r/moderatepolitics • u/TheWyldMan • 3d ago

News Article Graham Platner’s Wife Flagged Sexually Explicit Texts to His Senate Campaign

https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/graham-platners-wife-flagged-sexually-explicit-texts-to-his-senate-campaign-628ec832?mod=e2tw
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138

u/ArtanistheMantis 2d ago

Had a Nazi tattoo, called himself a communist in 2021, mocked a purple heart recipient saying the "dumb motherfucker didn't deserve to live", and now we find out he's unfaithful with his wife. There was really no one better to pick in the Maine primary than this guy?

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u/airforceCOT 2d ago edited 2d ago

There was, but it seems Platner and his many controversies resonated more with the base and was more relatable so they picked him.

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u/Ruffles98 2d ago edited 2d ago

Platner is the result of Trump's America. Scandal after scandal from the Trump administration and people have been desensitized. The average Maine voter will be scrolling, see this headline, and feel nothing. The article is paywalled so they won't read it.

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u/Rysilk 2d ago

Jesus. Everything is trumps fault. Now even bad democrats aren’t democrats fault but trumps fault. I stubbed my toe this morning I guess that was trumps fault too

Let me ask a question. At what point does one take responsibility for their own actions?

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u/andygchicago 1d ago

It’s not that it’s Trumps fault so much as it is Trump tearing up the playbook. It’s going to be rocky until a new standard is set. If you go back, it seems like there’s always one person that rewrites politics every 50-60 years

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u/Rollen73 2d ago

I think blaming Trump is somewhat overdone but the utter destruction of political norms in this country is very much trumps fault. Before Trump politicians had way more stringent standards on how they were supposed to act.

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u/Bullet_Jesus There is no center 2d ago

"Grab 'em by the pussy" would have destroyed a prior political candidate. At the time people thought this would doom Trump in the close race 2016 was shaping up to be. Then he won, served a term, lost and then won again.

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u/Plastastic Social Democrat 2d ago

At the time people thought this would doom Trump in the close race 2016 was shaping up to be.

Crazy how so many people seemed to drop Trump only to pick him back up when he skated through the whole thing.

I think that's why Giuliani is so close with Trump, he never jumped ship even in the campaign's darkest days.

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u/Sckaledoom 2d ago

Yeah, at least once a week they’ve had a scandal that would sink any other admin. Instead they get treated like gold.

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u/TeamPencilDog 2d ago

I'm an independent, not a Democrat nor Republican.

But Trump is POTUS. He's the leader. You can't really say that his actions don't have an effect on how the populace sees politics. Politics is much different than "stubbing your toe."

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u/CreativeCucumber17 2d ago

This is especially true when he's been in politics for a decade plus now. There's a whole generation of kids that have been raised thinking this style of politics is normal, and unfortunately there are no signs that it's going away.

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u/Xanto97 Elephant and the Rider 2d ago

Meh, We should all take responsibility for our own actions. But it’s just sort of comical for conservatives to look down on platner for x controversies after years of trump’s. Paxton has a ton of controversies and just won his primary too.

The environment has changed as a result of trump.

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u/K20BB5 2d ago

Why are you holding redditors to higher standards than the President of the United States? It's truly pathetic 

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u/Solarwinds-123 2d ago

Well a Redditor is running for a Senate seat in Maine, so it's kinda relevant.

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u/eyeshinesk 2d ago

The hell does this mean? I kinda hate the term, but this really is whataboutism. Let’s just go ahead and admit when someone or some group of people are disgracing themselves, regardless of how others (namely Trump) have disgraced themselves as well.

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u/Adventurous-Fact-523 1d ago

He has set a precedent of politicans getting away with awful stuff. If trump and Republicanss get low so will Democrats

2

u/pabloivan57 1d ago

Because it is true, his level of scandal truly desensitized the country. This is nothing, like absolutely nothing compared to the Epstein files, yet there he is in power...

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u/julius_sphincter 1d ago

Now even bad democrats aren’t democrats fault but trumps fault. I stubbed my toe this morning I guess that was trumps fault too

Let me ask a question. At what point does one take responsibility for their own actions?

This is hilarious because at this point I regularly see people that voted for Trump in 2024 that now clearly aren't happy with how things are going and say "well, the Democrats shouldn't have ran such a shitty candidate"

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u/Ruffles98 2d ago edited 2d ago

Platner's behavior isn't Trump's fault. Democratic voters not caring about Platner's behavior, is Trump's fault. He lowered the standards for politicians in the country.

Trump posted an AI video of himself flying over protesters and dropped poop on them. This kind of behavior has an effect on the entire country's psyche.

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u/Rysilk 2d ago

No. Democrats not caring about platners behavior is a direct microscope into the hypocrisy of democrats and to say otherwise is showing a complete lack of accountability. Republicans have their own hypocrisy and accountability problems.

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u/Ruffles98 2d ago

If I saw this headline about Platner a decade ago I would have been upset. I remember feeling grossed out about Trump's "grab em by the pussy" a decade ago. Now I genuinely feel nothing about this headline. A decade of Trump scandals and gross behavior does that to people.

There is a very real desensitization happening. Nobody is angry about Trump using the White House for product placement, selling a Trump Phone or other Trump products. Nobody is angry about Trump's AI videos anymore, or pumping and dumping the entire market. Turns out nobody is angry about Platner's texts or Reddit posts or tattoo either.

"When they go low, we go high" is over. Now everyone goes low.

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u/BlockAffectionate413 2d ago

"We go high" ? Like the Robert Bork hearing? Thomas hearing? Kavanaugh? That is fiction.

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u/Justinat0r 1d ago

Sorry but pearl clutching isn't persuasive anymore. Try another angle this one isn't working.

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u/BlockAffectionate413 1d ago

Robert Bork hearing was long before Trump. So point is it was never working for Democrats, they never" went high" as shown by fact that they were ones who were agressors/escalators in judicial nominee fights, they just lost because Leo was smarter.

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u/Foreign_Telephone349 21h ago

I love how you had to go back 40 years to get 2 examples of Democrats going low. I only need to go back like 1 week to do the same for the current administration.

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u/BlockAffectionate413 21h ago

Well I do not, I mean this whole thread is about it! It is not about something 40 years ago. My point here was about those who want to say Demorats are only now willing to go low due to Trump but did not long before Trump.

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u/Foreign_Telephone349 21h ago

I guess at least your last sentence is a little self aware.

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u/SliceRepulsive8649 2d ago

The irony here is palpable

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u/thom_mayy 2d ago

This is the most ironic comment I've ever read in my entire life

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u/Beneficial_Elk5868 2d ago

What do you disagree with that was said?

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u/longlosthall 2d ago

This. I'm not convinced his shortcomings weren't the reason he was approached to run. If I were the Democratic Party I would be doing experiments like this with flawed outsiders. The responses to Platner on the left/right so far have been almost a perfect inverse of what they were to Trump in 2015 so I'll be interested to see how things shake out. 

Republican and independent Trump voters, you said loudly and proudly in 2015 and 2023 that this is what you want from politicians. 

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u/julius_sphincter 2d ago

And we found our TDS retard for the night

You sure about that?

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u/TeamPencilDog 2d ago

I don't owe you shit. But stick to your insults because you can't refute what I wrote.

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u/YugiohXYZ 2d ago edited 2d ago

I don't really care about your insults. I've made worse and suffered worse.

But it is hilarious that someone who voted for Trump gripe against people no longer caring about scandals.

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