Platner, Platner Platner, Platner

[AdamGG]

66. Alleged sexual assault vs. adjudicated rapist

Trump had 23 women willing to come forward and be named to claim that he sexually assaulted them. In addition to Trump being found guilty by a jury of assaulting E. Jean Carroll, there was someone who came forward and said that Trump and Jeffery Epstein raped her when she was underage.

As ridiculous as it is for Trump supporters to jump on the Platner case, he should step aside. Before the latest allegation, it was documented that he had sext messaged with 12 women shortly after being married, he had a lot of offensive Reddit posts, he kept the Nazi tattoo for 18 years before covering it up and must have realized what it was long before removing it.

It's lucky that the latest story came out with a week to go before the deadline when his name can be changed on the ballot. That makes me thinks that maybe R's weren't involved in leaking this story because they would likely have rather have hit him with it when a change was no longer possible.

If Platner gives an eloquent speech that acknowledges his shortcomings but also his genuine passion for the issues, he could still have a decent career. He'll have huge name recognition and can probably get book contracts and be a pundit. He could have valuable advice as a political consultant since he was able to do extraordinarily well with going from unknown to candidate and probably would have useful advice for others.

Maine needs to pick his replacement carefully and choose a very strong candidate who has no potential baggage. I'd be hesitant on Janet Mills because she's 78 and didn't inspire people in the primary. There must be someone dynamic and qualified who could appeal broadly and say that although he had some personal issues, Platner connected with people over some serious problem with the system and they are going to passionately carry that fight forward and rally people to remove a Trump puppet from the Senate.

They should repeatedly list all the pro-Trump votes that Susan Collins has taken in the Senate at every public appearance. There are 4 months to completely switch the focus away from Platner, who should go silent during that time.