Another Marine on Platner:

[mainer]

A powerful read by a former Marine.

Platner understands something that far too many people in politics only understand abstractly. He understands what war does to young men. He understands the cost that is paid long after the speeches are over and the flags have been folded away, and on a personal level, he continues to pay that cost. As do I. As do so many others who swear too much and look back on that time in our lives as the best worst time we ever had. As the time in our lives when we were truly needed by other men we respected. As a time when we were an essential part of a tribe with its own rules, shibboleths, and taboos.
(Snip)

We who have intimately seen ground combat know that every human being carries an animal inside of them. Most of you are fortunate enough never to meet it. A small number of people are forced to. And we learned things about violence, fear, courage, guilt, loyalty, and human nature that cannot be learned in a classroom, a think tank, or a Senate hearing room.

The value of that perspective is not that it makes someone more eager to use force. Quite often, it has the opposite effect. Those who know violence best are frequently the least romantic about it. They understand both its necessity and its cost. They understand that protecting a nation’s borders, interests, and citizens is a fundamental responsibility of government and must be done as effectively as possible, and that this does not mean as cruelly as possible.

What strikes me most about Platner is that he belongs to a tradition the American left has spent, at least the Trump years, searching for without fully realizing it. We have been waiting for our own version of General Grant: a flawed man, imperfect in his personal life, rough around the edges, but willing to fight relentlessly for principles larger than himself.

https://dbarkhuff.substack.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web

[gab13by13]

1. I support Democrats

If Magats win the Senate in 2028 I guarantee that Thomas and Alito will resign and we will get much younger versions of them.

[House of Roberts]

7. If WE win the Senate in 2026, I predict they will resign immediately and be replaced before January.

I doubt Thune needs any tips from McConnell on just how that is done.

[summer_in_TX]

19. The speculation is that Alito and maybe Thomas will retire.

Then Trump will nominate replacements. Thune has stated that the Senate is ready to confirm a replacement for Alito if he does resign.

[Traildogbob]

26. If those two

Retire, they will be out from under the immunity they have while seated, then “justice” can attempted for their buyouts. I hope. They, like Trump and Natty YaHoo need their positions to avoid prison.
I hope,

[Walleye]

46. This is getting downright frightening. How can one man own the Supreme Court?

[krkaufman]

44. Exactly ...

… what I was thinking.

[Polybius]

8. Thomas wants to go for the record though

In the last 75 days, he has overtaken John Marshall, John Paul Stevens, and Stephen Johnson Field. He has moved up from being the 5th longest-serving Justice to the 2nd, with a tenure of 34 years and 226 days. The only one left to surpass is William O. Douglas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_justices_by_time_in_office

[RockCreek]

27. Douglas had 36 years, 209 days.

So almost 2 years to go, if he cares about the record.
I remember my horror listening to his confirmation hearings. I would have been even more horrified if I had known how long he would last in the position.

[KPN]

35. What a f'ing waste of a Supreme Court seat

for so many frigging years. He never should have been confirmed — such a failure of government for the benefit of its people, all of its people. Thirty-four plus years! Depressingly disgraceful!

[Walleye]

2. Americans are basically honest and law abiding. Trump hates us.

I am tired of everybody being treated like criminals. vote Democratic and defend the constitution

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. Americans below a certain socioeconomic level, yes.

[Historic NY]

16. boy thats true from rum running to stock trading

[Walleye]

32. Exactly. But I meant majority of every day Americans are honest

[Dan]

34. Especially the ones that are afraid of going to jail.

[sop]

3. "A democracy that insists on perfection will eventually find itself represented only by people skilled at hiding

their flaws."

"The question before Maine is not whether Graham Platner is perfect. The question is whether the United States Senate, the state of Maine, and the country as a whole would benefit from having his voice in the room when decisions are made...The answer is yes."

Great commentary. Thanks for posting this.

[LisaL]

4. Considering Trump is president, we are nowhere near that

state of democracy.

[sop]

6. Only purity Democrats.

[W_HAMILTON]

23. If many of Platner's biggest supporters had defended far less flawed Democrats the way they do this guy...

...we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

[SamuelAdams]

28. Perfectly said.

It's funny listening to people who attacked Gore, Hillary, Biden, Kamala, etc. whining about purity tests.

[stopdiggin]

43. God - what a mouthful you just spit out there ! Brava ! - - - - - - - -(nt)-

[KPN]

36. Hear, hear!

[calimary]

47. What a great quote!

I read that whole thing, yesterday. And yet again a second time, today. I may even wind up giving it a third go. It sure hits one outta the ballpark.

[Nanjeanne]

9. This is a fabulous read. Thank you for posting it. I hope it gets read by many people including Dems in Congress now.

[Passages]

10. 'Maine had my back': Graham Platner hits the campaign trail amid latest turmoil

Hundreds of supporters signaled they weren’t phased by the new allegations about his past relationships, giving the Democratic Senate candidate a warm welcome on Friday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/graham-platner-campaign-trail-controversy-maine-rcna348703

[mainer]

12. Maine has his back because we know him.

We know he's not a Nazi. We know he's gone through rough times and come out a better man. My son went to school with Platner's wife Amy. So yes, we know the man and we do have his back.

[Passages]

13. There are dangerous characters out there, its just that Platner is not even remotely one of them.

[EdmondDantes_]

17. What's the evidence he's changed?

He was doing ugly things as recently as a few years ago. He's still using retarded as a slur. He's still a big fan of a guy who thinks Israel killed JFK.

You say you know. How do you know? From the outside it feels performative because I don't see the actions.

[mainer]

20. The "R" word is a product of his generation

When my kids were in high school, the "R" word was regularly used by teenagers as a synonym for idiotic or stupid. The meaning and impact of words change over time. Maybe you're not old enough to remember when we women used to refer to each other as "girls". As in "I'm going out with the girls." Now we get jumped all over on it because it "demeans women."

Are you going to condemn him for simple semantics?

[SamuelAdams]

29. That's the bar now?

If Trump is on tape using the n-word, that is fine because people of his generation used that word? I'm a gen Xer. My generation used slurs for gay people. Is that still acceptable?

[MadameButterfly]

38. What do we really know about the private lives of our elected officials?

Where's your pure as the driven snow candidate who can also beat Susan Collins?
Do you really think there will ever be a strongly Progressive candidate that the right won't dig up dirt about?
The former girlfriend who made the worst accusations literally wrote the speech Susan Collins gave to justify her vote for Bret Kavanaugh. Do you think she's really worried about how men treat women?

[BComplex]

11. And then those same warriors are TOTALLY SMEARED by the commercial media that supports the whole

war machine.

The more the media finds made-up "dirt" on Graham Platner, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Zoran Mamdani....the more I believe Graham Platner and the others. The price they pay to tell the truth is brutal.

[Blue Full Moon]

14. Grant actually passed several progressive bills

He was friends with confederate officers who were pall bearers at his funeral. Story I like, was his father was talking to a Senator, the person that was supposed to go to West Point didn't and Grant's father said, what about my son.

[1WorldHope]

15. I'm glad he wrote that defense. It is so well said.

Instead of putting real people in gov. We keep putting millionaires and we wonder why nothing changes.

[Emile]

18. It's a must read.

I hope everyone on du reads it before throwing more shit about this veteran.

[Passages]

21. You can be a tattooed, deep-voiced, "manly" combat veteran who also goes to therapy and shows up for his neighbors.

Those two things go completely hand-in-hand.

And I think it's important to have people who can show that, instead of a vision of masculinity that's hardened, shut off, and angry.

Link to tweet

[Passages]

22. All the reports from the Platner rally, plus the videos circulating, show a raucous crowd and multiple standing ovations

The NYT calls it “relatively sedate.”

If you get your news from the Times, stop being stunned when events don’t turn out the way you think they will.

Link to tweet

[W_HAMILTON]

24. Fuck Ryan Grim. He was the main driver of the Tara Reade story.

The New York Times has been outted as political shills with double standards for most Democrats, but the same can be said for Ryan Grim.

[Passages]

25. Some define Me Too differently when it comes to allegations.

[Cha]

42. Yeah RF Tara Reade high taled it

to Russia, the last I heard.

My impression is that Grim hates Dems.

[dlk]

30. Vote Blue, no matter who

Except Fetterman

[RetiredParatrooper]

31. But purity!

We must always have said the proper words and held the proper beliefs!



Get the win, mainer!

[Joinfortmill]

33. This!

[Abolishinist]

37. Thanks for posting, I've been back and forth with Platner. But in attempting to understand

the tattoo controversy, I kept coming back to this. People often talk about people as if they fit neatly into categories. We create labels, political tribes, social groups, and stereotypes because the human brain naturally looks for patterns. In many ways, that tendency was probably useful throughout our evolution. Quickly deciding whether something was familiar or dangerous was a matter of survival. It was part of our fight-or-flight instinct.

The problem is that while categorization may be efficient, people are far more complex than the groups we place them in. Every individual is the product of thousands of experiences, influences, successes, failures, fears, and opportunities that no one else has lived through in exactly the same way.

I try to remind myself of that when I encounter people whose beliefs or values differ dramatically from my own. I have never served in the military, so I cannot truly know what it feels like to wake up knowing that by the end of the day I might die, or that I might be forced to take another person's life. I had a happy childhood, but many people grew up surrounded by abuse, poverty, instability, or trauma. Others experienced discrimination, violence, or hardships I never faced. Those experiences inevitably shape how people view the world.

Too often, we assume that if someone reaches a different conclusion than we do, it must be because they are ignorant, irrational, or malicious. But many times they are simply seeing the world through a lens forged by experiences we do not share. Their conclusions may be wrong, just as ours may be wrong, but understanding where those conclusions come from is often more valuable than dismissing them outright.

I don't believe we have to agree with everyone. In fact, there are beliefs and actions that should be challenged. But before judging others, it is worth recognizing that we are all operating with incomplete information. We know our own story intimately, but we can only glimpse fragments of everyone else's.

The older I get, the more I realize that understanding another person's viewpoint is not the same thing as endorsing it. It is simply acknowledging that human beings are complicated, and that most of us are shaped far more by our lived experiences than we realize.

[mr715]

39. Really beautifully stated

[MustLoveBeagles]

40. Well said

[MustLoveBeagles]

41. That's an eloquent defense

It occurs to me that, while I still have issues with him, I may be too harsh in my assessment of him. I'm willing to give him a chance.

[Pris]

45. So there are democrats admitting they are looking for a male savior?

This is so old fashioned and male oriented.

Women lost their rights in the USA. And Platner (who many fawned over) called women terrible names and blamed women for rape. Female candidates are never admired for being rough around the edges but still fight for principals: Hillary, Kamala, Governor Janet Mills.
Democrats deserve better

"We have been waiting for our own version of General Grant: a flawed man, imperfect in his personal life, rough around the edges, but willing to fight relentlessly for principles larger than himself."