{"id":1468,"date":"2026-06-07T15:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:07:41","slug":"graham-platner-and-new-wave-left-detest-western-exceptionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468","title":{"rendered":"Graham Platner and ‘New Wave left’ detest Western exceptionalism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

How many scandals can beset a major party Senate candidate before the party jettisons him or her?\u00a0How extreme can such a candidate become before he or she is dumped?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Trump calls younger Khamenei \u2018more rational,\u2019 threatens to take Iran\u2019s uranium by force: \u2018Not an endless war\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re part of the Democrat party apparatus in Maine, the answer seems to be that nothing is too extreme. Nothing is too scandalous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By this point, everyone has heard the sordid stories of Graham Platner. The allegations that he twisted an ex\u2019s arm and yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument (he has denied this). The admittance of sexting women shortly after getting married. The mocking of Purple Heart recipients. Calling army soldiers fat, lazy trash, and seemingly wishing their death. Slandering rural Americans as racist and stupid, and blacks, because they \u201cdon\u2019t tip.\u201d The porta-john masturbation cringe musings and much more.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Candidate Platner writes off all these personal misgivings as trivial foibles and says it\u2019s his politics that count. The mindless groupthink Democrats fall right into line. \u201cMaybe we focus on the issues facing the American people,\u201d squirmed his patron saint, Sen. Bernie Sanders.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the real obscenity of Graham Platner is not his personal misdeeds. Rather, it\u2019s his politics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has openly embraced communism, which slaughtered 100 million people in the 20th century while oppressing and impoverishing many more. He sported a tattoo like the ones worn by Hitler\u2019s SS at death camps that killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Sleepwalking Democrats have leveled charges of fascism so habitually, in such zombie-like fashion, that they don\u2019t even recognize real Nazism when in their midst.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, Platner is part of the New Wave left, making common cause with extremists, socialists, and Islamists. It sports an empty form of political narcissism, the con job of a Robin Hood movement pretending to rescue us from fake oppression scenarios. This so it can moralize its way into office on a platform of failed ideas that build nothing other than race and class resentments and government dependency. The substance of civilizational failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This new left seems to detest Western exceptionalism \u2014 an exceptionalism that has enriched and liberated billions of people, more than any civilization ever. Even our poorest today are wealthier than over 90% of the rest of the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graham Platner would have been dismissed as unacceptable in the Democratic Party just a decade ago. So what does his embrace tell us about modern-day Democrats and where they are headed?\u00a0<\/p>\n

This tells us that the party has a weak bench. It\u2019s no secret that working-class voters \u2014 the core base for Democrats since the New Deal \u2014 are abandoning Democrats, as are many other groups. Seven in 10 voters think the party is too extreme and out of touch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Scott Pelley breaks down, compares \u201960 Minutes\u2019 firings to \u2018family\u2019 being murdered in ludicrous new interview<\/a><\/p>\n

To rebuild, the party could go back to the center or lunge to the socialist left. Led by its activist class, it\u2019s choosing the latter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But very few on the socialist left have ever built a business, or anything else for that matter. AOC was a bartender before her election to Congress in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bernie Sanders is a career politician, suckling on the taxpayer teat nearly all his career. To paraphrase Thomas Sowell, the far left knows nothing about creating prosperity; its leaders just think that it somehow exists and that the only interesting question is how to redistribute it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This means the New Wave Democrat movement doesn\u2019t really know much about building through discovery, innovation, and growth \u2014 the hard stuff that grows the economic pie and secures our future. Many on the left are like nepo-babies, knowing only how to take from government payrolls, government-funded NGOs, and George Soros-like ideological philanthropy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, this is why the new breed Democratic bench will be a thinner one, attracting novices, activists, and extremists like the terrorist-linked Adam Hamawy, who won the Democratic nomination in New Jersey with the backing of Democratic socialists in Congress. This toxicity will deter more serious candidates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, the Platner conundrum also tells us this New Wave Democrat is myopic.\u00a0Democrats across the country will be badgered all fall with questions about supporting the Nazi-tattooed, Hamas-supporting, self-described communist. When they try to dodge, as Sen. Chris Murphy clumsily did last Sunday, they will be seen as weak, cowardly, and out of touch by normie voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Third, Platner conveys that Democrats are situational, insincere moralists, whose collective heads exploded at every one of Trump\u2019s transgressions but who stared at their shoelaces when it came to one of their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, the Platner phenomenon tells us of the cowardice of the party\u2019s moderates. When I worked years ago at the House Judiciary Committee alongside Senator Schumer, then a proud centrist, he would always talk about the importance of saying \u201cno\u201d to the hard left. Who would have thought that years later he would be so intimidated by online activists that he would coddle a candidate cheering the genocidal Hamas today.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it is this cowardice of party leaders who know better that is leading to the party\u2019s decadent decline.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Julian Epstein has served as chief counsel for the House Judiciary Democrats and staff director of the House Oversight Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Family of killer California mom who slaughtered husband and 6-day-old reveals chilling final hours before bloodbath<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A candidate like Graham Platner would have been unthinkable a decade ago. But now, the Democrats have become the party of scandal and bad policy ideas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nGraham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A candidate like Graham Platner would have been unthinkable a decade ago. But now, the Democrats have become the party of scandal and bad policy ideas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Graham Platner and ‘New Wave left’ detest Western exceptionalism\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468\"},\"wordCount\":924,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468\",\"name\":\"Graham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1468#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Graham Platner and ‘New Wave left’ detest Western exceptionalism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Graham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Graham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"A candidate like Graham Platner would have been unthinkable a decade ago. But now, the Democrats have become the party of scandal and bad policy ideas.","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"Graham Platner and ‘New Wave left’ detest Western exceptionalism","datePublished":"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468"},"wordCount":924,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp","articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468","name":"Graham Platner and 'New Wave left' detest Western exceptionalism - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-07T15:07:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4560c97bb866335a9aaed3cfbe8ab419.webp","width":1200,"height":799},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1468#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Graham Platner and ‘New Wave left’ detest Western exceptionalism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}