‘The View’ turns on Maine Democrat Graham Platner: ‘Why can’t we do better?’
WASHINGTON — He’s even lost “The View.”
Hosts of ABC’s “The View” turned on Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner, ripping the horny oyster farmer for his alleged extramarital sexting scandal, voicing their disgust at his behavior.
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“It is disturbing; it is horrible. Why can’t we do better? Why can’t we have better candidates?” co-host Ana Navarro vented. “Why do we have to have Ken Paxton in Texas who has got baggage? It’s not even baggage; it’s steamer trunks of ethical questions around him.”
On Saturday, bombshell reports emerged that Platner was sexting with up to 12 women while married to his wife, with whom he tied the knot in 2023. A current campaign official told the New York Times it was only up to six women and that the Democratic hopeful has stopped doing it.
His wife had flagged the extramarital texting to his campaign aides, including his former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who has since confirmed those messages’ existence to the press.
GOP-leaning Alyssa Farah argued that Republicans have a history of casting aside character flaws in candidates and that the country has lived with the consequences of that. She contended that Democrats have other ways of winning besides Maine.
“As a Republican who sadly watched the quality of candidates we’ve put in office or chosen to run diminish over the last decade, I will tell you that’s it’s not worth it. It’s not worth compromising your morals and values and integrity,” she said. “To be honest, his sexting is the least of my concerns.”
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Platner has faced a firehose of controversies, including a tattoo he had that resembled a Totenkopf or “death’s head” symbol, which was used by the Nazi SS. Platner denied knowing its Nazi ties and has since inked over it.
There have also been a torrent of incendiary screeds he made on his since-deleted Reddit account, saying that a Purple Heart veteran didn’t deserve to live for drawing Taliban fire away from his squad, downplaying sexual assault, defending soldiers urinating on dead Taliban soldiers, calling war “the most enjoyable experience,” declaring that white Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, among others, and more.
Maine’s Senate seat is widely seen as paramount to Democrats’ hopes of retaking control of the upper chamber. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has held the seat for decades as the Pine Tree State has seemingly shifted bluer over time. She is widely seen as the most vulnerable incumbent Republican senator up for reelection.
Some of the women on “The View” threw shade at men in general, grumbling over how there have been a string of recent sex scandals engulfing high-profile men, including former Rep. Eric Swalwell.
“As I was looking at this, no shade, gentlemen, but it just feels like y’all are out of control,” Whoopi Goldberg chided. “Every time we turn around, somebody’s got somebody else up against a wall and a bed. What is happening?”
“These are character flaws I’m tired of hearing about,” she added. “Just keep it in your pants.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin stressed the importance of Democrats winning Maine’s Senate seat, but laced into Platner for making “racist remarks,” being an “anti-semite,” “a liar,” and a “homophobe.”
Sara Haines called it a “character flaw” and declared that “this man should be nowhere near Congress.”
The primary is slated for June 9, and Platner is the presumptive nominee at this point. The Marine veteran has a 7.8 percentage point polling edge over incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.
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