Cross posted at Nat Wilson Turner
“…the timing of the politically fatal accusation against Graham Platner stinks. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the successful campaign to force Platner to give up his Senate bid was not about his character but his politics.” Yves Smith
After Graham Platner was forced from the Maine US Senate race — not because of the allegations printed in Politico, but rather because the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and Maine Democratic Party announced they were withdrawing their financial and technical support from the campaign — centrists have launched a campaign to purge the party of Platner’s voters, donors and key consultants.
Before we start…
I’ve already covered the machinery that forced Platner out of the race so this post will look at forces that are contending to capitalize on his campaign’s failure to punish political enemies or just boost their own clout.
I also covered the role of parasocial relationships, aka “stan culture,” in this situation in the previous piece. In short, I’m against cults of personality whether they’re built around putative progressives, fake-ass centrists, or reactionary fascists.
With that out of the way, let’s get into the current round of the Democratic Establishment vs. Progressive Populists. Go team!
If He’s So Innocent Why Is He Dropping Out?
From Platner’s video statement announcing the end of his campaign:
The brutal political reality is that they are going to take everything away from us. Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign.
We are going to lose our ability to fundraise. We are going to lose our ability to access voter data. We are going to lose all of the things that any campaign needs on the basic level simply to function.
Larger organizations. The national level party. The bigger donor networks. They have all committed to spending no money in this race if I’m in it.
They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.
In short, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), headed up by New York’s dynamic duo of genocide enthusiast Chuck Schumer and the astoundingly corrupt Kirsten Gillibrand (who also played a leading role in the defenestration of Al Franken), announced it “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”
Given that both Schumer and Gillibrand were Cuomo dead-enders in last year’s New York City Mayoral election — despite Cuomo having resigned from the Governor’s office after facing “credible accusations” from over a dozen women that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice confirmed — neither of them is a credible advocate against sexual violence and exploitation.
And as Ian Welsh pointed out a very long month ago in his prescient piece “Establishment Attacks On Platner Are Classic Woke Attacks On The Populist Left”, it was pretty gross that Cuomo was forced out of office for being a sex pest but no one seemed to care about the 12,000+ of New Yorkers who died directly as a result of his corrupt COVID policy decisions.
But let’s get to the fight for power.
Reminder: The GOP Incumbent Is A Disney Villain
This woman has done and will harm more women from Maine to Palestine than Platner could do in 100 years
From the archived piece:
Collins is not showing up to the fight empty-pocketed. According to federal campaign filings for the 2025-2026 election cycle, updated through June 7, at least 111 billionaires and their spouses from across the country gave just shy of $10 million to help her keep the seat.
These donations include direct campaign contributions–which are capped at $7,000 per cycle–as well as contributions to other PACs supporting her bid. Among these, Pine Tree Results, the main pro-Collins super PAC, has raised over $16 million and has already spent nearly $4 million opposing Platner.
But the Democratic establishment has other priorities than winning a Senate majority. There’s a populist uprising to nip in the bud!
Open Secrets points out what a deep deep hole the loss of Platner puts any Democrat challenging Collins in:
Platner’s withdrawal … exposed a deeper problem – a financial crater left behind in a pivotal race Democrats view as central to their hopes of regaining control of the chamber.
Before his populist campaign unraveled, the 41-year-old combat veteran and oysterman raised $16.3 million through May 20 and held nearly $2.2 million in cash on hand, according to filings his campaign submitted to the Federal Election Commission before the June 9 primary. While that cash total falls well short of the $10 million banked by Republican incumbent Susan Collins – who in 2020 kept her seat even though Democratic challenger Sarah Gideon outraised her by more than $45 million – it nevertheless dwarfs every potential Platner successor.
Send the Hordes Home In Their Hundred Thousands, 600 Insiders Will Choose
So here’s how the Maine Democratic Party intends to decide who the party’s official nominee for US Senate will be — this after overruling the wishes of a record 156,000 who voted for Platner in the June 9 primary — per the WaPo:
Since Platner suspended his campaign, a half-dozen Maine Democrats have announced they would run to replace him. On Thursday, the Maine Democratic Party said those candidates would need to submit a declaration of intent to run at a nominating convention, including a 300-word statement outlining their campaign vision and at least 500 signatures from registered Democratic voters in Maine.
Hours after Platner’s withdrawal, the Maine party announced it would hold a nominating convention July 25 with 601 voting delegates — 101 who are members of the Democratic State Committee and 500 who will be appointed at nominating meetings in each of the state’s 16 counties. The voting will be conducted in rounds, with the five highest vote-getters advancing to the second round and the candidate with the fewest votes eliminated in subsequent rounds until one remains. Only registered Democrats will be allowed to participate, the party said, citing Maine law.
“We are proud that this is one of the most open and inclusive processes that any state party has ever undertaken to replace a Senate nominee,” said Charlie Dingman, chair of the Maine Democratic Party.
Yea right.
There are many ways to organize far more representative caucuses which could engage far more than 0.002% of the 216,000 Mainers who voted in the June 9 primary — over 156,000 for Platner.
Call me crazy, but I really think an actually-democratic Democratic Party would have some kind of mechanism to remove a nominee through a vote of the electorate, but trial by social media followed by judgment by arbitrary elites is the system we’ve got instead, I guess.
Do the Mainers Even Buy This?
Morning Joe claims that Maine voters are not happy:
Joe Scarborough: I will say this, and this is just a word of warning to Democrats in Washington, D.C. Graham Platner was losing support with independents, no doubt about it. But I will tell you, me and [Mika?] have heard nothing — let me underline that, nothing but support from Maine Democrats on the ground for Platner.
Platner campaign signs are still up. They think that this is Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and the Washington establishment coming to get him.
They all have the same story. They started hearing 10 days ago that people were coming up to Maine and they were desperate to try to get Platner off the ballot because they thought Susan Collins had too much on him and would destroy him.
I will tell you, without revealing any names, that we have been bombarded by phone calls and text messages from people who want Graham Platner off the ballot, who are high up in Maine politics. And we’ve been getting that for the last two weeks.
So why do I say this? Because there’s a conspiracy? No, not at all.
Go back to what I said at the beginning — a warning to Washington Democrats. You do need to listen to Graham Platner, because whether it’s true or not just as Caddy said about her son who has been working on this campaign, rank-and-file Democrats who have been supporting Platner from the very beginning think that this was cooked up in Washington, D.C. with a lot of money behind it to find anything that could be found to get Graham Platner off the ballot.
And I will say, we know nothing about that. We just — [Mika] and I have been scratching our heads for the last couple of weeks going, why are we getting all these calls about Graham Platner needing to be off the ballot?
It’s almost like the last thing the Democratic establishment wants to do is engage an unruly, unusual coalition of real people.
The Platner campaign activating unengaged people is incredibly valuable, and excommunicating former supporters from progressive organizing would be a significant loss. pic.twitter.com/OFrzKFYfqQ
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) July 11, 2026
At least that’s my inference based on this representative tirade from Dem “strategist” Karen Finney on CNN’s The Source:
Karen Finney: I think the the Democratic primary voters owe the rest of the Mainers an apology. Democrat primary voters knew Graham Platner was awful the whole time. They knew that he said society should be disrupted if you didn’t agree with him. They knew that women had credibly accused him of physical abuse. They knew that, in fact, Graham Platner said that he had a very flexible moral compass. The badness is why Democrat primary voters picked him, and they’re the ones that foisted this problem on us. Don’t just blame Graham Platner. Blame, blame Maine Democrats.
It’s hard to imagine why her MSNBC show Disrupt With Karen Finney was cancelled after less than a year.
With the Dem establishment having dismissed the vast majority of Maine voters, the right-wing decided to go full witch hunt.
Going After the Donors?
The right-wing Leadership Institute’s website Campus Reform immediately tried to relive the good old days of the Fall 2023 witch hunt on pro-Palestinian activists.
Progressives should remember that they’re always in the gunsights of the right and that the centrist Democrats do NOT have their back.
Regardless, this attack is weaker than pressing criminal charges on people who mocked the martyred Charlie Kirk.
Let’s look at another story that isn’t as scary as it seemed from a glance at the headlines.
Next, Let’s Kill All the Consultants
(I’m alluding to Shakespeare, not claiming anyone is advocating actual violence)
As annoying as that kind of contempt for the will of the voters is and as scary as GOP witch hunts are, the forces of reaction weren’t done yet, or maybe this one was just Left factionalism, the ol’ circular firing squad.
Turns out some members of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) — the organization behind much of Zohran Mamdani and company’s success in New York City — have signed a letter calling for Platner and Mamdani consultant to no longer be hired by DSA affiliated candidates.
“We, the undersigned, call on DSA candidates and elected officials to no longer contract or work with Morris Katz or Fight Agency, his political consulting firm,” the letter reads.
Katz is not a member of DSA.
The letter also noted consultants at the agency like Rebecca Katz, who is not related to Morris, were also behind the campaign of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and said they continued to advise him even after he made a hard-right turn after entering the Senate.
Two sources with knowledge of the letter confirmed its authenticity.
“Morris Katz is one of the chief parties responsible for the catastrophic campaign of scandal-ridden Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner,” the letter says. “Billed as a top adviser to the campaign, Katz helped recruit Platner and supercharged his candidacy with slick video production, friendly media placements, and political connections.”
The only reason people are attacking Morris Katz is that he’s incredibly effective.
An as Ryan Grim pointed out, this is a trumped-up nothing burger: “This is not a DSA letter. There may be some DSA members writing one, but there are 120,000 DSA members doing lots of different things.”
But let’s follow that pivot at the end of the letter to Michigan.
The Attempted Pivot to Michigan
Former George W. Bush speechwriter, David “Axis of Evil” Frum chimed in with a strong pro-genocide statement:
If you’re an ex-Platnerite now sadder but wiser, there’s still time to stop the “Gaza First” socialists from giving away the Michigan Senate seat for factional reasons the way they tried (and likely succeeded in) giving away the Maine seat.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 10, 2026
Naturally, as a “Never Trumper”, the Dem establishment loves Frum — despite, or maybe because they have literally zero electoral appeal — and he feels free to pontificate as if he had the moral high ground.
Establishment apparatchick Neera Tanden agrees:
If I was the El-Sayed campaign, I probably wouldn’t want to be associated with Platner advisors’ previous push for Platner as a future President given that it sounds grotesque today. But then again, his campaign has all the same advisors so maybe he will be next https://t.co/aVqOEmPpjF
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) July 9, 2026
I’ll let David Sirota have the last word on this exchange:
The Clintonites have spent a quarter century trying to purge the Dem Party of anyone to the left of a Wall Street CEO. No guilt-by-association tactic is too grotesque for them. They maximize every unrelated scandal as an opportunity to try to expand their purge (see the below… pic.twitter.com/L7RSusBM6o
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 11, 2026
156,000 Mainers Can’t Be Wrong, and Now They’re Pissed Off
Nathan Barnard has a story with a bit more substance for DropSite News:
The 15,000 member volunteer network behind Graham Platner is now using its considerable leverage to push whoever replaces him as the Democratic Senate nominee to be aligned with the same policy platform that drove the largest primary turnout in Maine state history.
Drop Site has obtained a draft letter addressed “to the Maine Democratic Party and prospective candidates” notifying them of their policy demands.
“The volunteer infrastructure that this movement built – the organizers, door-knockers, the small-dollar donors, the hosts, the people who make phone calls and staff tables between now and November – does not transfer automatically to whoever the Party selects,” the letter states. “That infrastructure exists because people believe in a specific platform. It will only continue to exist and only continue to be deployed for a nominee who publicly and explicitly adopts these core commitments as their own.”
…
The tension between organizers and Maine Democratic party officials has grown as they determine a process to replace Platner. A former Platner staffer told Drop Site “all field and data” staff were moved onto MDP payroll before the rape allegations broke for “accounting purposes,” creating an awkward situation for the Platner organizers—who, like the volunteers, are unhappy with the MDP’s manuevers.On July 8, Platner campaign organizing director Spencer Toth resigned from the MDP over its lack of engagement with volunteers and organizers in determining the replacement process. Drop Site obtained his resignation letter.
“Together, organizers and volunteers built something much bigger than one candidate. They built the largest grassroots operation in Maine’s history, a people powered movement rooted in working class politics and the belief that ordinary Mainers deserve a real voice in the future of the Democratic party,” Toth’s resignation letter says. “But yesterday, the Maine Democratic Party said the people who built this movement will “have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.”
…
“That work matters. It cannot be treated as disposable. The people who knocked thousands of doors, organized their communities, and built local teams across the state deserve transparency, respect, and a meaningful voice in what comes next.”Toth concludes there is “no path forward to defeating Susan Collins without honoring and engaging the grassroots movement” the Platner campaign built across Maine. The future of the race should not be decided without the people who made the movement possible, Toth says.
“You deserve to have your voice heard and it is incumbent on each of you now to hold the Democratic Party accountable.”
Volunteers for Platner have broadly supported the nomination of Troy Jackson in place of Platner. On Friday morning, the Maine AFL-CIO also endorsed Jackson.
“We can pass Medicare for all, we can take on corporate power and the politicians in their pocket,” Jackson said in his Senate announcement video. “I’ve won in deep red Trump country and progressive cities like Portland and Bangor.”
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My instinct is that the decision to destroy Platner’s campaign based solely on allegations with no due process has likely cost the Democrats the chance to defeat Susan Collins, but where there’s life there’s hope.
What Was This Really All About?
And I’ll end with Thomas Neuberger’s point about what the Democratic establishment really wants: to prevent change:
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.
…
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’s what she said: real hope for real change. In my view, only the genuinely anti-establishment can do that.
…
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.
The fight to return the Democratic Party to its historic role as a representative for the working classes will be long and brutal, and it may be too little too late in the context of the fascist Trump regime, but it’s a long way from over.
Nat Wilson Turner
@dankelly your comment was a fascinating beginning of a very involved discussion that I’d love to have with you at the NatWilsonTurner site where paying subscribers earn my attention.
For observers, Dan was quoting a troll who’s been bugging me at Naked Capitalism and accusing me of “supporting” the Platner campaign, something I have been at pains NOT to do. I may sympathize but I do not support any electoral efforts in the US as we are long past the time of voting our way out of the polycrisis.
Dan Kelly
Hi Nat, and thank you for reaching out.
I just signed up for the free account. I’m already in substack’s system – they have my email and I have commented at a few other sites.
I do not currently give money to any sites including this one although I was a paid subscriber here briefly and have given much money to both blogs and ’causes’ over the years…back when I had spare disposable income.
I can’t spare five bucks a month?
Not for more than a site or two right now in my financial life.
I give whatever money I can spare directly to people living on the street so they may purchase food or do whatever with it they want…although I am very familiar with ‘the street’ so I avoid giving to someone who’s obviously going to immediately buy a crack rock with it.
I do what Ian suggests here by spreading the word – in a positive manner – about Ian’s site on other sites such as MOA – who has linked to Ian’s site recently I believe.
I do feel like a ‘freeloader’ at times.
So, I am unable to comment right now at your substack site.
Substack itself is another fascinating story with, yes, heavy Zionist ties to its founding and financing.*
It seems all roads circle back to Zion.
‘I may sympathize but I do not support any electoral efforts in the US as we are long past the time of voting our way out of the polycrisis.’
So then why do you spend such a significant amount of time on Platner?
For illustrative purposes?
I would understand that but as you yourself say we’re well beyond that and as I am attempting to illustrate many people already knew and know that and these people were all warning about Platner yet here we are…I am ‘guilty a sin’ too although I am slowly moving away from this – it’s like overcoming an addiction….but here we are again spending inordinate amounts of time on Platner – a part of the system we all agree is hopelessly compromised to the core.
The attitude that you just say you have towards US elections doesn’t emanate from your writing on the whole.
Thank you again Nat.
* I still have a gmail account for chrissake although I am moving towards proton I think.
StewartM
An alternative view (Jamelle Bouie, who would agree broadly more with the left-Ds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbSBOwJCKa8
I’m not sure I agree with either you or him. I rolled my eyes when Jamelle paraphrased the cringy “Women [and children] should be believed” (odd for a civil rights person to say that, given the Scottsboro case (white women falsely accusing a group of black boys of rape) and items like the McMartin Preschool case. OTH, my read of Plattner is that he’s disturbingly close to John Fetterman or Kyrsten Simena reborn. Just because someone speechifies as a leftist doesn’t mean that they’ll stay true once in power.
Nat Wilson Turner
Dan I’m writing so much about Platner because Yves Smith pays me to cover US electoral politics (among other things) at NC and this is one of the marquee races. Since the discipline of writing for her is what spurred me to write more consistently I am trying to keep my readers updated on the topics I follow for Yves (US electoral politics, the media business, the tech/AI business, civil unrest in the US/ICE, and Trump regime corruption). I will likely expand into geopolitics which I sometimes cover here for Ian.
Read my “Usual Caveats Apply” at this post. I am afraid I cannot avoid a certain amount of emotional investment in the back and forth drama of these campaigns and elections. I worked in politics and corporate public affairs for 20 years and am what they call a “politics junkie” — that doesn’t mean I’m not aware it’s mostly a show to distract the public.
I do believe what we can learn from the public opinion as expressed in polls, fundraising and elections tells us some truths about the state of mind of the people and that has value. I also am trying to reveal some of the machinations and people (the consultants, the donors, the PACS, the pollsters, the pundits) that drive public opinion. I think it has value for people to know who is who and who is doing what over time.
I also am an inherently entertaining and engaging writer, it’s a product of 20 years of very successful sports blogging.
As for your previous comment I don’t care to engage on the “gotcha” critiques of Platner, there are plenty of outlets in the MSM and on the “left” that are covering that stuff in depth.
And as for Gulag, the guy is a troll IMO who consistently decries any political action undertaken in the West as “artificial and driven by money” and then when asked what political movement meets his standards for spontaneity he inevitably cites Poland’s Solidarity movement (which I fervently supported as a child reading about it in TIME magazine and learning about it on 60 Minutes) which was backed with millions of dollars from the CIA.
Oakchair
What are the odds that someone who was in the military and is now opposing genocide and forever war will vote to oppose those things?
What are the odds that someone who wasn’t in the military and supports genocide and forever wars will vote to oppose those things?
Even if you knew nothing about Platner and the accusations the fact that one side is dead set on hurling insults, threats, and terminating any analysis on the topic tells you it’s a psyop operation.
The Epstein class isn’t incompetent —though they do pretend to be as a tactic— they control the internet, banks, and media and they know precisely how to get the 99% to devour itself.
The Dem establishment kicked/drove out anti-pharma, anti-war and anti-establishment voters and politicians. How’d that work out in 2016 and 2024? Is there a coherent logical reason why doing the same to those who were in the military, and code as “working class” will deliver different results?
As Warren Buffett said it’s a war and you’re losing. The desire to drive out people because they were in the military or appear as lower class or aren’t signaling purity virtue is not organic it was created by the ruling class as a weapon.
Feral Finster
AIPAC wins again.
I express no opinion concerning what Plattner may or may not have done, the evidence or anything to that effect.
That said, fingerwagging goodthink liberals who demand that we “believe women!” were not giving us any such lecture when Tara Reade was accusing Biden, or when Paula Jones, Juanita Broderick and many others fingered The Fat Boy as someone who didn’t take exactly for an answer.
For that matter, there’s the entire Epstein client list.
Any stick to beat a dog, I guess, and liberals and democrats look to the power of AIPAC and zee Plattner as a cautionary tale.
Dan Kelly
‘What are the odds that someone who was in the military and is now opposing genocide and forever war will vote to oppose those things?’
I don’t know. What are the odds?
‘What are the odds that someone who wasn’t in the military and supports genocide and forever wars will vote to oppose those things?’
Again, I do not know. What are the odds?
‘Even if you knew nothing about Platner and the accusations the fact that one side is dead set on hurling insults, threats, and terminating any analysis on the topic tells you it’s a psyop operation.’
‘the fact that one side is dead set on hurling insults, threats, and terminating any analysis on the topic’
Both sides…all sides…are hurling insults.
‘terminating any analysis…’
The analysis clearly shows he himself was a plant the whole time.
It certainly is a psyop. It’s still ongoing in a sense.
This is how deep this shit goes.
‘The desire to drive out people because they were in the military or appear as lower class or aren’t signaling purity virtue is not organic it was created by the ruling class as a weapon.’
They create the character and amplify the varying desires and let things play out accordingly.
We are back to the plain fact that, structurally speaking, there is no way Platner could do anything running as a democrat and as I suggested recently he was clearly profiled extensively (the military life is a breeding ground for this) so that he would act according to his profile – we are, after all creatures of habit – he acted according to said profile and thus was easy to ‘puil the switch’ on with the full knowledge that:
1) He won’t fight to stay in or change sides.
2) He can’t structurally even if he wants to.
Of course, if he was really tight with the IDF brother-in-law and was directly working for them the whole time then the whole thing was a ruse that he was in on from the get-go.
No hint of a Maine accent?!
I know he held town halls and did all the right things.
If he was one of theirs from the begininng then he was simply acting the whole time.
Dude’s a good actor.
Except for the accent…
Dan Kelly
‘Dude’s a good actor.
Except for the accent…’
Alright Mr Kelly, then why did so many Mainers fall for what you say was probably an act?
I don’t know.
Prehaps even hardcore lobsterment spend way too much downtime on their cell phones these days.
That seems to be THE problem.
Go out and watch even unionized workplaces on their breaks: everyone goes out and stares at their phones individually!
Rarely do you see people interact the way they did even as recently as, oh I don’t know, say. before the pandemic entirely ‘upended’ and literally destroyed so many peoples’ livelihoods and lives and previous habits.
Whatever one may think of what may or may not have really transpired with this whole covid- covid shot mess the plain fact is that ‘they’ did and continue to do a rahm emanuel by taking advantage of this golden opportunity to entirely remake the world even more in the interest of a top-down financial-surveillance state corporate prison complex.
somecomputerguy
A new conspiracy theory;
One of Platners on-video promises, was that even if he lost, the organization he helping to put together was intended to outlast the campaign.
When was control of Platners independent volunteer organization transferred to Maine Democratic Party control?
It couldn’t have been just before the new allegations surfaced, could it?
Was that the fatal mistake?
Mark Level
Many good comments, now that Platner is nearly behind us here. I think OakChair’s is the best and clearest. He could’ve raped as many women as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have, with impunity, if he hadn’t committed the Crime (it’s certainly a Crime in the UK and on many US college campuses) of not being pro-Genocide. He had to go for that reason, and it was well-engineered.
I originally supported Platner without knowing much about him beyond his purported Campaign promises, which should matter (even if they’re all politicians and you know they aren’t honest), the tipping point for me was when it was shared by a former woman lover that he fantasized about 2 men invading their house or apartment, had a detailed plan about tying up the burglars and raping them. Male victims, “It’s not gay,” “I would rape purely for power reasons”, etc. A very sick puppy.
Now if I lived in Maine (which would never happen) I would vote for him, holding my nose but knowing that Susan Collins is pure Evil, murdered 1,000s of American women by conspiring to overturn Roe, as well as Palestinians, Iranians, etc. But some people can’t resist making themselves first a spectacle, and then a bad joke. Insert Platner here.
Now a little tangent, not too off topic. I shared on Ian’s last open thread the good news of Lindsay Graham’s sudden & “rapid” death, when he looked healthy just 2 days prior hugging the Little Green Goblin, World’s Highest Paid Actor, Volodymyr Zelensky.
A lot of speculation about the suddenness of Ms. L’s death. Here’s the most interesting, hadn’t known all the facts before initial post this a.m. It emerged that during his recent junket to Ukraine, he went to a “secret” Drone Lab, put out some post holding a Phallic mini-drone therein. Oopsy!! The Russians bombed the once-secret site the next day, killing myriad ghouls or impressed labor. Loose lips do sink Shits!!
The other news that emerged is that in his last Ukraine trip, he submitted receipts for 4-5 nights at a Luxe Hotel, demanded the US Gov’t. comp him for $64,000 daily costs. Now this could be Legit, he obviously pays high-class Callboys for services. I doubt the Z-Man charges him for cocaine, probably a gratis gift, that could be the proximate cause of his sudden demise as well.
He danced with the Devil of Death, and the Bill came due. Hope he is rotting in one of the worst Circles of Hell, alongside say Christopher Hitchens and Henry Kissinger, or reincarnated as a garden slug or housefly. Good riddance. Oh, last joke from George Galloway, Ms. Lindsey was scheduled for his 64th appearance this morning on Meet the Press, to press for nuclear annihilation in Ukraine/Russia and thus of all humanity. A no-show, I’m sure whomever gets his spot will be as genocidal and insane.
Chance we’ll all be dead in 2 years slightly diminished by McConnell and Graham departing the scene.
Nat Wilson Turner
@StewartM Fetterman was always an open zionist. Platner is definitely not that. Sinema came up in a completely different political era and is not an apt comparison. If the NYT et al thought Platner could be bought they would have been happy to let him cruise into the Senate.
Dan Kelly
‘Dan I’m writing so much about Platner because Yves Smith pays me to cover US electoral politics (among other things) at NC and this is one of the marquee races.’
I understand Nat.
Thanks again.
‘Fetterman was always an open zionist. Platner is definitely not that.’
Not overtly but does that matter?
‘If the NYT et al thought Platner could be bought they would have been happy to let him cruise into the Senate.’
Perhaps.
That’s certainly the most immediately cogent argument in favor of the man.
I’m too untrusting and I suppose ‘deeply conspiratorial’ to be of much help.
I wonder if Platner would have gone after the dual citizenship problem and the issue of FARA?
https://israelpalestinenews.org/how-the-us-law-on-dual-citizens-was-changed-for-israel/
Alison Weir is persona non grata in these circles even though she has been ‘on’ this (Zionist power) since well before most of those who have become quite vocal about it more recently.
I think she was linked to at NC once.
I posted a comment about Alison Weir’s site and the work she does to a Jimmy Dore video back in the early days of the covid event – back when they read them aloud – Stefane Zamorano read it almost immediately and said, ‘Oh, we love Alison Weir!’…and then she hugged her poodle and went back into the main house and they never mentioned her again or ever had her on the show.
Ditto Grant Smith at IRMEP who Phil Weiss said – like once as is Phil’s gatekeeper wont – Weiss said that Grant has done the best work by far at uncovering the labyrinthine power of ‘the Jewish Lobby’ as it was always called including by Jews themselves – Smith did the best work via FOIAs and what have you.
Anyway, I was shortly thereafter ‘shadowbanned’ from youtube commenting – after the Dore incident I mean.
I could write comments and I could see them but they wouldn’t show up to the viewers at large as evidenced by opening a different browser and checking.
I do not know if that is the exact definition of ‘shadowbanning’ but that is what happened.
They were able to make it appear to me as if ‘my voice’ was getting through when it wasn’t.
There was no cursing or bad language or personal verbal attacks let alone physical threats which I have never engaged in – nothing of the kind.
The ability to comment again was returned months later when I just randomly happened to check again.
For her part, Alison Weir has received multiple death threats from ‘them’ over the years – including the very real specific time and place death threat that resulted in a police report and police escort – yet she persists under her own name and from within the country itself.
Weir, incidentally, also supports/supported Platner and doesn’t carry the extreme skepticism of and hostility towards the system that I apparently do.
I’m off on a tangent per usual but it is fascinating to note who and who isn’t persona non grata.
I have come to believe that the entire alleged ‘anti-western’ ecosystem we are inhabiting is a reverse-psychology operation of controlled operation which creates unappealing advocates intentionally in order to ultimately steer most ‘normies’ back into the system – neutering that potential energy – while also capturing the truly dangerous real and potential ‘revolutionaries’ and their ilk.
As someone who didn’t grow up in leftist circles or really any circles other than the middle class suburbs, this whole wheat cracker is very familiar with the ‘average person’ and it is very obvious to my own common sense that certain voices and platforms are amplified as advocates but these voices tend to be so extreme or rigid or just plain off-putting that they alienate the average person.
This may already sound incredibly ‘conspiratorial’ but it is in fact very logical and these people are hyperrational – like chess masters who can now all be beat by the computers their kind invented!
I’m so crazy I believe that Assange was a long-term hangout.
I mean, in hindsight, it easy to see that – whether intentionally or not – instead of sparking a genuine, organized political revolution, the wikileaks saga turned ‘anti-imperialism’ and free speech into a decades-long, exhausting legal drama which centered on a single individual!
It sent a terrifying message to would-be whistleblowers while safely burning out the energy of millions of activists on what amounted in the end to a digital spectacle.
Thanks again Nat, Ian and everyone.
Nat Wilson Turner
I’m not familiar with Ms Weir. Please link me up
Feral Finster
In contemporary discourse, what matters is not the truth or falsity of the allegations (once again I have no idea and express no opinion whether or to what extent any of the claims concerning Plattner are or may betrue.) but the relative status of the accuser and accused.
It’s high school, all the way down.
Dan Kelly
Hi Nat,
Here is her original site which has been up since 2000? I think. I’m not sure. I remember this being one of the first places I saw the image of the original size of Palestine and how much land has been taken by the Zionists since the early 1900’s.
https://ifamericansknew.org/
A more recent site is called ‘Israel Palestine News’ with almost daily updates. Here is a link to the dual citizen article.
https://israelpalestinenews.org/how-the-us-law-on-dual-citizens-was-changed-for-israel/
Here is an article in which she reposts from ‘Young Turks’ (I can’t stand Young Turks) and also Matt Stoller in favor of Platner:
https://israelpalestinenews.org/commentary-bombshell-graham-platner-report-has-big-problems/
https://israelpalestinenews.org/new-york-socialism/
Those are just a few direct links..both sites are well worth perusing if time allows.
I also wanted to follow up on my characterization of Phil Weiss as a ‘gatekepre’ because Mondoweiss does some excellent work. They have or had a bureau in Palestine.
I was an early commenter-contributor to the site when Phil began it after having a talk with his boss at The Observer about Israel in which he said that he wanted to write more openly about the pervasive Jewish community support for it…from a ‘Jewish perspective’ as he made no bones about saying – in fact ‘from a Jewish perspective’ was in the ‘masthead’ of the website.
There were early commenters at the site named ‘citizen’ and ‘american’ who took the predominantly ‘america first’ attitude and were respectful.
Jeffrey Blankfort and Gilad Atzmon would both be linked to and would comment there from time to time.
Phil himself was always going through his own exceedingly slow metamorphosis on the issue and, again, he was very upfront about his own inner feelings although he didn’t seem to have the awareness of what was right in front of him or he was just unable to ‘see it’ at that time.
There is much more to say as memories are flooding me right now but the point is that while both the ‘america first’ type people and the jeff blankfort leftist types (Blankfort is Jewish himself and wrote a famous article on Noam Chomsky’s and the wider left’s Israel problem)… while these people were ‘imploring’ Phil to see what was going on, Phil was a very very slow learner.
There was also a woman named ‘Annie’ who was there from almost the beginning and she sort of took a middle line sometimes between the people being really hard on Phil for not ‘seeing the light’ or coming around more quickly…between them and Phil himself and some of the more fervent supporters of Israel including a man named Richard Witty.
Witty eventually ended up being banned along with Blankfort, Atzmon and some others in what Phil attempted to make out as an even deal…but in reality the site lost the truly anti-Zionist voices who were willing to go after the ‘Jewish’ power structure – not ‘the Jews’ – and were more than happy to say so openly as both Jeff Blankfort and Gilad Atzmon were.
Phil eventually hired Annie into a paid position… she went from commenter to cooment moderator I think…and then a writer.
So, Phil initially liked JStreet even though he was warned it was a front and it took him a long time to see the light on that one alone.
Who knows how much time JStreet wasted…as was the intent.
Phil’s site is where I first heard the word ‘Ziocaine’ – an apt description if ever there was one – to describe what Jewish Israelis in particular are subjected to.
It was coined by a commenter named Dana or Danaa who I think was a woman but I am not sure.
Danaa talked about how ingrained the idea that the entire gentile world is and always has been against ‘the Jews’ and particularly Israeli Jews where she herself spent her formative years and then some.
She elucidated ‘the power’ really well.
Ziocaine.
I wish I could link to some of those comments now but the early days of Mondoweiss are gone and not archived.
Phil would also allow this dude whose name escapes me now but he coined the term ‘judeofacism’ which is really great particularly in the face of ‘islamaofacism’ and ‘christian facism’ and every other kind of facism under the sun.
Chris Moore I think his name was but the guy, despite the great ‘judeofacism’ – the guy was a total ‘hater’ on everything else under the sun. The Jews are behind all gayness and just these ridiculous extremes which led to his early banning even before blankfort et al.
Moore posts at Unz and used to post at alethonews when aletho allowed comments on his site.
Aletho was originally ‘atheo’ and he commented regularly at tom feeley’s ‘information clearing house – news you won’t find on cnn or fox’ which was primarily ‘leftist’ but had libertarians and the like as well.
Libertarian Atheo would post about Chomksy in the same way Blankfort talked about him – an establishment stooge and ‘closet’ zionist.
Atheo also wrote well on the 9/11 job which, again, the libertarian right was much much better on than the left with very few exceptions.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling.
Oh yeah: Phil and the aforementioned Grant Smith of IRMEP and Alison Weir…as well as the late Justin Raimondo of AntiWar.com – they all had a conference together at least once that I remember:
https://mondoweiss.net/2014/03/conservatives-for-palestine/
https://www.natsummit.org/
There have been others since – perhaps every year? – but this was the first I believe, back in 2014.
Mondoweiss goes back to 2006 – those are the early days that are gone now.
There was a ‘transition’ period as well when Adam Horowitz came onboard and some of the regulars at the time (2010) wondered aloud if the extra money and expansion that came with bringing Horowitz on board perhaps didn’t also come with some nudges away from the ‘harder’ anti-Zionist content/comments.
Again, one wouldn’t know any of this if they just started reading the site today and Phil Weiss himself is I guess totally non-Zionist or whatever now.
And he’s gotten Peter Beinart and others to come around from their ‘libreal zionist’ stance and that’s great I guess.
Yet some of us can’t help but wonder what may have been…
https://ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-blankfort.html
https://media.azpm.org/master/image/2026/2/10/large-nofloat/chomsky-bannon_H0wJTnB.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkYHsOBxC3WJ80Tb13doNsFUjottsc39aFO5amcBh-c0tsYktp-JIXyRU&s=10
Nat Wilson Turner
Wow, thanks for the education! Will take me some time to get to all of this. Why did you say “Alison Weir is persona non grata in these circles” in your previous comments? What circles? Why?
different clue
If the Platner volunteers can conquer the DemSenate nomination for Troy Jackson, that would show them to be a more-than-just-Platner movement with some real power.
If they can’t conquer that nomination, would they support a Troy Jackson run for Senate as an Independent? That would show that they are a more-than-just-Platner movement and not just a Platner fan club. And if they could help defeat the Dem nominee and cause Collins to be re-elected, would they want to do that? It would show they have the power of successful revenge and that there is a price to pay for ignoring them. Would re-electing Collins be a price worth paying on order to show their ability to get successful revenge and lay the basis for ongoing efforts to conquer the MaineDems and purge, exterminate and decontaminate the mainstreamers from out of the MaineDem Party? Or maybe even beat them into submissive obedience?
Dan Kelly
I should begin by saying it’s just my own speculation, obviously, but it may be because of her association with more ‘libertarian pure free speech types’ because they were the only ones who gave her a platform – and this is radio shows primarily we are talking about and later podcsts as well I imagine.
I think we see this with unz.com where Ron Unz is pretty close to a free speech purist and allows a lot of things that people just don’t want to be a part of even given that one is free to pick what one wants to read and discard the rest.
It’s still an overall environment of sorts. An online community.
The alethonews site I mentioned does excellent work on Palestine but aletho seems to be entirely against any facet of climate change let alone the largely establishment consensus which is taken to be unduly alarmist.
So, Alison would go on radio shows that also hosted people with views who many find unsavory to say the least.
You know, you’re on the show just talking about Palestine-Israel but that same show later talks to a KKK guy or something.
I believe she spoke on Pacifica and perhaps some other ‘left’ platforms. Hell, Guns and Butter interviewed Chris Bollyn and that is on the Pacifica network out west though not here in the northeast where I am.
But not much on the left or really on the whole anywhere given the importance of the issue…whihc was really outlined well in that Jeffrey Blankfort piece on Chomksy and the Left.
So that is my own speculation as to why. A desire to avoid any guilt-by-association.
Alison would go anywhere to speak on the issue and then do question-and-answer with the audience but I imagine every single time they descended on her and often the venue then has to cancel due to pressure and then apologize.
So then word gets out about that and she becomes persona non grata.
Eric F
You say: “…The fight to return the Democratic Party to its historic role as a representative for the working classes…”
If you truly mean ‘historic’ you should qualify the phrase ‘working classes’ to not include the slaves owned by historic Democratic Party presidents (and other major Democratic Party figures).
different clue
@Eric F,
Perhaps ‘historic’ refers to a more recent historic time when ‘New Dealers’ took over the Party just enough to be able to force through some Working-Class Neutral legislation and regulation. ( And America to that time had been rules by such viciously antiworkeritic antiworkerites that mere interclass neutrality felt like “pro Working Class” by comparison).
The Plantation Democrats from before the War became the Dixiecrats in 1948 and moved on to becoming Republicans during and after Nixon.
StewartM
Nat Wilson Turner
Fetterman was always an open zionist. Platner is definitely not that. Sinema came up in a completely different political era and is not an apt comparison.
Anti-Zionism is important, but it’s not the only issue.
Fetterman works with Trump on ICE. He’s supported key (bad) Trump cabinet nominees. He’s for “Trump Accounts”. He’s even publically toyed with switching parties. And, he’s critical of Platner, if that’s important to you.
I will give Jamelle credit for one thing: Starner in the UK, was following the same shtick, by pandering to ‘blue collar’ prejudices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNFic3cTD4E
Fetterman is like that, and I suspect Platner would be too.
different clue
The caption under Collins’s photo says . . . ” This woman has done and will harm more women from Maine to Palestine than Platner could do in 100 years “.
If the Dems nominate a Corporate MainStreamer, would that Corporate MainStreamer do less harm to women from Maine to Palestine than Collins could do in the next six years? If so, how much less? And will there be a harm-gap wide enough between Collins and the DemParty nominee wide enough to lead disappointed Platner-backers to vote for the DemPerson to avoid the Collins damage-payload?
(Colonel Lang sometimes used to write that in many situations, all the choices are bad . . . just different flavors of bad. I once in a comment over there offered the phrase: Hobson’s Pastry Tray. But it never took off. I still miss Sic Semper Tyrannis and Turcopolier too. They have both disappeared utterly from off the webs and the nets with basically no trace. Maybe their undead ghost unlives on at the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.)
Planter of Trees
The loss of SST was a real hit to independent geopolitical commentary. Basically the only place to find informed English-language commentary on Syria in the 2010s. I believe after the Colonel’s passing it was handed over to a fellow who went by the handle ‘The Twisted Genius’ with the stated intention of maintaining the site both as a forum and a memorial. Both the site and TTG seemed to vanish right quick after 10/7.
different clue
I remember SST going on for at least a few months after 10/7. I neglected to read it as steadily as I should have. I thought archived versions would be up for a long time even if it stopped current ongoing output,so I could always circle back and read it later.
In its last couple of years Colonel Lang changed its name to Turcopolier, and The Twisted Genius kept it going under that name. But there was also a legacy archive of Sic Semper Tyrannis still up. And there was a much lesser known sister blog the whole time as SST was up called The Atheneum, or maybe the Aethenium, more for matter strictly of classics and culture.
And I see that at some point it ALL disappeared. Even the blog-urls have been sold or given away to unrelated things. Maybe if I had been reading it every day toward the end, I would have seen an announcement about shutting it down. Perhaps a circle of deepest insiders is still keeping it going under deepest private cover so the rest of us will never know.
I will have to have the exact correct URL-address to find it on Internet Archive. Internet Archive stores lots of blogsites, but since it does not have a title index so far as I know, it is impossible to find anything there without the exact URL-address you are looking for. It seems like a filing cabinet full of files and firmly welded shut in that regard.