A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.
Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.
“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.
Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.
Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.
Still, the allegation sparked a flight away from a candidate who has long been controversial. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who’d stood by Platner even as the insurgent candidate was hit with prior allegations, said Monday’s was enough. “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”
Edit: holy shit, these comments are insane.
Regardless of what you believe with this, Platner likely cannot win anymore. He has a week to do the right thing and drop out before he’s fully locked in. If he actually gives any sort of a shit (and doesn’t just want power, like rapists seeking office tend to), he needs to drop out yesterday.
This is the nail in the coffin for his campaign. It’s not time to defend him no matter what, because there’s still a week where a new candidate can be put into place. Instead of being mad at people not wanting to vote for him, you should start vocally supporting another candidate.
There are a lot of people in here who do not seem to know a story of someone that was sexually assaulted. I would hope to those of you that think this is bullshit to ask a woman in your life if they know someone that has been assaulted, and what they did. Because 99% of women will know someone or be someone like the woman this is referring to.
Her story is pretty believable and the actions taken are similar to many other people who have been assaulted: Cut ties and warn others. And that is exactly what she did. She knew Platner before this occurred and were even having a sexual relationship (this was from a series of interviews with Graham’s past relationships.) I think the most damning part of this is that she doesn’t appear to have a political agenda. She seems to agree with his messages.
As much as the average person immediately goes to the defense of the person they like more, this seems very credible. it is entirely likely that Planter may not have even been conscious of his actions, having been far too drunk. That isn’t really an excuse, though, and I do think his campaign should be finding a replacement ASAP. They can still run a progressive candidate, but holy fuck, they need to move fast.
Sexual assault should be treated as the disqualifying event that it is. I understand questioning the sincerity of the victim, but there are too many things that make me believe her, and if it is true, that should absolutely disqualify him from office.
Love how you guys can excuse murdering scores of innocent brown people overseas, and a literal Nazi tattoo on his chest, but as soon as he touches a white woman…
I thinking raping anyone is kinda bad, and that shouldn’t be contentious.
It should have come out after he dropped out of the race for having a literal racist antisemitic tattoo on him he definitely knew was a Nazi symbol sometime in the last 18 years. He has killed and he has raped people. Rape is serious but so is murder. He’s a literal murderer, and he bragged about it years later.
That’s kinda hindsight being 20:20 about the tattoo. Like, a tattoo is a warning sign, but it isn’t necessarily indicative of beliefs. I’ve seen the tattoo, and, like, I’m not gonna know it’s a Nazi tattoo, so I can forgive it. Go ahead and claim that’s the number one indicator if you want, but I think most people are gonna give wiggle room for redemption there.
Being a mercenary is a much bigger warning sign. I think pointing to that is a much better idea. That sort of shows lack of remorse and indicates a lot of bad decision-making on Platner’s part. Go all in on that! That’s hard to reconcile.
Being a murderer is–and bare with me for a second–not a big deal for most people. A lot of kids join the military because they were brainwashed and thought they were doing a good thing. Some realize their place in it and try to repent for their actions. If someone was murdered or did a war crime, there are pretty extenuating circumstances where I can see those being forgivable. There are reasons for murder that people let slide, like self defense. And I get drawing a line there. Truly, I do. But America grows its war criminals at home on purpose. I can see why people would let that slide.
But… There just aren’t any reasons where rape is justifiable. You can’t rape someone in self defense. You won’t be forgiven for being brainwashed into raping someone. It IS a step too far in most people’s eyes, and not only did he rape someone, he did not acknowledge it, he did not apologize, and he definitely fucking knew about it.
That’s my two cents about it. I think the mercenary background is really where the big warning sign is, because the kinds of people that become mercenaries are the kind that do not regret being a soldier and have an attitude of “boys will be boys”.
I wouldn’t be proud of this display of ignorance. If you’re active politically, you should know hate signs. This hate sign is the 3rd most recognizable Nazi symbol.
It’s not a coincidence that a Nazi rapist murderer has a Nazi tattoo.
Not everyone knows everything. To be afraid of being ignorant is silly. I’m not embarrassed about saying I don’t know something, and if you are, that says more about you than it does me. I will learn and know for next time.
Great reply. No notes.
Yeah, I also think it’s completely fair to criticize me for not knowing something. Seriously, if I don’t know something, feel free to let me know because how else am I gonna learn it if I don’t know?
Like, I don’t want it to sound like I’m making a joke, I’m not a genius, I can’t recognize every warning sign for what it is, I don’t know a whole lot about a whole lot, and a lot of my knowledge is learned by people telling me something, me researching a few things pretty casually, and me thinking about a few things. I’ve unlearned several things I thought was true, and I might even have to unlearn some of those when I find out that’s wrong. I don’t want you to think that’s a point of pride, I want the pride to be that I’m open to being wrong, and I’m going to defend what I think is right against what I think is wrong.
So, like, open season for you. Have at.
I agree. US military background in general is the red flag.
Rest of your take is weird. There’s no reason to compare the two especially because the man has done both. I don’t know why you would try to reduce a literal murder down to “well it’s not as bad as rape”. If you’ve killed somebody, I never want you near me. Plain and simple. I don’t care why, you’ve ended someone’s life. Same with a rapist, I don’t care if you’ve “changed”. You’re a dangerous person to be around.
Using that to say murdering foreign children is better is fucking gross dude. Delete this weird ass shit
If you murder someone in the defense of yourself or someone else, you’re still a murderer. Like, by definition, you murdered someone. We, as humans, typically excuse murder in these cases. That’s why self-defense is a legal and viable defense for murder. You are still a murderer for it, but it is excused because you did it out of some necessity. They ended someone’s life, but are they dangerous to be around?
That whole thing doesn’t exist for rape. That’s why it’s a worse crime and not excusable. That’s the point.
That’s why people are willing to excuse things like being a soldier or having a Nazi tattoo or even being a mercenary, but not raping someone.
You’re making this argument for someone that murdered fucking kids not in self defense and really annoying and gross. Please go away
I’m actually making this argument for the people supporting him, but I don’t think you’re reading my comments, or you would try harder.
I would definitely argue that it’s incredibly evil and kinda bad makes you kinda sound like an apologist.
Removed by mod
Dude what? You’re really trying to pull a concern troll on someone while saying rape is not that bad? What about when Trump does it, is it “kinda” bad? People like you are seriously sick
What you are doing is literally the definition of concern trolling.
The guy I’m replying to made it about raping “white women”, get the fuck outta here.
Lol you literally just pulled a “I hope you get better” 😂. You said it is “kinda bad.” It’s way beyond kinda bad brother. I’ve had people on here trying to tell me that rape is worse than murder. Like, no shit, I didn’t know I had to support either if they were democrats?
… Yes, I believe I must apologize for your misunderstanding. I had assumed the context would make it obvious per quod that I think rape is actually really fucking bad, and that the response was meant to point out that I don’t really think the race or gender of the person being raped particularly matters in that regard, but I can see that media literacy has taken one last breath this day.
You see, ol’ boy, there’s this thing in English that we do called irony, and I understand it’s a bit of an advanced maneuver, but, boy howdy, do I like it too much to quit. You’ll have to take a bit of a step on this, but trust that this was pretty fucking lathered up in it. Otherwise, please scour my comment history for where you think I think rape is A-okay, and we can have a discussion about it! Mmkay, pumpkin? Okay.
I hope that clears it up for you.
In sure you’ll end up in jail eventually with a milquetoast response like that to rape. Good luck with that.
Okay. Thank you for caring. I’ll send a request for bail money later.
Denied.
webadict has been a voice of reason in these comment threads. You’re attacking someone on your side.
Shit, welcome to lemmy where leftists that agree on 99 out of 100 things will wish death on each other for disagreeing on the 1. That’s been almost exclusively my experience here minus the tankies, that one pedo and the weirdo that thinks LLMs are sentient.
This comment made me spit out my food.
Maybe they should take rape a little more seriously?
Username does not check out
How original
Are you MLs going to exclude all veterans from the revolution then?
Are you MLs going to consider that all veterans are a monolith and deserve to be morally contempted for the rest of their lives, with no chance of rehabilitation and change?
Your list of comrades will never stop shrinking if this mentality continues.
Note that Platner denies these rape accusations, when the victim has contemporaneous receipts and Platner’s therapy never got around to covering this. Apparently he can rehabilitate as a veteran but not as a sex pest. THAT’S the part y’all should be concerned with.
Nice to see the Democrats convict someone without evidence or a trial, was he charged with anything?
No one going to ask why these accusers stayed silent for 5 years?
The Olde DNC doesn’t want Platner, so they Gary Harted him.
Regardless of there being any police investigations, rape reports, arraignments, trials, convictions, and incarcerations or not, Platner should have made his skeletons public ahead of the primaries.
Regardless of if the allegations are true or not, Platner should have disclosed these bad times in his life because the DNC and Israel would have absolutely used them against Platner anyways.
But that didn’t happen and now we’re here, and Mainers are starting to shift perspective away from Platner in recent polls.
Optics are essential for politics, unfortunately.
From leadership positions? Sure.
Excluding someone from a leadership position does not mean they “deserve to be morally contempted with no chance of rehabilitation or change.” This whole mentality is completely screwed up and backwards.
If a politician fucks up or does something shitty, and they want my forgiveness, then they’re completely free to drop out of politics. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen or something. Better yet, go out and make restitution to your victims. It doesn’t matter if you’re unable to undo the damage you caused, so long as you’re trying and you’re being humble about it.
But somehow, and idk if this is an American thing or what, but people like you get things completely twisted. A politician can just say “I’m sorry,” do absolutely nothing to make restitution or demonstrate humility, and everything’s fine! It’s ridiculous, that’s not forgiveness, that’s either not caring about what they did in the first place, or bootlicking and refusing to hold powerful people accountable.
No one who’s truly sorry and ashamed about something they’ve done would try to make themselves the face of a political movement and expect people to rally around them. Why does it have to be him when there are plenty of other people out there who haven’t been a killer for hire or a rapist?
It’s completely insane.
Was Platner charged with rape?
Why now? Why did these accusations not happen in 2021?
You guys are being played by Warren, Schumer, etc.
No, but the accusation is very credible.
Because he wasn’t running for office then?
If Chuck Schumer planted the idea in my brain to distrust a Blackwater mercenary with a Nazi tattoo and a credible rape accusation, then man, I don’t even know. He must have some kind of mind control ray, one that he uses to promote ideas completely contrary to the policies he supports. I must be deep under his control.
Or, and I know this sounds completely crazy compared to the mind control thing, it might actually be possible that multiple people can dislike someone for different reasons, that they arrived at on their own.
Seriously, I’m getting flashbacks to high school here. Every time I questioned the conservative beliefs I was raised with, it was “who’s putting these ideas in your head?” as if I were incapable of having an independent thought. But maybe it was the Chuck Schumer mind control ray all along 🤔
Beautifully and succinctly said!
If a former veteran gets elected as a politician, blocks legislation that favors the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and Israel, and passes legislation that benefits the constituents at home, then that’s some real, tangible restitution. And veterans turned dissenters of the existing regime may make more inroads than others without that background because of their spite and disdain for the status quo.
Someone being a product of the system they were indoctrinated into doesn’t disqualify them from changing the system. That’s purity politics.
No, no it’s not, that’s not how anything works. “I just need to acquire power for myself so that I can make up for the bad things I did” is completely the wrong mentality and not someone who is genuinely seeking forgiveness. Your path of redemption does not look like you becoming one of the most powerful and influential people on earth. You want forgiveness, you use the power that you have right now to make a difference.
This is fundamental. Everyone has some fantasy about how, once they’re rich and famous and powerful, once they win the lottery, they’ll be super generous and kind and make the world a better place. And in the meantime, if they have to screw people over to get there, it doesn’t matter because it’ll all work out in the end. Seeking forgiveness necessarily means rejecting that mentality!
If you have already fucked up with what power you have, then the problem isn’t that you don’t have enough power, it’s that you aren’t capable of using that power responsibly. The last thing you should be trying to do is acquire more power, and doing that is fundamentally incompatible with redemption.
So be it. If that’s purity politics, then we need way more purity politics in the US.
Biden spent his entire long career creating and exacerbating every problem the country has been facing, and somehow anyone who tried to apply any standard whatsoever to him, including just basic cognitive functioning, was accused of practicing “purity politics.” The US already has the least “pure” political standards in the entire world. That’s how we got here.
How do veterans make people’s lives better in the grand scheme? Lead soup kitchens? Set up mutual aide networks?
Is mass change through the state apparatus not an effective way of achieving the same goals?
Doesn’t mean Platner can’t do both, of course. And he hasn’t.
“Grand scheme” nope, immediately wrong. You want to make things better in some big dramatic way, you want to be the face of a movement, you want a leadership position, don’t commit war crimes and rape people. Period.
You want to earn redemption and forgiveness having done those things? You contribute to other people’s movements and efforts. You quietly support from the background.
The vast majority of people who are actually working to make the world a better place receive little to no recognition. They never get their name up in lights, even if they do good their entire lives without killing and raping first. Now, you think the killer-for-hire is somehow entitled to being one of the few people who get recognition, who represent the movement? That they’re too good to do the quiet and humble work that non-murderers do? Where do you get off?
Whether it is or not is irrelevant, the point is that Platner shouldn’t be one of the figures leading and representing that effort.
So all veterans, if they want to redeem themselves in the eyes of MLs, must do what’s the equivalent of community service in dissuading the youth from joining the military, providing mutual aide for other veterans, and maybe 10-20 other things before they get moral consideration from the left.
Any veterans that don’t immediately do that after leaving military service after as little as 1 tour and instead go on to do other normal economic things with their time like oyster farming, trucking, construction, whatever makes their living is not good enough for doing anything associated with political office.
Do these same purity tests apply to normal folks, the peasantry class, that have no military experience? What if some of those peasants do crimes like arson or domestic violence or murder? Do they also get banned from political office forever, even if they give back to their communities? How much do they have to give back? Are the requirements in years? Or should we measure people’s emotions and cognitions to see if they’ve really learned their lesson? Do all leaders need to be pure, untainted lab rats grown into wealthy families that see no hardship?
Purity tests are the cancer of the left. There needs to be space for people to recognize their wrongs, and try to do better about it. Saying whether HOW they do better is right or wrong is arbitrary. Veterans that see how bad the MIC is would be best suited to know how to dismantle it. Former inmates that see how bad the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is would be best suited to know how to dismantle it.
Obviously it’s better if vets, former inmates, etc. do all of the above. But I don’t think we should rule out people if they don’t, especially if there’s no better alternative. The best thing to do in these dilemmas is find better candidates and support them. Without that, viability and policies is the only way forward.
Just the ones that go back 4 times for the thrill of killing, volunteer at torture prisons, and work for mercenary groups.
Rapists aren’t sex pests, they’re rapists.
There are no criminal charges against Platner because there is no evidence to support this story that mysteriously remained silent for 5 years.
Guess we’ll see!
So only veterans that touch and go with the military for 6 months or 1 tour are worthy of rehabilitation and your support?
Once again, this mentality will never lead to the populist revolution Lenin wrote about.
I’m not here to debate you about what is or isn’t a sex pest. Platner can fuck off in that regard.
Charged, tried and convicted in the court of Lemmy.
Uhh, yes. If you don’t see the fucking evil way americas military treats innocent civilians on your first tour and then immediately regret it, and actively go back 3 more times, then volunteer for a torture camp, then become a mercenary… Fuck you.
Not a hard concept to understand, yeah?
Propaganda can take longer for some if they choose to ignore reality.
Not a lot of leftists are vegans in this regard. If they saw how gas chambers, pistols to the head, knives to the throat are used to kill animals and get them prepped for people’s chicken nuggets and jalapen poppers, you’d think they’d change and stop eating meat, but to them the speciesist propaganda that humans are better persists.
Did you write this in the wrong spot? The fuck does this have to do with anything?
He gave a straightforward comparison assuming you were capable of reading comprehension and abstract thought.
My point was about propaganda prevailing over people’s eyes and ears. That is a fact that happens for many. Not everyone has the privilege to act on their moral instincts like you. That’s what I’m saying.
Veganism is an example from another context that underpins what I’m saying. Same can be said for veterans and new recruits. Hell, most Americans still see military people as heroes. Not saying I do, but that’s a fact.