Well, you might want to check out the link above, where somebody did a deep dive into his Reddit history. Could you quote some racist and/or anti-Semitic statements he has made? Everything I’ve heard quoted is pretty weak sauce like “Blacks are bad tippers”.
Appearing on Cornacchia’s podcast is pretty bad, though, and I definitely would like his campaign to comment on that. I checked out his YouTube page, and at first glance he seems pretty leftist; the vast majority of his videos are anti-Trump, mostly relating to the Epstein files and ridiculing the clown car of incompetents he calls a “cabinet”. But it doesn’t take long to start noticing some pretty obvious anti-Semitic memes sprinkled in there. Politicians he dislikes are photoshopped so that they are literally wrapped in the Israeli flag. We see Mamdani posing with some Hasids, illustrating his point that, AIUI, the Vast International Jewish Conspiracy arranged for Mamdami’s election because they expect him to facilitate jihadi terrorist acts in NYC, thus increasing Islamophobia among Americans, which will lead to increasing public support for Israel. I’m hoping Platner was just politely lying when he claimed to be a “big fan” of this podcast, and that he was actually unfamiliar with it, but explanations are definitely in order here.
I’d want a comment from his campaign if he said something wrong about the CHIPS act. This is about him very possibly being a racist - he should just drop out and we don’t need to look at every social media post to try to decide how much he talks about fishing vs the protocols of the elders of zion.
And besides the fact that racists frequently do bad things when in a position of power, he’s vying to be in a very competitive race. I know he’s polling well now but it should be pretty obvious that the more time a candidate who needs anti-racists to vote for him spends explaining that he’s not racist the worse off he is.
The fact that he’s anti Trump does not mean he’s not a racist. Trump does a lot of bad things, racism being only one of them.
I think Mills is way too old and this guy being her only competition sucks for anyone who wants a better alternative.
The Jacobin link? Yes, I’m not surprised that they’re on board with him. They’re exactly the sorts I don’t want to see destroy the Democratic party the same way that MAGA destroyed the Republicans.
Here is an article on Platner’s opposition to a ballot measure aimed at keeping trans kids from playing sports, which he correctly identifies as an “invented culture-war scare”. I’m linking this mostly because I think it’s hilarious that a pro-trans website got the Web address “them.us”
Also, QFT;
I was a captain of my high school wrestling team in 2003. I wrestled girls. Nobody cared. There was no uproar. We had girls wrestling in boys wrestling, or vice versa, 20-plus years ago. There was a girl on our high school football team. Nobody cared. I’m sorry—I cannot take it seriously.
If you think we’ve already heard everything there is to hear about Platner’s background before the actual Republican campaign against him has even started, and the Collins camp isn’t holding back any bombshells for the general election, then you may want to ponder for a bit on how things work.
The fact that he’s the candidate of Jacobin and DSA, the organization that sponsored the block party celebrating the October 7 massacre on October 8. The fact that he can’t stop retweeting Holocaust deniers and going on Nazi podcasts. The fact that he’s running for senator from Maine and thinks Israel is the #1 issue, or keeps talking about “billionaires.” Maine has one billionaire, a woman who inherited her father’s bowling shoes business and isn’t involved in politics. We all know what he means.
He has other things that should be disqualifying besides his Jew problem and his tendency to lie about everything. The quote about how he joined the Marines after the Iraq War started because he loves killing people is definitely going to get some airtime in October, don’t you think?
On Jews and Nazi sympathy more generally, the presumption from the DSA wing is that it’s to the nominee’s benefit to allow the most noxious bigotry imaginable because that will somehow appeal to “ordinary working class whites” in Maine. Somehow when we get to the kind of bigotry that actually matters to leftists, it’s the complete opposite and we need to tell rural blue-collar voters that there is no room for compromise on trans issues. Interesting to see which group is the subject of an inviolable moral principle about discrimination and which clearly is not.
This applies to Platner and perhaps no one else. Certainly no one of significance. The real, influential DSA types, like AOC, Mamdani, Bernie, etc., have none of these bigoted qualities or foibles.
I don’t think Bernie Sanders has ever been a member of the DSA. We’ll leave his relationship to this issue at that. The rest of them do bear some guilt for refusing to leave or condemn the organization, whose leaders are quite clearly anti-Jewish, anti-U.S., and pro-terrorism.
OK, I continue to notice a pattern of the strongest criticism from Platner coming from people who also routinely spread lies about organizations such as DSA. Is the right-wing game plan now to equate any criticism of billionaires with anti-Semitism?
Mamdani’s wife liked some pretty heinous tweets that were celebrating the murders and raped on October 7th; meanwhile, Dan Goldman was forced to denounce his wife for liking comments that should be much less controversial.
It’s clear that there’s a serious problem for the Democratic party here, of which Platner is the most metastisized example.
And just to be clear, is the claim you are making that the DSA has not supported groups like Hamas or the IRGC? Or just that they didn’t organize the one event Zoster referenced even if they do support them overall?
I can’t get to that article without registering, but clearly it is from a right-wing Zionist propaganda organ. Some of the other articles listed on their front page include
Trump official says tax code could be tool in fight against campus antisemitism
Because campus antisemitism is totally a real problem, and Trump is a friend of the Jews who only wants to protect us.
John Fetterman again offers scathing criticism of own party’s foreign policy views
What a noble person John Fetterman is, bravely speaking truth to power!
Leading NYC Jewish groups raise “deep concerns” over Mamdami’s latest extremist associations
He had dinner with Mahmoud Khalil. The horror! Wasn’t he listening when Donald Trump and Kristi Noem said he was a terrorist?
There’s nothing remotely wrong with a pro Palestine rally, after the Hamas attacks or at any other time. Pro Palestine does not remotely imply pro Hamas.
And there’s nothing wrong with Zionism, the belief that Jewish people deserve self determination. I’m not going to take someone who doesn’t believe I deserve self determination seriously on any issue involving Jewish people
Yes, the “strike strike Tel Aviv” guy, the guy who unironically said “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization”. He’s a caricature I thought didn’t exist outside of deranged right wing fever dreams. Finding out that someone like him is not only real but also invited to dinner by Mamdani is pretty sickening.
That doesn’t seem like a problem to you?
Also, are these the “lies” you referenced earlier?
The claim that one particular chapter of DSA sent out one tweet publicizing that rally is accurate. The claim that DSA “organized” the rally, or had any involvement with it whatsoever beyond that tweet, is false. (And to be clear, it was Zoster, and not you, who made that claim in this thread)
Some chapters and sub-groups within DSA have taken arguably pro-Hamas positions. OTOH we have groups like North Star DSA, whose entire statement on the October 7 attacks was two words: “Fuck Hamas”.
The national group’s statement immediately after the 10/7 attacks denounced Israel as an “apartheid State” and said that the attacks were “not unprovoked”, but also stated “We unequivocally condemn the killing of all civilians. It is imperative for international human rights law to be respected.”
This is a fair point. We really need a different word to distinguish liberal Zionists from Islamophobic Netanyahu/Smotrich apologists like Fetterman and his ilk.
