, would be a "waste of time."
A leader, BTW, who is now occupying blue cities over the objections of local governments based on little more than his political 'gut feelings.' But the party of state's rights (lol) not only doesn't offer a smidgeon of resistance, but assures it's just that the Democrats need to ToNE It DOwN.
Tell me, which Democratic president in the twentieth or twenty-first century occupied the cities of his political opposition with the US military because his gut told him they were 'war zones'? (And never even bothered to prove it)
Then tell me what your reaction will be when some future Dem president sends the military into your residential district because he heard 'eco-terrorists' lived there from his Twitter friends, or some other BS.
Platner is a self-described described “antifa supersoldier” who said that all cops are “bastards” and that rural whites “actually are” racist and stupid. And then there was the remark about sexual assault and special underwear. Not to mention sporting a death’s head in his chest for 18 years.
How does any of this tell disaffected Trump voters that Platner “empathizes“ with them? Of course he’s claiming that he didn’t really mean any of it. Of course he says he was in a “dark period in his life“ when he said those things. He would, wouldn’t he?
The author is right: politics has become nastier. But is Trumpian vulgarity what we want to aspire to? Or maybe debase ourselves to? If the Dems want to claim the moral high ground, they need to actually *occupy* it.
Humans need boundaries. Without them, we fall apart. Rejecting Platner keeps the boundaries in place. Giving him a pass sends a message that Dems will overlook any crudeness up to and including even the symbol of the Waffen-SS if it’s worn on the chest of a guy on “our team.”
Democrats proclaim that the Republican Party is behaving like Nazi fascists. How, exactly? Are they sporting symbols of the most virulent true-believing members of the master race? Are they shouting “from the river to the Sea“? Are they harassing Jews? Are they anointing candidates rather than requiring them to be elected? Are they saying that “Zionists” are a problem?
No. The Dems are.
This country desperately needs moderate candidates who don’t use vulgarity to gin up the base. Being a good speaker who can sway opinion doesn’t mean insulting people who might not vote for you. It’s tempting to give in to the idea that it is, but we mustn’t give in to our cruder natures.
We need people who want to lift us up — all of us — and unite us in common cause. Platner, Newsom, Harris aren’t those people. They’re the opposite of what we need.
Excusing Platner is what I expect from mainstream Democrats, not from a site that presents itself as the thoughtful opposition.
It is not as if, Mr. Platner doesn't have company. The Dem NYC Mayor candidate, recently held a lavish multi day wedding in Uganda, his birthplace and a nation that punishes the LGBTQ community with life in prison or execution. No one chooses their birthplace, but a wedding venue is a choice. Neither the Press nor Dem Party, voiced even minor displeasure, with the destination wedding.
The Dem VA AG candidate Jones, wished death not just on his opponent, but also his 2 and 5 year old children, with whom the candidate was personally acquainted. Texts show Jones wishing the kids would die in their Mother's arms. Barely a single Dem called for Jones to step down. Dem Gov candidate Spanberger, nearly choked on her own tongue, running away from the issue, while refusing to call for her running mate's resignation. Neither did the the DNC demand Jones quit.
Considering the above, Platner's story of being drunk kid on shore leave, who did not know the meaning of the tattoo, should sell just fine with many Dem voters. The Reps also have their share of nut jobs. Who can forget "rape cannot result in pregnancy" and the Rep Senate candidate whose hobby included casting spells, rather than jogging or video games.
We appear to have crossed the rubicon. Wackos aside, many laws are now mere suggestions for vast swaths of the US. We are days from tens of millions of Americans missing Food Stamps they depend on to eat. Yet an entirely legal and donor financed East Wing Ball Room addition, is the Trump War Crime du jour, sucking up all the political oxygen. Impending mass hunger appears to be an afterthought.
More Blue Collar candidates are a good idea for both Parties, but at the moment, our political game of Chicken, is all that seems to matter. That, and if either political party is truly so far gone, they are willing to burn the US village, to save it.
People who grow up working class don’t go to private high schools with a $75K annual tuition. It’s possible he received financial aid, I suppose. I live in a fairly affluent Chicago suburb and don’t know anyone who would throw down $300K for a High School education.
Perhaps he’s working class now, but his formative years resided in an elite bubble within an elite bubble. And that is by no means disqualifying…more power to him, but it does beg to question his authenticity (something in short supply amongst leading Democrats currently)
I went to the University of Illinois-Chicago. My classmates had not had international travel or many of the kinds of h.s. experiences a kid who had a $300K h.s. education had. An elite h.s. gives a person a leg up that public school h.s. kids had no idea existed.
As a resident of neighboring New Hampshire and elderly, dyed in the wool Democrat, I have been extremely impressed with Graham Platner for many of the reasons you have enumerated.
He has a past that he publicly acknowledges, filled with wrong turns and missteps, however he demonstrates a courageous pattern of personal growth and evolution.
He is very bright and perceptive; he has walked the walk. His deep roots in a small town, indelible values of hard work and community engagement, and reverence for interpersonal relationships confirm that he is the real deal. He reeks of solid character and integrity.
New Englanders are sensitive to a person's honesty, integrity and character. We want Platner to be our neighbor and friend.
The pundits be damned, Platner is the anti-Trump on all levels regardless of socio-economic status or privilege. He has the secret sauce to win Maine and inspire the country.
When I first heard about Plantar’s “Nazi tattoo”, I assumed it was a swastika, which would be completely disqualifying. It’s apparently just a skull. Yes the exact skull that was used by the monsters who ran the concentration camps, but he wouldn’t be the first person to get a tattoo with no idea what the symbol meant just because it looked cool. He appears to have covered it up once he found out what it was. Occam’s razor suggests thats all there is to it. What I find interesting is the extent to which the Democrats are willing to throw him under the bus while refusing to do the same to Jones in VA for making statements that were clearly beyond the pale and not appearing to be the least bit embarrassed by them. It should have been clear that this was going to cost him the election regardless, but Spanberger’s refusal to demand he resign may very well cost the Dems the governor’s race as well.
Platner is a self-described military history buff. I can’t accept that he didn’t know what it meant or never figured it out in 18 years.
And it wasn’t just a skull: it was a Totenkopf, the symbol on every SS uniform. A Totenkopf is a very particularly drawn skull and has a particular meaning. Everything the Nazis did dripped in deliberate symbolism that was designed to evoke who and what they were: a master race dedicated to wiping out undesirables, be they Jews, Slavs, gypsies, the disabled…they even had plans for us in the US.
The SS was the group most prominently tasked with carrying out those plans.
They had a military branch called the Waffen SS (armed SS). These guys weren’t regular army. They were extra-special true believers. They ran the concentration camps, where millions were enslaved, tortured, and murdered. They made up the mobile killing units that shot or gassed ~1.5 million Jewish and other undesirable people, following the regular army as it pushed eastward. Many were specifically recruited to commit these atrocities. In short, they were the pride of Nazi Germany.
So, respectfully, no, the Totenkopf wasn’t just another skull. It’s a potent symbol. One that Platner wore on his chest for 18 years.
I’ve seen similar looking skulls on the decks of skateboards, snowboards & lift towers. Expecting your average person to know the difference strikes me as ridiculous. Plenty of his past rhetoric is certainly concerning and JD Vance is more my ideal than this guy. But there’s nothing to suggest he is or was an actual Nazi.
I've seen lots of skulls on skateboards, but no Nazi Death Heads specifically. Maybe I missed that; did a web search and didn't find one, in English or German.
Remember: this is a very specific version of the skull and crossbones. It's not a Jolly Roger or a random skull. It had a specific meaning. Plus, he got the tattoo in Croatia, which had an enthusiastic Nazi puppet government during the war and where antisemitism and Ustasha fans persist even today.
I didn't say he was a Nazi; that would be extremist. But 1) he's a military history buff and 2) he's been continuously saying "Free Palestine" since he was in high school. Based on point 1 he should have figured it out sometime in the last 18 years, and based on point 2, he's no fan of Israel, for sure and at best.
And finally, I expect a candidate for the US Senate to be a lot more than an average guy. Full stop.
The difference is between the candidates. Plantar is a lot more left and working class about economic issues than is Jones in VA. A large portion of the D party (see comments above) don't like men and don't like working class men especially.
I've been interested in the Platner phenomenon for a couple of reasons. Mostly for which type of Democrat loathes him, and why. I've also been trying to figure out if folks on the right are trying to knock off someone who might become a serious problem or because Platner is a Democrat. I've yet to hear Plattner's stump speech or look up his issues, I assume he must be engaging to have created a stir, positions don't count until after the primaries which are, gulp, 7 months away.
There is a type of Democrat that hates someone like Plattner more than if he were a Republican of the same background. Plattner is good looking, manly, and hetero, bad news in the faculty lounge, just like that guy who dumped you for the cheerleader who smoked ciggies.
The Harris vote was about even in total votes, white college, white no college, with white college being the only demographic ascendant, and both together by far the majority of D votes. Maine is very white.
"good looking, manly, and hetero" - this is what passes as qualified in Dem circles these days. And of course the politics of envy, a Democrat staple. And policies? Pish, who needs policies when you're manly?
I thought one needed to be trans or at least a woman of color with a personal fortune to fund the campaign. Policies don't get offered up for real until after the primaries when they are pitching to the middle instead of the extremes. Plus the issues people run on are often not the votes they are forced to take. Often votes are a compromise between what they wished for and what is possible to get.
You don't think he will be flush with out of state money? After years of chasing Collins, just the whiff of maybe a win will bring the coastal (and oliogarch) money flowing to him.
He already had a very sizeable account, probably as you say from out of state, large donors etc. In reading deeper at Jacobin which went through his entire Reddit, he is mostly a typical "progressive" on most issues but with a frankness and vocabulary of someone who has spent a lot of time in the military. :-) It can be very hard to tell how someone will act if elected anyway. If he would stir things up by voting with the Rs once in a while I'd be ok with him.
It seems the Dem machine dislikes him the way they dislike Sanders. Maybe they know they won't win the senate, and having a Dem senator who can't be counted on and might vote for whatever he thinks is the right thing to do is scary. One straying senator can make it easier for others to do the same.
Please watch the Joe Rogan interview with Bernie Sanders. He is 100% cuckoo. Maybe the Dem party isn't embracing these two because they know most normal people are horrified with their ideas?
I think Plantar's behavior is likely only an issue for the Dem Primary.
We are fast approaching the point where, absent a murder or pedophile conviction, the only thing that matters to the vast majority of voters is the "R" or "D " next to a candidate's name.
Perhaps the Platter’s accusers don’t circulate with the younger crowd or with military types who sport all kinds of mysterious tattoos. Or, they could be political hacks looking to dirty up a non-establishment candidate. So, their assertions that Mr. Platner's tattoo is a Nazi symbol aren't unexpected.
Oh, did they mention that the Israeli hexagram "Star of David" has been seen as an ancient pagan satanic symbol?
Perhaps the fault lies in the eye of the beholder.
Your point is well taken. We tend to isolate in narrow ideological bubbles, losing prospective and defaulting to intellectualized sloganism.
The Democrats must own the reality that our favorability with the public is in the toilet. Self-reflection appears to be a forbidden endeavor. Trump appealed to a rage against the machine.
The Democratic Party is perceived as "the establishment" that has failed the public. We remain out of touch. We need to disabuse the beliefs that we represent the administrative state and cater to the elite.
It will really be interesting to see how Platner does. He is all over the place, claiming to be: a communist, socialist, and Antifa super soldier. The only thing he doesn’t claim is to a business owning capitalist. He has been accused of many things, but no one claims he is a leader.
Since Democrats expect their politicians to maintain party discipline, it is unclear how many Platner campaign promises he could keep.
For Maine to lose our current Senator, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee would be a significant loss of power and prestige for decades to come.
During the Biden years the face of the party included some who got overmuch exposure like Admiral Rachel Levine, Nuclear waste admin. Sam Brinson, CT representative, Rosa DeLauro. While these individuals demonstrate the diversity of the party, their appeal to working class voters was minimal. Platner may be seen as someone who appeals to the working class rather than how David Wong described working class perception of Democrats-- “The good guys are simple folk from the countryside while the bad guys are decadent assholes who live in the city and wear stupid clothes.” (David Wong, 2016--"How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind."--https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about
Principled stands like 'I'm a communist, I'm a socialist, defund the police, rural white Americans are racist and stupid, and heck I didn't know I had a Nazi tattoo for 20 years." Those are principled stands you admire?
If we want to show solidarity with the working class-- find candidates who went to public schools. Platner went to Hotchkiss School. Crockett went to Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School. Both affect a blue collar persona. Go to Central Labor Councils, find promising candidates there.
Platner comes from an elite family background, but has no bachelor's degree, making him a working class person by definition. His extensive combat experience and work on a lobster boat are not affectations.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison also do not have bachelors. That is not where the divide falls.
If you come from a wealthy family and go to Hotchkiss, you have very different life experiences than someone whose parents were a secretary and a plumber and went to a public school.
If you then make working class life choices, you still will have very different ideas about working class life than someone who was born to it.
Yes, Lisa, this is exactly what I am trying to explain. Thank you for saying it better than I could.
You are both struggling with the inexplicable. Working class is without a degree. While it's true that many working class people are more successful and more intelligent than those with a degree, it never negates the fact that they are working class.
Working class means you are doing jobs that typically involve physical labor, do not require a degree, and are often lower paid.
Many working class people of all different backgrounds have different perspectives on things and come from different life circumstances, one thing they all do have in common is none have a bachelor's degree, and rightly or not, without a degree your opportunities in life are restricted. In the USA, a bachelor's is where we draw the line. This division is widely used by pollsters, polisci types, and the general public.
Besides his degree Platner did three combat tours as an NCO with an infantry unit that took a lot of casualties, and works a lobster boat.
Lacking a college degree does not make you working class.
Having a college degree does not preclude you from being working class.
That is incorrect. A typical definition is “Working class is a contested socioeconomic term used to describe low-income people. Typically people in the working class have jobs that provide relatively low pay and/or require physical labor. A college degree is often not necessary for this work.”
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/working-class.asp
And it usually means a lot of other not so wonderful experiences like eviction, food scarcity, lack of medical and dental care. Little travel. Contingent work. Home-made clothing. No $$ for fancy schools or private lessons in music, etc. Working class jobs that have unions do better economically.
Also workers that get their licenses in things like plumbing and as electricians and start their own businesses can do well.
Also fixing up your own house, fixing your own car, growing some of your own food.
Says you. You had to search to find a definition. Other definitions, like by google, and wiki, and every pollster, define it as a lack of bachelor's degree.
I wonder why those with a degree are so adamant to be included in the working class? Maybe they phone it in, working out of the house, who knows.
People with a degree who are truly working class are typically first generation students from working class backgrounds who did not find hoped for financial advantages from their degree.
Claiming that you are working class can be a political advantage if voters believe you can relate to their needs. Generally, there is an increased respect for practical knowledge and common sense.
If you were asking, no, I am not working class.
I literally pulled the first definition I found, which seemed reasonably okay.
If you really don’t understand the differences in viewpoint and life experiences, it might help to meet more people who fall into that definition.
I don't think that someone from an elite family background really understands the working class.
Plattner is working class himself. Often people with degrees, especially advanced degrees, for reasons I don't understand, are disdainful of the working class designation.
Plattner was also in the infantry, an NCO in a unit that took a lot of casualties.
No, the claim is that he is larping as “authentic working class,” not that there is something the matter with someone actually being working class.
https://www.racket.news/p/the-great-leftist-ignorance-scam
Kind of like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pretending to be “a girl from the Bronx” when her father was a successful businessman and she mainly grew up in an affluent white town.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorktown_Heights,_New_York
AOC has a degree from BU, double major econ and Int relations. That makes her not working class. Plattner almost but not quite has a degree, that makes him working class. It's one of those either you have a degree or you don't. Like pregnant or not. No almost.
You seem to be missing the entire point (likely deliberately). It is not about class a candidate is from. It is the social persona that they present to attract and in some cases manipulate voters.
AOC is clearly trying to pretend to be “just a Bronx girl.” At the very least, Plattner is leaning hard into a social persona that greatly conflicts his real upbringing.
No, working class is something that is fine. I grew up in the working class. Neither of my parents finished h.s. We were a union family. I had a veteran father and carpenter union husband who was a VN veteran. No one in our world had even heard of Hotchkiss School or St. Louis Country Day School. Public schools only.
Co-Owning a company (Waukeag Neck Oyster Co.) and being in the military does not make a person working class.
I don’t claim to know much about the man, but at the very least, he is giving a very selective interpretation of his background.
https://www.racket.news/p/the-great-leftist-ignorance-scam
He may be working the boats, but maybe he doesn't fit into the suit and tie world because of a renegade personality and PTSD. I have a degree but ended up working construction because I didn't fit into the suits world. I empathize with the working stiff but I didn't come from that world. Even though my folks were not that well off, they did at one time come from money. Hell, even at 88, I'm still doing small construction projects, all be it a lot slower.
Congratulations. That's some years.
Yes, an interesting article on this topic.
I think that we will see alot more Democratic larping as “authentic working class.”
https://www.racket.news/p/the-great-leftist-ignorance-scam
Notice Matt had to drop that he went to Concord. Is Concord worth bragging about? Taibbi says he is the same as Plattner given their private education. Except that degree from Bard Matt has. Says "I basically am Graham Platner" because they are both from the north east, Jersey is a long way from Maine. Taibbi has been a writer his entire life. No three combat tours for Matt. Matt fantasizes maybe of having done the kinds of things Platner has done.
Taibbi has not been a writer his entire life. Read the article.
Taibbi is the guy who wrote the article trying to dump on Plattner. Plattner is the guy the article is about. Both people have bios available via wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Taibbi
He began as a freelancer in Moscow and wrote something controversial during that time, from memory some kind of fear and loathing with sex, earned him the ire of those prone to ire. More recently the twitter files. Matt is a pundit/writer.
I am having a hard time following the logic of your argument…
that article you linked twice. Did you read it?
Yes
The Nazi tattoo is disqualifying if he gets the nomination, Susan Collins blast him right off the ballot, and the Democrats will lose any advantage they may ever have when they call out all kinds of Nazi symbols for instance, the so-called salute by Elon Musk and anything that even resembles that
A misstep as a drunken Marine on R&R in Croatia does not define the current day Platner. His Reddit posts of the past have also exposed his "communist" leanings. Through the course of his life, he has worked through significant PTSD, disillusionemnts, and has found grounding in his friends and community. I am Jewish and do not sense any concern that Platner is a Nazi.
We are moving past cancel culture disqualifications. Just like electing Carter after Nixon, we do seem to find our balance. We are clamouring for candidates that have solid integrity, inteligence, and sincerity.
Ahh, a "misstep." Like the misstep of sending text messages wishing your political opponent's death and the death of his children. Democrats sure do airbrush the missteps (when they're made by Democrats of course).
How do you even know what he stands for? What SPECIFICALLY has he offered except identity politics and the politics of envy. How is that "new" - Democrats have been running on that for years.
Here is what he is about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Platner. Take a deeper dive into this man's journey.
Wikipedia has a left-wing and ideological bias. No doubt they've "airbrushed" any coverage about Platner.
I'm looking for the names of these oligarchs that are running the country. Is he referring to Dems like Reid Hoffman, Pritzker, et. al.?
Listening to Taibbi and Kirn ruthlessly mock him and anyone who buys into his schtick. He went to a private $75,000 high school. Yes, just your typical working man ha ha.
This guy has kept the Totenkopf insignia on his upper chest FOR TWENTY YEARS. He never had it removed! It wasn’t a momentary “misstep”.
"We are clamouring for candidates that have solid integrity, inteligence, and sincerity."
Platner has shown none of those. Please: look at who this guy *is,* not who you want him to be.
He wore a Death's Head on his chest for 18 years, and as a Jew, you're willing to overlook that, based on nothing but his word? Are you aware of just how important that symbol was to the Nazis? And that it was worn by the SS, the people tasked with annihilating Jews? Who would have wanted to see YOU gassed or worked to death at Auschwitz? Who were recruited because of their fanatical dedication to the Third Reich's goals?
You support him, especially in light of his comments about Israel? In light of him holding up a sign saying "Free Palestine" when he was graduating from high school? Did he have PTSD then? Or will you excuse that because he was "young"? Even though his opinions haven't changed? Or maybe you think Israel should be wiped out from the river to the sea?
You support a man who said we need to understand the “motivations” of the 9/11 terrorists?
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/09/15/politics/elections/graham-platners-opponents-israel-and-past-writings-joam40zk0w/
Misstep? Do you have tattoos you nutsack? Do you know how long it takes to complete them, especially one that size? GTFO with that mansplaining.
You are joking, of course.
I am dead serious.
I am Jewish. I served in the Marine Corps 1964 -1972. Your candidate is a Nazi and he is a disgrace and that has nothing to do with PTSD and you are a damn fool and you can kiss my fucking Marine ass.
Your immediate reduction to profanity suggests you have no further arguments to prove your point.
My point has been proven! Nothing wrong with profanity !
Perhaps the Platter’s accusers don’t circulate with the younger crowd or with military types who sport all kinds of mysterious tattoos. Or, they could be political hacks looking to dirty up a non-establishment candidate. So, their assertions that Mr. Platner's tattoo is a Nazi symbol aren't unexpected.
Oh, did they mention that the Israeli hexagram "Star of David" has been seen as an ancient pagan satanic symbol?
Perhaps the fault lies in the eye of the beholder.
Love that people twist like pretzels in order to defend the indefensible. I know lots of younger types and military types - and they don't sport Nazi tattoos. And it isn't an "assertion" it's a fact.
It's also a "Fact" that the Israeli hexagram, the "Star of David," is an ancient pagan, satanic symbol. So, What...Who cares?
For pity's sake, equating a Star of David with a Totenkopf. As I said, you're being a pretzel.
Next you'll be saying all Dem lads running for office want their opponent and their opponent's children shot...
MG, give it time.
Soon the apologists will be telling us that swastikas are *really* just positive expressions of ancient religions, and those little swastika badges on their jackets are *really* just there to express a wish for prosperity and happiness.*
Just like "from the river to the sea" *really* just means living peacefully together.
It's amazing what people can believe if they ignore history (or even if they don't, but it's easier when they do). Or maybe if they just want to believe it.
*Okay, they actually are ancient symbols, but we all know what they've meant in the west for the last hundred years or so. Just like we all really know what "from the river to the sea" actually means.
Whatever Platner's flaws, and regardless of whether he wins, if Democrats want big, long-lasting majorities, they're going to need more candidates with his style, and more candidates with the style and policy stances of Fetterman.
Agree on Fetterman. Not Platner. I was on our Central Labor Council when we interviewed candidates. It was 2-days of interviews at the IBEW Hall. The intellectual rigor and insightful comments of the different unions reps was so impressive. Right there at the table of interviewers were a dozen people who would be the real deal. Standout was a fellow from Sanitation Workers union.
The best exhibition of public speaking I've ever witnessed in person was delivered by the head of a building trades union.
How are candidates like Platner going to help? The core problem with the Democrats is not their messaging or their candidates, it's that there is an enormous values gap between the Democrats and everyone who isn't white, secular, and with a college education. "The personal is the political," as the Democrats have been saying since the 1960s, and their values are actively making life much harder for a large majority of Americans.
And of course the Democrats are working to primary Fetterman because he is willing to vote against the Democrats / with the Republicans when he believes the Democrats have gone too far. That’s the fundamental question about all of these supposedly “blue collar” Democrats. Will they vote how they campaign even if it, shudder the thought, puts them even halfway in agreement with Trump
I think they would do better to look at people who might actually know how to change their own tires. People in the mode of Mary Peltola. Jared Golden. John Tester.
Look at people who didn’t graduate from Ivies but who are smart.
I keep warning ya. Every other sentence cannot trash Trump and even remotely hope to restore "working class" voters. Why? Because increasingly people correctly see this as a continuation of the hate-and-terror campaign associated with the current Democrat Party. New polling (and I don't do polls, but just throwing this out) by Pew says that the D brand is an automatic 10 point deduction over just an I candidate when they use fictional candidates. That poll does not quite grasp what I've been saying here, which is that the current iteration of the D party is subliminally saying to people, "We want you dead." Congresswoman Joanda Jones just said she wants to slit Republicans' throats. And Trump bashing continues to underscore this. Not until Ds start WORKING with President Trump to actually fix things do they have a hope of restoration. I personally think they are way, way past the point of no return and are headed for extinction. You can't go "Nazi, nazi, nazi" vs. Trump/Rs then expect that when one of your own shows such tendencies, it was just "old."
More voter reg data to back this up. Now FL gained 5,500 Rs in the last month along with over 500 D losses for a mind-boggling statewide R lead of 1.4 million. (Remember, FL saw a slight D lead just a decade ago). NM saw a stunning shift of 5,000, which is amazing for such a small state. So continue to ignore voters at your peril.
Leader of the R party: the Democrats are "the party of hate, evil, and Satan" (direct quote)
Larry's bracing analysis: "The problem is Democrats need to ToNe DowN tHe RhEToric, then everything would be fine"
I would be satisfied if Dems would just quit shooting people...
You mean like this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_shootings_of_Minnesota_legislators
After which, again, the leader of the Republican party said calling the governor of the state, as is tradition, would be a "waste of time."
A leader, BTW, who is now occupying blue cities over the objections of local governments based on little more than his political 'gut feelings.' But the party of state's rights (lol) not only doesn't offer a smidgeon of resistance, but assures it's just that the Democrats need to ToNE It DOwN.
Tell me, which Democratic president in the twentieth or twenty-first century occupied the cities of his political opposition with the US military because his gut told him they were 'war zones'? (And never even bothered to prove it)
Then tell me what your reaction will be when some future Dem president sends the military into your residential district because he heard 'eco-terrorists' lived there from his Twitter friends, or some other BS.
Will you 'tone it down', should such a day come?
This piece completely misses the mark.
Platner is a self-described described “antifa supersoldier” who said that all cops are “bastards” and that rural whites “actually are” racist and stupid. And then there was the remark about sexual assault and special underwear. Not to mention sporting a death’s head in his chest for 18 years.
How does any of this tell disaffected Trump voters that Platner “empathizes“ with them? Of course he’s claiming that he didn’t really mean any of it. Of course he says he was in a “dark period in his life“ when he said those things. He would, wouldn’t he?
The author is right: politics has become nastier. But is Trumpian vulgarity what we want to aspire to? Or maybe debase ourselves to? If the Dems want to claim the moral high ground, they need to actually *occupy* it.
Humans need boundaries. Without them, we fall apart. Rejecting Platner keeps the boundaries in place. Giving him a pass sends a message that Dems will overlook any crudeness up to and including even the symbol of the Waffen-SS if it’s worn on the chest of a guy on “our team.”
Democrats proclaim that the Republican Party is behaving like Nazi fascists. How, exactly? Are they sporting symbols of the most virulent true-believing members of the master race? Are they shouting “from the river to the Sea“? Are they harassing Jews? Are they anointing candidates rather than requiring them to be elected? Are they saying that “Zionists” are a problem?
No. The Dems are.
This country desperately needs moderate candidates who don’t use vulgarity to gin up the base. Being a good speaker who can sway opinion doesn’t mean insulting people who might not vote for you. It’s tempting to give in to the idea that it is, but we mustn’t give in to our cruder natures.
We need people who want to lift us up — all of us — and unite us in common cause. Platner, Newsom, Harris aren’t those people. They’re the opposite of what we need.
Excusing Platner is what I expect from mainstream Democrats, not from a site that presents itself as the thoughtful opposition.
While we were discussing Plantar's working class self-characterization--Matt Taibbi has a few word about Plantar:
The Great Leftist Ignorance Scam
The new left movement in America is taking off mostly with the very wealthy, which isn't an accident
https://www.racket.news/p/the-great-leftist-ignorance-scam
It is not as if, Mr. Platner doesn't have company. The Dem NYC Mayor candidate, recently held a lavish multi day wedding in Uganda, his birthplace and a nation that punishes the LGBTQ community with life in prison or execution. No one chooses their birthplace, but a wedding venue is a choice. Neither the Press nor Dem Party, voiced even minor displeasure, with the destination wedding.
The Dem VA AG candidate Jones, wished death not just on his opponent, but also his 2 and 5 year old children, with whom the candidate was personally acquainted. Texts show Jones wishing the kids would die in their Mother's arms. Barely a single Dem called for Jones to step down. Dem Gov candidate Spanberger, nearly choked on her own tongue, running away from the issue, while refusing to call for her running mate's resignation. Neither did the the DNC demand Jones quit.
Considering the above, Platner's story of being drunk kid on shore leave, who did not know the meaning of the tattoo, should sell just fine with many Dem voters. The Reps also have their share of nut jobs. Who can forget "rape cannot result in pregnancy" and the Rep Senate candidate whose hobby included casting spells, rather than jogging or video games.
We appear to have crossed the rubicon. Wackos aside, many laws are now mere suggestions for vast swaths of the US. We are days from tens of millions of Americans missing Food Stamps they depend on to eat. Yet an entirely legal and donor financed East Wing Ball Room addition, is the Trump War Crime du jour, sucking up all the political oxygen. Impending mass hunger appears to be an afterthought.
More Blue Collar candidates are a good idea for both Parties, but at the moment, our political game of Chicken, is all that seems to matter. That, and if either political party is truly so far gone, they are willing to burn the US village, to save it.
People who grow up working class don’t go to private high schools with a $75K annual tuition. It’s possible he received financial aid, I suppose. I live in a fairly affluent Chicago suburb and don’t know anyone who would throw down $300K for a High School education.
Perhaps he’s working class now, but his formative years resided in an elite bubble within an elite bubble. And that is by no means disqualifying…more power to him, but it does beg to question his authenticity (something in short supply amongst leading Democrats currently)
https://www.hotchkiss.org/admission/tuition-financial-aid
I went to the University of Illinois-Chicago. My classmates had not had international travel or many of the kinds of h.s. experiences a kid who had a $300K h.s. education had. An elite h.s. gives a person a leg up that public school h.s. kids had no idea existed.
As a resident of neighboring New Hampshire and elderly, dyed in the wool Democrat, I have been extremely impressed with Graham Platner for many of the reasons you have enumerated.
He has a past that he publicly acknowledges, filled with wrong turns and missteps, however he demonstrates a courageous pattern of personal growth and evolution.
He is very bright and perceptive; he has walked the walk. His deep roots in a small town, indelible values of hard work and community engagement, and reverence for interpersonal relationships confirm that he is the real deal. He reeks of solid character and integrity.
New Englanders are sensitive to a person's honesty, integrity and character. We want Platner to be our neighbor and friend.
The pundits be damned, Platner is the anti-Trump on all levels regardless of socio-economic status or privilege. He has the secret sauce to win Maine and inspire the country.
When I first heard about Plantar’s “Nazi tattoo”, I assumed it was a swastika, which would be completely disqualifying. It’s apparently just a skull. Yes the exact skull that was used by the monsters who ran the concentration camps, but he wouldn’t be the first person to get a tattoo with no idea what the symbol meant just because it looked cool. He appears to have covered it up once he found out what it was. Occam’s razor suggests thats all there is to it. What I find interesting is the extent to which the Democrats are willing to throw him under the bus while refusing to do the same to Jones in VA for making statements that were clearly beyond the pale and not appearing to be the least bit embarrassed by them. It should have been clear that this was going to cost him the election regardless, but Spanberger’s refusal to demand he resign may very well cost the Dems the governor’s race as well.
Platner is a self-described military history buff. I can’t accept that he didn’t know what it meant or never figured it out in 18 years.
And it wasn’t just a skull: it was a Totenkopf, the symbol on every SS uniform. A Totenkopf is a very particularly drawn skull and has a particular meaning. Everything the Nazis did dripped in deliberate symbolism that was designed to evoke who and what they were: a master race dedicated to wiping out undesirables, be they Jews, Slavs, gypsies, the disabled…they even had plans for us in the US.
The SS was the group most prominently tasked with carrying out those plans.
They had a military branch called the Waffen SS (armed SS). These guys weren’t regular army. They were extra-special true believers. They ran the concentration camps, where millions were enslaved, tortured, and murdered. They made up the mobile killing units that shot or gassed ~1.5 million Jewish and other undesirable people, following the regular army as it pushed eastward. Many were specifically recruited to commit these atrocities. In short, they were the pride of Nazi Germany.
So, respectfully, no, the Totenkopf wasn’t just another skull. It’s a potent symbol. One that Platner wore on his chest for 18 years.
I’ve seen similar looking skulls on the decks of skateboards, snowboards & lift towers. Expecting your average person to know the difference strikes me as ridiculous. Plenty of his past rhetoric is certainly concerning and JD Vance is more my ideal than this guy. But there’s nothing to suggest he is or was an actual Nazi.
I've seen lots of skulls on skateboards, but no Nazi Death Heads specifically. Maybe I missed that; did a web search and didn't find one, in English or German.
Remember: this is a very specific version of the skull and crossbones. It's not a Jolly Roger or a random skull. It had a specific meaning. Plus, he got the tattoo in Croatia, which had an enthusiastic Nazi puppet government during the war and where antisemitism and Ustasha fans persist even today.
I didn't say he was a Nazi; that would be extremist. But 1) he's a military history buff and 2) he's been continuously saying "Free Palestine" since he was in high school. Based on point 1 he should have figured it out sometime in the last 18 years, and based on point 2, he's no fan of Israel, for sure and at best.
And finally, I expect a candidate for the US Senate to be a lot more than an average guy. Full stop.
No excuses.
See:
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/09/15/politics/elections/graham-platners-opponents-israel-and-past-writings-joam40zk0w/
The difference is between the candidates. Plantar is a lot more left and working class about economic issues than is Jones in VA. A large portion of the D party (see comments above) don't like men and don't like working class men especially.
I've been interested in the Platner phenomenon for a couple of reasons. Mostly for which type of Democrat loathes him, and why. I've also been trying to figure out if folks on the right are trying to knock off someone who might become a serious problem or because Platner is a Democrat. I've yet to hear Plattner's stump speech or look up his issues, I assume he must be engaging to have created a stir, positions don't count until after the primaries which are, gulp, 7 months away.
There is a type of Democrat that hates someone like Plattner more than if he were a Republican of the same background. Plattner is good looking, manly, and hetero, bad news in the faculty lounge, just like that guy who dumped you for the cheerleader who smoked ciggies.
The Harris vote was about even in total votes, white college, white no college, with white college being the only demographic ascendant, and both together by far the majority of D votes. Maine is very white.
"good looking, manly, and hetero" - this is what passes as qualified in Dem circles these days. And of course the politics of envy, a Democrat staple. And policies? Pish, who needs policies when you're manly?
I thought one needed to be trans or at least a woman of color with a personal fortune to fund the campaign. Policies don't get offered up for real until after the primaries when they are pitching to the middle instead of the extremes. Plus the issues people run on are often not the votes they are forced to take. Often votes are a compromise between what they wished for and what is possible to get.
You don't think he will be flush with out of state money? After years of chasing Collins, just the whiff of maybe a win will bring the coastal (and oliogarch) money flowing to him.
He already had a very sizeable account, probably as you say from out of state, large donors etc. In reading deeper at Jacobin which went through his entire Reddit, he is mostly a typical "progressive" on most issues but with a frankness and vocabulary of someone who has spent a lot of time in the military. :-) It can be very hard to tell how someone will act if elected anyway. If he would stir things up by voting with the Rs once in a while I'd be ok with him.
It seems the Dem machine dislikes him the way they dislike Sanders. Maybe they know they won't win the senate, and having a Dem senator who can't be counted on and might vote for whatever he thinks is the right thing to do is scary. One straying senator can make it easier for others to do the same.
Please watch the Joe Rogan interview with Bernie Sanders. He is 100% cuckoo. Maybe the Dem party isn't embracing these two because they know most normal people are horrified with their ideas?
I think Plantar's behavior is likely only an issue for the Dem Primary.
We are fast approaching the point where, absent a murder or pedophile conviction, the only thing that matters to the vast majority of voters is the "R" or "D " next to a candidate's name.
Please see the polls where some progressives are A-OK with killing someone you disagree with politically.
Perhaps the Platter’s accusers don’t circulate with the younger crowd or with military types who sport all kinds of mysterious tattoos. Or, they could be political hacks looking to dirty up a non-establishment candidate. So, their assertions that Mr. Platner's tattoo is a Nazi symbol aren't unexpected.
Oh, did they mention that the Israeli hexagram "Star of David" has been seen as an ancient pagan satanic symbol?
Perhaps the fault lies in the eye of the beholder.
Your point is well taken. We tend to isolate in narrow ideological bubbles, losing prospective and defaulting to intellectualized sloganism.
The Democrats must own the reality that our favorability with the public is in the toilet. Self-reflection appears to be a forbidden endeavor. Trump appealed to a rage against the machine.
The Democratic Party is perceived as "the establishment" that has failed the public. We remain out of touch. We need to disabuse the beliefs that we represent the administrative state and cater to the elite.
It will really be interesting to see how Platner does. He is all over the place, claiming to be: a communist, socialist, and Antifa super soldier. The only thing he doesn’t claim is to a business owning capitalist. He has been accused of many things, but no one claims he is a leader.
Since Democrats expect their politicians to maintain party discipline, it is unclear how many Platner campaign promises he could keep.
For Maine to lose our current Senator, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee would be a significant loss of power and prestige for decades to come.
During the Biden years the face of the party included some who got overmuch exposure like Admiral Rachel Levine, Nuclear waste admin. Sam Brinson, CT representative, Rosa DeLauro. While these individuals demonstrate the diversity of the party, their appeal to working class voters was minimal. Platner may be seen as someone who appeals to the working class rather than how David Wong described working class perception of Democrats-- “The good guys are simple folk from the countryside while the bad guys are decadent assholes who live in the city and wear stupid clothes.” (David Wong, 2016--"How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind."--https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about
60% of Maine population is rural. Platner called rural, white Americans racist and stupid. Might be hard to get their votes...
Kind of a patronizing column in my view. I've always admired underdogs who take principled stands.
Principled stands like 'I'm a communist, I'm a socialist, defund the police, rural white Americans are racist and stupid, and heck I didn't know I had a Nazi tattoo for 20 years." Those are principled stands you admire?