Kind of like how Trump lost in 2016 and took down so many other Republican candidates?
Trump was trying for the fascist vote. That’s what Republican voters want. Democrats can’t win without the non-fascists.
Platner is riding a wave of anti-establishment, blow-up-the-system sentiment that affects many on the Democratic Left, which also includes rejection of “elites”/expertise and willingness to tolerate bigotry as previously noted.
I’m not sure why you’re so desperate to ignore this aspect of his popularity.
You haven’t shown any evidence that Platner is relying on or boosted by “rejection of elites/expertise” any more than progressive/DSA types like Bernie, AOC, Mamdani, etc., unless you’re counting Democratic party leadership and billionaire donors as “elites/expertise”. You’re making assertions with no evidence.
Anti-establishment? Yes, absolutely. “Blow up the system”? Yes, if “the system” means billionaire/corporate interests and party leadership. But I see no evidence this includes leading scientists, researchers, doctors, etc. If you have evidence of this, you haven’t yet shared it.
Plenty of non-fascists on this board and elsewhere have indicated they will/would vote for Platner over Collins, reluctantly or not. Your assertion that Platner can’t win is a guess, and you shouldn’t expect anyone to treat it like anything other than a guess from a random internet person.
I can’t imagine deciding who to vote for on the basis of who the party’s nominee in another state is.
See the progressive attraction to MAHA detailed earlier. Expect Platner to court this group.
Has Platner said or done anything to “court” antivaxers or health woo people?
That says nothing about Platner. You’re just guessing. Guessing isn’t evidence.
It’s no guess that other Democrats, including ones from New England, have begun courting MAHA voters.
“Toxins” are a favorite bogeyman of alties, who see them menacing us through pesticides, vaccines and GMOs.
It’s a good bet Platner will also find a way to woo MAHA.
Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson says he’s planning to meet with Platner, who reportedly is weighing whether to appear on Carlson’s show, maybe to expose his audience to progressive ideas. 
You’re just speculating. You’re not criticizing Platner, you’re criticizing a hypothetical version of him that you’ve made up.
Carlson only has about 7,000 paid subscribers these days. He could use the ratings boost.
But they are related. No American can possibly use a swastika without knowing it’s a Nazi symbol. I have a beautiful tablecloth my grandmother embroidered as a child, that i can’t use, because it’s covered with hundreds of little swastikas. (Not diamond oriented. Some left-handed and some right handed, because she was a kid.) It’s just too awkward to explain that it was an innocent symbol when my Jewish grandmother made it.
But while the totenkopf has no other meaning, I’d never seen it before this guy’s tattoo was in the news. And i can totally see a drunk American youth seeing it at a tattoo shop and thinking, “that looks badass” without realizing it has any meaning beyond being an ugly skull on bones. (They aren’t really “cross bones”, they look parallel to me.)
Now, is it plausible that he wore that tattoo for 20 years without realizing it was a Nazi symbol? Your links, Babale, make me think that it was the (much more visible) sleeve that prevented him from reenlisting in the Marines. How often do you show off the tattoo on your chest? To what audience? How many people have tattoos that say “pork fried rice” without realizing it? I dunno. I could be persuaded either way.
I had an electrician show up once with tatoos that looked kinda white-supremacist to me. I hired a different electrician. (I didn’t even look up the images to be sure i was being fair. I just wasn’t comfortable looking at the guy.) But there are lots of other electricians out there. If the only other choice was someone who was going to burn down my house, I’d probably hire the guy with questionable tats again.
Collins has been burning down the house.
Neither choice makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
At least he’s not running as a Nazi. He’s not running on a platform of anti-DEI, the Nazis include good people, let’s drive trans people out of public and fire all the Blacks.
I hope he’s not a Nazi. I’m glad he won’t be my senator.
Late to this thread, but his sleeve tattoos on his arms were the ones that violated Marine policy.
The U.S. military has long had a mixed and changing policy on tattoos. Tattoos that are allowed on enlisted personnel may not be allowed for commissioned officers, for example. I knew a bunch of prior enlisted students in officer commissioning programs who were required to get extensive laser tattoo removal procedures at their own expense.
And the effort required to remove his sleeve tattoos would surely have been similarly expensive and painful. So I can see why he’d switch to the Army National Guard if a stricter tattoo policy being newly enforced by the Marines presented an issue.
If they’re gettable voters for Democratic messaging, we should try to court them - like any voters. That’s how politics works.
Tying this to Platner is still just a guess.
Tucker Carlson and Platner would likely find common ground on some issues - burdensome regulations, foreign policy and contempt for “elites” among them.
Platner, speaking at this past weekend’s Maine Democratic convention:
“Oligarchs” are a favorite target of Stew Peters, He’s the far-right influencer Platner got in trouble for reposting. It’s a convenient code word (or if you prefer, dog whistle) for those in the know.
For “oligarchs”, read: Jews.
Campaign funding from George Soros is a no-go, one supposes.
This is the same language (including “oligarchs” - billionaires and corporate interests) as Bernie and AOC and co have been using for a decade. You still haven’t suggested anything new relating to Platner.
Yep, here’s a recent cite. It’s reasonable to refer to any politically connected billionaire like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc as an oligarch, because they are.
Don’t worry, the campaign is just getting started. More to come.
Quoted for truth.
I’m sure there is, but you haven’t provided anything new but speculation.