Posting My L's On Maine

**Jon Favreau** (0:00)
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Since everyone's doing lessons learned from the Platner debacle, what are yours?

**Alex Seitz-Wald** (1:10)
Dig into people's past more, obviously, but believe my eyes and ears more, but also hold views strongly, but lightly, like be willing to change your mind when evidence changes things. And I think that, you know, Platner took his voters on a ride.
I don't think we can blame the voters for that, but I think we need to be on as much as we want regular people, quote unquote, to get more into politics and have fewer, you know, fancy Harvard Yale lawyers in office. I think it will make everybody second guess of the kind of next viral candidate that comes out of the nowhere.

**Jon Favreau** (2:05)
I'm Jon Favreau, and you just heard from this week's guest, Alex Seitz-Wald, a former NBC political reporter who's now the deputy editor of The Midcoast Villager in Maine. I haven't really had a chance to talk about the Graham Platner fiasco because I was on vacation when it happened, in Maine, of all places, staying with Emily's family in Biddeford. I kept Twitter off my phone for the week, wisely, it turns out, so I had some extra time to think and even talk to some real life Maine voters about the whole thing. Mostly, I'm still furious at Platner for his dishonest and selfish and reckless behavior that's left so many people feeling hurt and betrayed. Jenny Rassicott and Lindsay Fifefield, his wife Amy and others who care about him, the staffers, volunteers, and voters who believed in him, many who finally allowed themselves to feel a glimmer of hope about politics that was just snuffed out by yet another reason to stay cynical and disengaged. What an incredible fucking disappointment. People keep looking for lessons Democrats are supposed to learn from Platner's downfall. Clearly, his campaigning consultants should have demanded more thorough vetting. At the very least, they should have interviewed their candidate. Just a baffling failure. But honestly, even the most extensive vetting can't help a candidate who refuses to be honest with his closest advisors. Platner lied to his campaign, the press, the public, and honestly, my first reaction after watching his exit video was that he may even be lying to himself. I obviously liked Graham Platner. I didn't actually endorse him over Janet Mills because, as I said at the time, I wanted to keep an open mind and let the primary process play out, which is why we made it a point to interview both candidates on Pod Save America. But I was definitely impressed with Platner. I also believed him when he apologized for the person he used to be. I believed him when he said that his life started getting better a few years ago because he finally got help and reconnected with his community and met his wife, when he talked about how he's grown and changed.
Now it turns out that I gave him a lot more trust than he deserved. And that feels shitty, as is the fact that I'll probably approach the next candidate I'm inspired by with more skepticism.
A principle I try to live by in life and in politics is to assume well of other people and to show grace when they ask for it. Even if it's possible, they'll make me regret it.