Alex Wagner: ICE Is Still Killing People

**Tim Miller** (0:12)
Hello, and welcome to The Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Delighted to welcome back to the show, host of the podcast, Runaway Country, from Crooked Media. She also writes the sub stack, How the Hell with Alex Wagner. That's my buddy, Alex Wagner.

**Alex Wagner** (0:25)
Hi, friend. It's great to see you.

**Tim Miller** (0:26)
What's up? It's good to see you too. You're fresh. You're off of vacation. I read on your sub stack. I am dragging. I'm heading into vacation.

**Alex Wagner** (0:35)
The drag hits fast, even after you get back from vacation.

**Tim Miller** (0:39)
Vacation is on the horizon for me. And, you know, the Graham Platner agonistus this week has been the thing that's about ready to send me over the edge. So I'm looking for you to carry me today.
Let's start with Platner. There's a ton of news. Trump is, I mean, doing insanity right now in Europe as we're talking.

**Alex Wagner** (1:00)
Even more so than usual. I guess it's more public. It's like when your crazy old uncle starts running around naked outside, you're like, oh, this is another level of embarrassing.

**Tim Miller** (1:09)
That's what's happening. So we're going to get to that towards the end in case he literally does get naked.

**Alex Wagner** (1:13)
I don't want to miss that. We have no dignity left as a country. That would be the end of it.

**Tim Miller** (1:18)
So we'll do politics first. The latest in the Platner story is that he hasn't dropped yet. Literally everyone has called for him to drop out, including Bernie Sanders and Zoran and other people from his wing of the Democratic Party.
Even his consultants are starting to do the thing this morning that was like, this wasn't us looking around.

**Alex Wagner** (1:41)
I didn't talk to the New York Post.

**Tim Miller** (1:42)
Who are the guys that did this? All we did was dance. So everybody's trying to get out of it.
By the time this publishes, who knows if anything will change. I think there's some worries that Platner tries to gut this out and does a Democratic Roy Moore.
I hope that is not the case. What we do know is that they are at minimum putting the Maine Democratic Party in a really tough spot. And he's got till this coming Monday at 5 p.m. to drop out, if he chooses to do so. He's been trying to... Well, let's actually just listen. This is the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. And let me tell you, she deserves hazard pay for what she's dealing with right now. And she put out this video yesterday kind of summarizing the state of affairs.

**Devon Murphy Anderson** (2:29)
Hi, everyone. I wanted to provide you all an update on the US. Senate race here in Maine. As you know, the Maine Democratic Party has been working around the clock to develop a process to replace our US. Senate nominee that is open, inclusive, transparent, and fair. The integrity of this process is just as important as the outcome. And we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have confidence in both.
Unfortunately, Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have also reiterated that Graham Platner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November.

**Tim Miller** (3:13)
That's Devon Murphy Anderson. Shout out to her.

**Alex Wagner** (3:15)
Much respect. Much respect, Ev.

**Tim Miller** (3:17)
What do you make of all that, Alex?

**Alex Wagner** (3:18)
I mean, first of all, I've been using the word hubris.
I've been using the word ego. These words are insufficient for the level of self-involvement, selfishness, betrayal that we see from Graham. Like, it would have been bad enough that he lied about the Nazi tattoo. It would have been bad enough that there was the infidelity that he kept lying to his supporters and the public about the next shoe to drop. The rape allegations, which you talked about at length and I'm sure we'll continue to talk about, are entirely credible. It's the end of his campaign. The idea that he has any currency left to try and manipulate the process by which his replacement is chosen is, I think, the apex of toxic masculinity. Who the fuck does he think he is? First of all, can I just say, anything endorsed by Graham Platner is therefore tarnished by Graham Platner. Like, why does he think it would be a good thing for any Democrat to be?