The Week: Graham Platner’s Downfall

• You wouldn’t think a guy with a Nazi tattoo would be so whiny.

• Graham Platner suspended his senatorial campaign in Maine. Through one scandal and deceit after another, his defenders stuck by him: an SS Totenkopf tattoo, an ex-girlfriend who described him as physically abusive, a stream of appalling social media posts, blackout drinking, extramarital sexting, a profile on a dating site full of underage teens, and copious lies about these and many more subjects. Leading Democrats, including Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, endorsed him; Sheldon Whitehouse sneered that Republicans were conspiring against him; Elizabeth Warren praised him as her kind of man, one who “believes in accountability.” Once another former girlfriend—this time one with impeccable left-wing credentials—accused Platner of a drunken sexual assault, with a week left for the party to replace him on the ballot to face Susan Collins, all these Democrats cut bait and pretended that they had seen none of it coming. Platner released a rambling video denying everything and blaming shadowy forces amassed against him. Auf wiedersehen.

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Graham Platner

• You wouldn’t think a guy with a Nazi tattoo would be so whiny.

• Graham Platner suspended his senatorial campaign in Maine. Through one scandal and deceit after another, his defenders stuck by him: an SS Totenkopf tattoo, an ex-girlfriend who described him as physically abusive, a stream of appalling social media posts, blackout drinking, extramarital sexting, a profile on a dating site full of underage teens, and copious lies about these and many more subjects. Leading Democrats, including Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, endorsed him; Sheldon Whitehouse sneered that Republicans were conspiring against him; Elizabeth Warren praised him as her kind of man, one who “believes in accountability.” Once another former girlfriend—this time one with impeccable left-wing credentials—accused Platner of a drunken sexual assault, with a week left for the party to replace him on the ballot to face Susan Collins, all these Democrats cut bait and pretended that they had seen none of it coming. Platner released a rambling video denying everything and blaming shadowy forces amassed against him. Auf wiedersehen.