Platner: Astro-Turfed Authenticity [View all]

Last edited Wed Jul 8, 2026, 09:01 AM - Edit history (1)

It makes me angry that the most deceptive element was that Platner's campaign was marketed as a spontaneous, grassroots phenomenon. We were led to believe that he was "just a regular guy" and that he'd been "discovered by accident."

In reality, we can now see that his "outsider" persona was carefully scouted, vetted, and polished by national progressive consultants looking for a specific type of working-class vehicle to defeat establishment figures like Janet Mills. --- But with all the "vetting" going on, it's disappointing to me that those doing the vetting didn't seem to care about the Nazi tattoo, the misogynistic and racist comments or his contempt for the police, or his anti-gay rhetoric.

Instead, the powers that be consciously chose to emphasize his "boots and truck" while actively burying his history at elite prep schools like Hotchkiss.

In fairness... and obvioiusly, standard political embellishment involves highlighting a real but minor aspect of your life (for example, a candidate's previous part-time summer-job on a farm would be touted as the candidate being "rooted in agriculture.'')

But, from what I can tell, Platner’s campaign went much further by actively hiding his financial safety net... all the while, campaigning on the premise of his financial desperation.

Looking closely, he routinely claimed that he and his wife could not afford basic, vital necessities (like domestic healthcare and fertility treatments) due to a broken economic system. But, he omitted the fact that his elite, wealthy family was entirely funding these endeavors behind the scenes, alongside cushioning his mortgage.

He and was presenting himself as an "un-networked" and "struggling" worker while actually operating with systemic, upper-class insulation ... which is a fundamental distortion of his material reality.

Platner didn't just casually mention he farmed oysters... his team manufactured a visual identity around it to symbolize the working-class struggle against "corporate oligarchy."

But in reality, his oyster farm was not a gritty, independent battle against market forces. It was a boutique business operating out of an upscale restaurant owned by his mother and a private island owned by his partner’s family. He had ONE customer... his mother's restaurant.

We can see now that his campaign was carefully crafted to mirror Sanders' platform. This made Platner the perfect vessel for organizations like "Our Revolution" (the political group founded by Sanders) to back in an effort to push the Democratic party to the left (or... as someone said in an angry and unguarded moment... their goal was a "hostile takeover of the Democratic party'') Ugh. So, it's no surprise to me that Platner was also the darling of Cenk Uygur and the "Justice Democrats" group who have always been hostile to the Democratic party. Cenk was leading the way in defending the Nazi tattoo, and in turn attacking others who dared to criticize.

With all these things in mind... I think it's clear that we dodged a bullet. (Whew!)