OH, GRAHAM

The fall and rise and fall of Graham Platner

I’m trying to understand the relief that has accompanied the news that Graham Platner has ended his Senate campaign after an acquaintance named Jenny Racicot claimed he broke into her home five years ago and raped her. (He disputes her allegations.) I had breakfast with Platner two months ago - shortly before a blizzard of lesser accusations by other women - and was impressed by his taste for economic and political reform. His view that the political and economic systems of this country are designed to benefit elites resonated with me. It’s been a long time since Democrats had a candidate who worked with his hands, has been to war and wanted to overthrow the economic elite, and that was clearly something Mainers voters were waiting for: He won the Maine Democratic primary by a landslide

But along with the excitement, I think there was also a sense among supporters that the other shoe was going to drop, and now that it has, they can finally move on. I include myself in that category. The pity of this predicament is that people who were politically energized by his message - including a large majority of women in the New York Times comments section - found themselves at risk of appearing to be apologizing for a serial abuser. One friend told me that his ultra-feminist wife was devastated by Platner’s downfall, as were many of her female friends. She blamed it on “the Democrats.”

I think she meant that Platner wasn’t properly vetted, which is an important point, but first let’s dispense with Platner’s own explanations. Tasteless tattoos and reddit posts are one thing, but a pattern of physical abuse is quite another, and Jenny Racicot has finally made that pattern impossible to ignore. Platner has repeatedly suggested that his transgressions are a product of alcoholism and combat experience - both of which were horrific - but that is enormously unfair to alcoholics and combat veterans. I was in a lot of combat with some very rough guys - one of the things I liked about Platner was that he reminded me of my experiences in Afghanistan - and quite a few of those men also drank too much. I know the type, in other words. But the vast majority of combat veterans do not assault women in their homes. Sorry, but post traumatic stress disorder does not predispose men towards abuse or sexual assault, even when coupled with alcoholism. After two decades of war - and now with another war taking shape in Iran - implying otherwise does a huge disservice to vets.

Whatever the true origins of Platner’s troubles, my heart goes out to his parents, his wife, his victims and Platner himself. They must all be going through hell. Platner represents the kind of economic populist that I believe America needs during a time of staggering corruption and income disparity, and I also resent the fact that such noble positions are now paired with sexual abuse. Somehow Republicans have weathered far worse without batting an eye, but that’s not a Democratic or an American problem; the GOP will come around in their own time.

Meanwhile, it’s vitally important to continue upholding the kind of anti-war, anti-corruption, anti-corporatist platform that Platner so brilliantly articulated. His is a strain of American populism that goes back more than a century and could just as easily fit a Democratic candidate as a Republican one. A lot of things can be extracted from Platner’s painful implosion, but perhaps the most important is the realization that most Americans crave economic justice. Our society has created a small number of grotesquely wealthy people, but we are somehow all discouraged from discussing that with our political adversaries. Platner’s brilliance was that he did not see that boundary; he saw no boundary except the one between the vast majority of decent, hardworking people and the political elites. If either party wants to salvage its corrupt and degenerate reputation, I would suggest listening to Platner’s campaign speeches. For many people - despite his massive failures - this man spoke the truth.