Victor Davis Hanson: The Rise and Fall of Socialist Graham Platner

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Welcome to The Daily Signal podcast, where we provide intelligence for the intelligent. Now, without further ado, here's today's take.

**Victor Davis Hanson** (0:08)
For the last month or so, we've heard nothing but Graham Platner, but Graham Platner, Graham Platner. He's very controversial, as we all remember. We learned that he had smeared and slandered fellow veterans. He was on social media sites that usually were used by molesters. And he had the Totenkopf death heads tattoo. But a new development happened this week when another person came forward and said that not just that she had her arm twisted and had been physically assaulted, but she said she was raped. And then everything started to change. All these terrible things I just reviewed about Graham Platner were known to the left-wing voters of Maine. But even they were not bothered with all the things I reviewed and resided. So what happened?
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. For the last month or so, we've heard nothing but Graham Platner, but Graham Platner, Graham Platner. He is a quote on, quote, oyster man from Maine that was a four tour combat veteran who the Democratic Party, Mr. Katz, a very obscure 27 year old activist, recruited for the Democratic Party to run against Susan Collins for the senior senator slot in Maine. And he's very controversial, as we all remember. After he declared his candidacy, we learned that he had smeared and slandered fellow veterans. He was on social media sites that usually were used by pedophiles and molesters. He had been married recently, yet he was sexting with two or three other women. One of his former girlfriends said he had used violence to twist her arm. I could go on. He had the Totenkopf death heads tattoo, a Nazi symbol of the 3rd Panzer Division, and the Einstengruppen at the death camps of Germany. But a new development happened this week when another person came forward and said that not just that she had her arm twisted and had been physically assaulted, but she said she was raped. And then everything started to change. And what caused this change? Because remember one thing, all of these terrible things I just reviewed about Graham Platner, were known to the left-wing voters of Maine. And they factored that in in the primary vote. And so much was their zeal for a socialist candidate, and he is a socialist, whether he declares himself that or not, or their hatred of Donald Trump, or their desire to get a Senate seat so they can maybe impeach and convict Donald Trump, I don't know, but they were fine with that. But two recent developments occurred where the Democratic Party said, well, you may be fine, and you may have given him 70% of the primary vote, but we're going to stop this.
But even they were not bothered with all the things I reviewed and resided. So what happened? Number one, the latest person is a Democrat, a liberal Democrat. They can't smear her as they did the prior one who was a conservative as acting out of political motivations. So that was a change. She got more credibility. She was known for a long time. They had banked her and thought that she might be useful to end his candidacy if more things came out. So when she went to Politico and gave her story, a left-wing organization and media outlet, the Democratic Party acted because of the second factor that changed everything. He had been seven or eight points ahead in the polls, and then he started to descend with these revelations, and now he was either even or descending, and they were afraid he was going to lose that seat. So suddenly, they got religion, so to speak, and they demanded that he get off. He gave a taped 11-minute confessional, not about that he was culpable, but that he was going to suspend, suspend his campaign. Notice what I said. I didn't say end, quit. He didn't say that. He's got about five days from the time I'm talking to formally get his name off the ballot according to election law in Maine. If he doesn't, it stays on the ballot, even if the Democrats nominate another candidate, and it won't matter. He's still on the ballot. I think that's why he said he was going to suspend. In other words, he's telling the Democratic Apparat, you took me off and I'm not going to go so easily. I'm going to put my finger in the wind in the next four or five days, six days, and see how people feel. They may feel I'm another Al Franken, where they metude Al Franken because of that grotesque picture where he put his hand on the breast of a sleeping woman, and then they found out that they were going to lose that seat and they regretted it. So, Graham Platner is basically saying, the people want me, and I think the socialist movement of your party wants me, and you overshot, and I'm not going to quit yet until I can feel where the momentum and the power is in the next few days. There's another factor to remember. He is a vindictive person.