Newspaper Reader on Political Memorey
Jul 09, 2026
Jul 8, 2026 Breaking Points
Ryan and Saagar discuss top allies turning on Platner as Maine Dems push to replace him with an establishment candidate.
https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/
Frank Bruni & Bret Stephens ‘Kick The Gong Around’ about the evil Graham Platner.
Frank Bruni: Bret, you and I have talked quite a bit about Graham Platner and his candidacy — which he finally suspended Wednesday night — so we should probably parse this pathetic, ugly last chapter of it. Which, I’m guessing, doesn’t exactly surprise you?
Bret Stephens: I was about as shocked to hear about Platner’s demise as Captain Renault was to find out that there was gambling at Rick’s.
Frank: I appreciate the levity, because I’m feeling a significant measure of despair. I fear that Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, has now effectively won re-election from Maine — and thus crushed Democrats’ hopes of a Senate majority — but let’s come back to that later. First, I’m curious what lessons, beyond the elegant analysis in your most recent column about political parties falling prey to their “worst ideological impulses,” you divine in the Platner debacle. I’m definitely mulling that myself.
Bret: The most obvious: When you see lightning, you will soon hear thunder. Lyndsey Fifield, a former girlfriend of Platner’s, told The Times earlier this year that he had “twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so that she couldn’t get out,” while also describing him as “the most toxic literally abusive man on earth.” That came out before Platner won the Maine primary. What else did Maine voters need to know about him before suspecting that even more serious allegations would emerge?
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Editor: This is the stuff that deguiles those NYT readers, at the breakfast table?
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