General Discussion

Comparing standard political image-crafting to what happened with Platner completely misses the point.

Abraham Lincoln and Joe Biden did not use a working-class persona to conceal a history of white supremacist imagery, misogyny, or anti-gay rhetoric. They did not fabricate a narrative of financial desperation while being actively insulated by generational wealth.

Highlighting a rustic background is standard politics. Fabricating an entire material reality to manipulate voters (while national backers ignore glaring red flags) is a systemic vetting failure.

This isn't about factions or broad-brushing progressives. It is about a specific candidate and their campaign that engaged in profound deception, and the objective reality that our party dodged a massive bullet.