The D.C. consensus is changing into clear, the gerontocrats, led by Chuck Schumer, are on the verge of crushing the pesky “viral fantasy” of progressive Maine lobsterman turned U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner.
Or are they? Extra on that under.
U.S. Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer has been largely AWOL from politics this yr, seemingly misplaced after Trump’s 2024 electoral win.
However nothing stirs the traditional Democratic institution chief like the necessity to crush a promising progressive marketing campaign for U.S. Senate so when Bernie Sanders’ supported struggle veteran Graham Platner began elevating tens of millions and getting known as “The Maine Mamdani”, Schumer lept strollered into motion and drafted 77-year-old Governor Janet Mills into the race.
Notice the similarity of ways the Democrat centrists are utilizing to “unhealthy jacket” Katie Porter after her own-goal interview.
The Democrat Gerontocrats Warfare on Graham Platner in Maine
It is a race I’ve been that means to cowl for months. Graham Platner is a really interesting, Bernie Sanders endorsed candidate. Naturally, Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee (DSCC) have drafted the hardly fashionable 77 yr previous former governor to run towards him.
From Sanders’ endorsement:
“Graham is a Marine and Military Nationwide Guard veteran, an oyster farmer, and a proud member of America’s working class. He’s a Mainer by and thru, and he’s constructing a motion robust sufficient to tackle the oligarchy that’s making Maine unaffordable for all besides a privileged few,” Sanders wrote in his announcement, including that “we want senators in Washington who’re ready to tackle the billionaire class and combat for working folks.”
Didn’t jibe with Chuck Schumer’s historical instincts although:
Maine Gov. Janet Mills joined her state’s crowded Democratic Senate main because the institution favourite on Tuesday, aiming to flip Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ seat in a pivotal midterm yr.
Democrats view the seat as one among their high pickup alternatives — the one in a state Kamala Harris received in 2024 — and Mills is amongst a number of top-tier candidates Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer aggressively recruited to run this cycle. However first the term-limited governor should take care of a aggressive main towards breakout candidate Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who introduced he has greater than $3 million within the financial institution and already obtained the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).…Mills, who received her seat by extensive margins in her final two races, is 77 years previous, making her 5 years Collins’ senior at a time when Individuals are grappling with debates concerning the age of their politicians. If elected, she could be the oldest first-year senator ever. Platner is 41 and unlikely to go away the race for Mills
Widespread Desires made the case for Platner vs Mills:
Platner has centered his marketing campaign on naming “the enemy” shared by Mainers and Individuals from all walks of life: not immigrants, transgender folks, or different frequent targets of the Trump administration, however the oligarchy. He’s additionally been unapologetically outspoken in his condemnation of the US-backed Israeli assault on Gaza and over the weekend stated that ought to he win a Senate seat, “there might be penalties” for individuals who have led federal immigration brokers’ violent incursion in US cities.
Platner has garnered endorsements and enthusiasm from lawmakers together with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who lately criticized reviews that Schumer was pushing for a Mills run—and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who known as his marketing campaign “fairly spectacular” and “killer” lately.
He’s additionally confirmed to be a formidable fundraiser, pulling in additional than $4 million since launching his marketing campaign in August, and has spoken to overflow crowds in cities and cities throughout Maine.
Latest polling has proven Platner outperforming Mills by 21 factors amongst Trump voters, 13 factors amongst voters aged 18-44, and 10 factors in rural elements of northern and western Maine.
The Social Media Battle Traces Had been Clear
I’ve been following this race because it constructed as much as Mills’ entre on social media and noticed some good tussles however nothing particularly shocking.
Ryan Grim, ex-Intercept now with Drop Website Information, was doing battle with numerous mid-tier “DC creature”
DC is such a cesspool and all its creatures detest Platner https://t.co/4vwK3h5Qj3 pic.twitter.com/YsvU8xFN8x
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 19, 2025
Extra on this explicit DC creature’s world view as self-presented on X.com
pic.twitter.com/2QHzt9GWJw
— Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) October 21, 2025
Grim has been an lively on-line surrogate for Platner, right here he’s throwing down with Politico who had been very keen to hold the DSCC’s water (and have already declared victory for Mills over Platner):
Extraordinarily misleading from Politico right here. One other Reddit person (!) stated that Maine lobsterman are “drug addicted maniacs.”
Platner then responded saying, “They aren’t. Some are, the bulk are stable people making a dwelling. I work on the water and know a complete bunch of lobstermen… https://t.co/p2NRngYizu
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 19, 2025
The Politico lined the story carried water for the Schumer-Mills assault machine of their publication on the 18th:
THE MAINE PROBLEM: Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is making an attempt to pivot away from the fallout of his divisive on-line posts that endorsed political violence (Washington Publish), minimized rape within the navy (Politico) and disparaged police (CNN)…
Notice that every outlet (Politico, Washington Publish, and CNN) was fed a special angle to maximise influence and improve curiosity from every outlet.
Planter responded on social media:
pic.twitter.com/fPnFgpD54T
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 17, 2025
Graham Platner: Hey y’all, it’s Graham right here. As you’ve most likely seen, there’s a narrative that’s damaged about feedback I made on Reddit in an earlier a part of my life. As I learn by them, I learn issues that I completely don’t agree with. I learn by and I see issues that, phrases and statements that I abhor. I additionally see the trajectory of my life.
After I acquired again from Afghanistan in 2011, I stayed within the military for one more yr. I acquired out in 2012. A number of the worst feedback I made, the issues that I believe are least defensible, that I wouldn’t even attempt to defend, come from that point.
I had spent the majority of my 20s within the infantry, deploying abroad, preventing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The infantry was a really male-dominated place. It’s a really masculine world. After I was in, girls weren’t allowed within the infantry. It’s modified now, and that’s a superb factor.
However after I acquired out, I nonetheless had the crude humor, the darkish… darkish emotions, the offensive language that basically was a trademark of the infantry after I was in it.
I made feedback that I’m not completely satisfied about, that I don’t agree with, however they got here from a time and place in my life. And as I learn by the feedback that had been launched, I can see myself altering. My language will get much less crude, my ideas and my emotions get lots much less sort of tough across the edges. I do get nearly extra disillusioned although, and it’s necessary to know that this was a time in my life the place I used to be struggling deeply. I acquired out of the military in 2012. I had PTSD.
I had melancholy. I had all the issues that include serving in a struggle, in two wars, that I ultimately started to not imagine in in any respect. It left me feeling very unmoored. It left me feeling very disillusioned. very alienated and really remoted. And I believe like lots of people, I went on the web to publish silly issues and get in fights and discover some type of neighborhood in a roundabout way, some outlet for my emotions, for my rage, for my isolation.
It wasn’t till I discovered precise neighborhood that that each one went away. And the rationale that I finished posting on Reddit round 2020 and 2021 is as a result of that was the purpose in my life the place I had discovered this. I had moved again to my hometown. I’d discovered neighborhood. I’d began a enterprise.
I’d met somebody to fall in love with. I’d been capable of actually start to really feel linked once more. And never solely did it let me really feel linked, it additionally gave me quite a lot of hope.
I had spent years being totally remoted. and feeling very, very offended concerning the system that had made me undergo that have.
Coming again to Maine, transferring again to my hometown, reconnecting with the neighborhood that I’m from, constructing actual friendships, constructing actual networks, actual relationships with folks, that helped reduce my disillusion. I went from considering that individuals had been unhealthy to figuring out that individuals are good.
I went from considering that there was no hope to having nothing however hope. A hope that’s rooted in the truth that it was in my neighborhood right here in Sullivan, Maine that I acquired to come back house and construct a pleasant life. That every one modified for me, however it took me a very long time to get there and it was a really lengthy journey. And alongside that journey, I used to be elsewhere that I’m not in now. I had completely different emotions that I don’t have now.
I had completely different ideas and opinions that I actually don’t have now. However I’m very happy with the individual I’m immediately. And it was that entire journey that acquired me right here. And whereas I received’t defend issues I stated up to now, I’ll simply say that if it wasn’t for that complete journey, I’d not be who I’m immediately. And I’m extremely happy with who I’m immediately.
And so for these of you who’ve learn these items and been offended, have learn these items and seen somebody that you simply don’t acknowledge, I’m deeply sorry. It’s one thing that I see somebody that I don’t acknowledge both, not in who I’m immediately. It’s any person that I do acknowledge although, any person who’s struggling, any person who’s having a really tough time settling right into a society that he felt betrayed by and left behind by after having to go combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m sorry for this. Simply know that it’s not reflective in any respect of who I’m.
I don’t need you to guage me on the dumbest factor I ever wrote on the web. I would like if folks might choose me on the individual I’m immediately. And I simply wish to say thanks all very a lot in your time.
I included his entire assertion in textual content as a result of I couldn’t discover it anyplace and located it stuffed with attention-grabbing messaging that isn’t breaking by into secondary protection. Which isn’t that massive a deal when Platner’s video has extra attain than many of the shops protecting him by an order of magnitude.
Again to Politico’s protection:
Whether or not Platner can flip the nook stays a query. Playbook obtained screenshots of extra archived Reddit posts from September 2021 by which he calls “some” Maine lobstermen “drug addicted maniacs” and a “few” who had been “items of shit … completely horrible folks.” He added that “plenty of guys are assholes, some are strung out or drunks, and a few are lazy,” and that “the way forward for lobstering is fairly unsure” on account of rules and international warming.
In response to a person who stated that they had a dream of changing into a lobsterman, asking customers to “crush my goals with actuality,” Platner, posting with the Reddit username “P-Hustle,” stated “the bulk are stable people making a dwelling. I work on the water and know a complete bunch of lobstermen, and only some are items of shit. Granted, these few are completely horrible folks, however it’s not remotely the majority of men fishing.”
Lobstermen, who quantity within the 1000’s, are a political pressure in an important Maine trade.
Yesterday, Platner’s political director, former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald, stepped down, based on the Bangor Each day Information’ Billy Kobin. ”Whereas I’m empathetic to Graham’s experiences and respect his private journey and development, I can not overlook the quantity and nature of his previous feedback, lots of which had been made as an grownup, not as a younger man,” McDonald wrote. She was a lobsterman.
A spokesperson for Platner didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the lobstermen posts.
Platner Marketing campaign Does an Information-Dump, Perhaps a Restricted Hangout?
The Platner marketing campaign pre-emptively revealed this doozy on Pod Save America:
Schumer’s slime squad in full impact. Shitlibs do NOT need this man within the Senate https://t.co/oA0bn0mSY0
— Thoht, Doge of Knowledge (@KidNate) October 21, 2025
The pre-emptive reveal of potential opposition is a sophisticated PR transfer you hardly ever see from dropping campaigns (I’m considering Howard Dean, Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren) so it is a good signal for Platner supporters, I assume.
I’m not embedding the entire Pod Save America episode, simply linking, watch for those who’re into that sort of factor, however listed below are the quotes Axios picked up, which illustrates which speaking factors made it into the MSM narrative, however once more Pod Save America > Axios by way of viewers measurement:
Platner’s marketing campaign shared video with Pod Save America of him singing shirtless that uncovered a cranium tattoo on his chest that resembles the “Totenkopf,” an emblem utilized by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS).
The transfer was meant to get forward of opposition analysis, and the GOP’s Senate marketing campaign arm seized on the pictures, accusing Platner of getting a “Nazi tattoo.”
Driving the information: Platner stated in an interview with Tommy Vietor of Pod Save America that was launched on Monday that the video was from his brother’s marriage ceremony, the place he lip-synced Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”
“I’m not a secret Nazi,” Platner advised Vietor, including that he acquired the tattoo in Croatia whereas deployed and was “very inebriated.” Platner stated he and his fellow Marines selected “a terrifying trying cranium and crossbones.”
What he’s saying: Within the years since, Platner stated, he joined the Military Nationwide Guard, the place he stated he “acquired a safety clearance and a full display screen” to be on the element for the ambassador to Afghanistan. The Military bans tattoos which might be “extremist, racist, sexist, or in any other case indecent.”
Platner stated that at no level “did anyone ever as soon as say, ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’ It by no means got here up till we acquired wind that within the opposition analysis any person was purchasing the concept that I used to be a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo.”Zoom out: An ADL spokesperson stated in an announcement offered to Axios that it “seems” to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, which they described as “troubling,” if true.
However they added, “[w]e do perceive that generally folks get tattoos with out understanding their hateful affiliation. In these circumstances, the bearer must be requested whether or not they repudiate its hateful that means.”
A Stunning Twist in DC Insider Response
Like everybody else, I’m processing data as I come throughout it which isn’t essentially in a linear, time of publication vogue. Please indulge me in telling the story within the order I realized it.
So I discussed above that Politico was declaring Platner a lifeless letter. Right here’s that piece headlined “Democrats Maintain Falling for Political Fantasies. When Will They Be taught?” it’s by Jonathan Martin, greatest identified for chronicling the 2012 Obama-Romney Race and his 2022 declaration of everlasting victory for Biden over Trump “This Will Not Cross: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future” which is simply as prescient because it sounds.
Some morsels for taste:
Will Democrats ever be taught to cease swooning?
I refer, as you might have guessed, to the case of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and the rinse-wash-repeat sample that has turn into all too acquainted for the occasion within the digital age.
It goes one thing like this: Political outsider or largely new title mounts statewide marketing campaign with on-line video that leans closely on compelling biography or highly effective oratory, out-of-state liberal hobbyists rapidly fall in love and fork over cash, and journalists rush to profile the newest heartthrob earlier than inevitable disappointment when the candidate loses or, effectively, turns into John Fetterman.
Platner is the newest instance.
I’m glad he talked about Fetterman, presumably essentially the most disillusioning political determine since Obama himself, however on to immediately’s story.
So after I noticed that former Biden Press Secretary turned MSNBC host Jen Psaki was internet hosting Pete Buttiegieg’s she-svengali Lis Smith to debate the race, I used to be anticipating extra of the identical.
However it seems Smith (very similar to the weather of Obama world who’re vocally supporting Mamdani in New York) smells a winner in Platner, and surprising so does Psaki.
Examine this out:
Jen Psaki: Simply immediately, Governor Mills of Maine introduced she was going to get into the Senate race on the urging of Chuck Schumer clearly and the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee, which is the physique that oversees all of this from the Nationwide Social gathering. And so she’s entered the race as of immediately, she’s becoming a member of a few different candidates who’re already within the race.
The one who’s getting essentially the most buzz is a man named Graham Platner, an oyster man, which you gotta love that piece of his bio. And he goes round and he speaks, in human-speak (emphasis mine, Nat), a couple of vary of points, together with the economic system, which he’s relentlessly targeted on.
…He’s acquired the factor, the standard that good candidates have, that’s an amazing riff on freedom that ties collectively value of dwelling points points folks care about deeply. Um, and he’s simply feels very relatable. He’s additionally 41 years previous, uh, and Governor Mills is 77 years previous. So it is a massive age query on this race.
However I do wanna say for Governor Mills, ’trigger that is the argument folks of her, her supporters will make, she may be very fashionable. I believe she has a couple of 51% approval score. Susan Collins has 14%, and (Mills) has been governing a state the place she’s been elected twice, the place the inhabitants is rising older and in addition isn’t fairly as progressive as some individuals who stay outdoors of Maine would possibly suppose.
Then they play a video of Trump going after Mills on and he or she replies “See you in court docket.” Psaki additionally notes Mills received that case. However again to Psaki:
So I share that as a result of her announcement video was cringe. And she or he appeared very previous and out of contact, which is a distinction to Platner…
…There’s this obsession by Chuck Schumer and others in Washington. I understand I stay right here with going with the previous similar playbook that labored 20 years in the past, and never recognizing that politics within the nation change, and there are individuals who don’t come from the political world who may be value giving a shot, and as a substitute he appears to be placing his finger on the dimensions right here. However what do you suppose?
Lis Smith: Yeah, so he has that obsession. Um, there’s an obsession proper now with Democratic main voters, particularly to not nominate tremendous previous candidates. to type of say goodbye to the Gerontocracy. There’s additionally an obsession amongst Democratic main voters to appoint folks from communities, individuals who aren’t identical to lifetime lawyer-lobbyists, politicians, you understand, folks with unconventional backgrounds, uh, like Graham Platner.
And to your level, you understand, you stated he has a factor. I’d say he’s acquired Riz, you understand, he’s acquired the sauce. Janet Mills has a spine, however my concern isn’t with primaries. Proper. I believe primaries are good issues when you possibly can strengthen all people. And you find yourself being a greater basic election candidate when you could have a main.
What my concern is with right here is one: Telling a 77-year-old elected official to to not retire, however as a substitute to go for a promotion when voters are saying, please no extra of this after what occurred with Joe Biden.
And my second concern is that the DSEC is placing their thumb on the dimensions for her, as you talked about. …There are different candidates in there, however I don’t suppose the DSEC is doing anybody any favors, not to mention Janet Mills, by placing their thumb on the dimensions right here, as a result of let’s be actual, Chuck Schumer is without doubt one of the least fashionable elected officers in American politics immediately.
Drops mic, as they used to say within the Obama period.
Plot Twist: Alt Media Hates Platner’s Response
Taylor Lorenz, writer of the Discourse Weblog is an outlier by any definition, however one effectively value following. Right here’s the primary graph of her wiki for these unfamiliar:
Taylor Lorenz (born 1984 or 1985[1]) is an American journalist and expertise columnist who covers Web tradition. She has written for The Washington Publish, The New York Occasions, The Each day Beast, Enterprise Insider, and The Each day Mail. In 2023, she revealed a guide known as Extraordinarily On-line: The Untold Story of Fame, Affect, and Energy on the Web. In 2024, Lorenz left the Washington Publish following an inner investigation after Lorenz posted a picture on Instagram labeling president Joe Biden as a “struggle felony”. Lorenz subsequently started publishing a publication known as Consumer Magazine in addition to a podcast known as Energy Consumer.
And whereas Lorenz didn’t write this one, her Discourse Weblog co-founder Rafi Schwartz doesn’t like Platner’s response to the tattoo factor in any respect:
Let me get this out of the best way proper off the bat: I don’t know if Graham Platner is a secret Nazi, or only a fucking moron. I believe it’s extra the latter, however frankly, there’s sufficient ambiguity and weirdness coming from the Planter camp that it’s laborious to say for sure. What I do know is that, if the previous couple of days are any indication, the troop-turned-oysterman-turned-ostensibly leftist wunderkind candidate is in fairly massive bother, totally of his personal making. As a result of whereas having a big SS Deathshead tattoo is sort of a marketing campaign downside in and of itself, being a whiny dickhead about it — like Platner has been — is simply digging up, silly.…Discussing each his tattoo, and historical past of Reddit shitposting, he careworn that “the concept that an individual can not evolve and develop from years in the past is fairly laughable to the typical human being.”
Broadly, I agree with Platner right here. Individuals do change and mature and evolve, and having some grace for these transformations is simply a part of being a good individual. However, at the very least in the case of his ink, there’s little signal of any try to evolve or develop, and even acknowledge how massive of a fuck up getting the tattoo was within the first place.
Return to the a part of the (Pod Save America) interview the place Platner and Vietor focus on the tattoo. At no level does Platner apologize for—and even actually acknowledge that—a big SS Totenkopf tattoo might be fairly traumatic to see, even when (if!!) it was inked out of ignorance, slightly than malice. There’s no “sorry.” No nothing. As a substitute, each Platner and Vietor exit of their solution to blame “opposition analysis” and “political reporters” for having the chutzpah to level out that Nazis are unhealthy and having a Nazi tattoo can also be unhealthy.
…because it seems, there’s motive to be skeptical of Platner’s repeated claims of ignorance. Within the hours following the preliminary furor from Platner’s Pod Save sesh, two separate reviews emerged which recommended that Platner at the very least knew, if not celebrated, the origin of his tattoo. First, this, from his now-ex-political director and former Most important State Senator Genevieve McDonald:
pic.twitter.com/Z4QXJpQHvD
— Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) October 22, 2025
Schwartz then hyperlinks to and quotes from this Jewish Insider publish whereas noting it’s a “proper wing” (ie very zionist) outlet:
However based on an individual who socialized with Platner when he was dwelling in Washington, D.C., greater than a decade in the past, Platner had particularly acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “loss of life’s head” image adopted by an notorious Nazi SS unit that guarded focus camps in World Warfare II.
“He stated, ‘Oh, that is my Totenkopf,’” the previous acquaintance advised Jewish Insider lately, talking on the situation of anonymity to deal with a delicate concern. “He stated it in a cutesy little approach.”
The alternate occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a well-liked dive on Capitol Hill the place Platner later labored as a bartender and was a frequent patron whereas he attended The George Washington College on the G.I. invoice, based on the previous acquaintance. He would typically take his shirt off ingesting with mates late at night time on the bar, and on at the very least one event had said he knew what the tattoo represented, the previous acquaintance recalled.
Schwartz closes with this:
Finally, then, Platner’s sin and that of his most enthusiastic enablers is much less that he acquired the tattoo within the first place (though, that too) and extra a query of how he’s behaved since. Fleeing to a pleasant podcast to play sufferer earlier than even saying you’re eliminating the factor doesn’t encourage quite a lot of confidence within the Senate candidate’s decision-making abilities. Who is aware of—possibly Platner will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and proceed to run the sort of gritty, progressive marketing campaign that elevated his profile within the first place. Or possibly he’ll do what he’s completed up to now: ignore the harm his tattoo has precipitated and transfer ahead with none actual contrition. Both approach, I wouldn’t maintain my breath for an apology anytime quickly.
Schwartz additionally brings up the appalling Younger Republicans racist and avowedly pro-nazi chat leaks that got here out final week. Per Politico:
Leaders of Younger Republican teams all through the nation apprehensive what would occur if their Telegram chat ever acquired leaked, however they stored typing anyway.
They referred to Black folks as monkeys and “the watermelon folks” and mused about placing their political opponents in fuel chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed assist slavery.
William Hendrix, the Kansas Younger Republicans’ vice chair, used the phrases “n–ga” and “n–guh,” variations of a racial slur, greater than a dozen instances within the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Younger Republicans on the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who on the time was chair of the identical group, wrote in a message despatched in June that “everybody that votes no goes to the fuel chamber.”
Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether or not he ought to turn into chair of the Younger Republican Nationwide Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political group for Republicans between 18 and 40 years previous.
Frankly, it is a traditional instance of the “political blender” which I’ve attributed to the cognitive dissonance attributable to the zionist genocide in Gaza.
The GOP appears to be precise nazis and one of many extra compelling Democratic candidate could or is probably not a crypto-nazi.
Earlier than October 7, 2023, I personally had a long-standing zero tolerance coverage for nazi iconography realized within the impartial music scene of the Nineteen Eighties, as of late I’m undecided WTF to make of it.
UPDATE: Commenter DJG, Actuality Czar identified the plain factor that each Schwartz and I missed (embarrassingly on my half since I’ve identified it for a very long time): nazi iconography ceased to be verboten within the “Democratic West” in 2022 when Ukrainian nazis immediately turned “our heroes”.
This twitter alternate between the progressive Emma Vigeland and an X.com non-blue test poster with a mid-sized following I’m not accustomed to is extra elegant:
The identical individuals who will malign Platner for this are additionally massive Ukraine supporters and Ukraine is a neo-fascist state managed by neo-nazi paramilitaries. Why did we cease seeing photographs of Ukrainian troopers in all places? Bc nearly everytime that they had nazi tattoos or paraphernalia https://t.co/B3c4kOWI20 pic.twitter.com/7LxqtsNuvH
— Geaux Tigers 🐯 (@stealyoredbull) October 22, 2025
How Did the Heart Win Once more, Anyway?
However, again to the broader American electoral context, the place expert analysts can trundle alongside prefer it’s 2012 and none of that is taking place.
This Ettingermentum Information’ piece “The Heart is Choking” on the structural and generational battle within the Democratic occasion teases a degree I wish to shut with:
For so long as any of us have identified, the Democratic Social gathering has been managed by its reasonable wing with a grip that the perfect efforts of the left have been unable to interrupt. A historic anti-war and anti-establishment effort in 2008 gave us a White Home led by Rahm Emanuel.
Unprecedented progressive mobilization throughout Trump 1.0 culminated within the nomination of Joe Biden. To the extent that any of the left-wing organizing and power of the twenty first century has led to something, it has been totally on the margins—some lip service right here, a number of regulatory appointments there, and, at greatest, an acknowledgement that it’s a valued “junior companion” within the coalition.
Such a monitor report would have been deeply sobering for the left’s effort to broaden its affect even when the ends in 2024 had match totally inside its narrative. As for what really occurred final yr, the wing could as effectively have been sentenced to loss of life. Fairly in contrast to his first victory, Trump’s second win didn’t come towards a literal Clinton within the aftermath of a populist marketing campaign. It got here towards a San Francisco liberal that he had spent the complete fall branding as a radical leftist lunatic—i.e., a seemingly clear ideological mandate. It didn’t appear to matter that Harris had run laborious to the middle or that the Democratic Social gathering at giant had given the main evangelists of moderation management over a trillion {dollars} in advert spending. On the finish of the day, it was stated, Donald Trump stated that Kamala Harris was for “they/them.” Then he received, and the left died.
Voters appeared to be on board with this narrative, if solely firstly. Within the first month of Trump’s second presidency, Gallup discovered a large surge within the variety of Democrats who stated that they needed the occasion to turn into extra reasonable. However within the time since then, hardly something has gone based on the middle’s plan.…What accounts for this reversal? A number of it has to do with well timed shifts by the left faction of the occasion, which has lastly begun to play to its personal strengths. However none of what they’ve achieved would have been doable with out a generational fumble on the a part of the occasion’s middle, which has up to now been utterly unable to adapt to the present political surroundings.
Additionally take a look at his piece “The Official 2026 Midterm Outlook: Schumer and Jeffries Must Resign Instantly.” A style:
Previous to Trump’s election in 2016, no political occasion had received a trifecta and misplaced all the pieces within the span of just one time period because the Democrats in 1892. Since then, it has occurred twice, and it might very effectively occur as soon as once more.
…Latest historical past provides us no assure as to how subsequent yr’s elections will prove, even with a sitting president as unpopular as Trump is immediately.…The excellent news for Democrats is that, like Republicans earlier than them, the explanation why they’re underperforming are apparent. For Republicans within the leadup to 2022, it was all the time clear that they had been being introduced down by their loyalty to a still-unpopular Trump and, later, the Dobbs choice, each of which stored voters from evaluating the election as a easy referendum on Joe Biden.
For Democrats this yr, their apparent downside is the easy undeniable fact that they’ve completed completely nothing to interrupt from Biden because the finish of his failed presidency. And so far as the midterms are involved, this failure is at its most salient within the continued reign of the occasion’s two congressional leaders: Senator Chuck Schumer and Consultant Hakeem Jeffries, each of New York.
…In each occasion of a wave election this century, the events which have achieved them held one factor in widespread: they had been all the time led by figures who hadn’t simply ruled alongside an unpopular president.
…there is just one instance this century of an out occasion doing what Democrats are doing now with Congressional leaders: the Republican Social gathering of 2022. By retaining a extremely unpopular Mitch McConnell because the face of their occasion.
Chuck Schumer as Mitch McConnell in “Outdated Age Ninja Mutant Turtles 2” isn’t actually a really compelling title for a summer time blockbuster, is it?
It’s attention-grabbing to notice as we shut out immediately’s Espresso Break that because the Obama “rizz” fades, he and a few components of his oldteam are opportunistic sufficient to get behind Mamdani, simply as Lis Smith and Jen Psaki are backing Platner over Graham.
Winds of change or simply one other rip-off within the making?
Solely time will inform, and once more that is taking place in a context of systemic congressional impotence produced by legalized corruption and tried authoritarian clampdown so always remember electoral politics are simply the leisure division of the Army Industrial Advanced as Frank Zappa used to say.
