{"id":3345,"date":"2026-07-03T14:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3345"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:06:59","slug":"platner-borrows-from-the-trump-playbook-in-maverick-left-wing-run-for-u-s-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3345","title":{"rendered":"Platner borrows from the Trump playbook in maverick left-wing run for U.S. Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Graham Platner is adopting elements of President Trump\u2019s populist approach in the Maine Senate race, tapping into voter frustration with a system they believe is stacked against them and casting the criticism he faces as evidence that powerful interests are trying to block him and his supporters from reclaiming power.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump urges Americans to check out American Revolution statue exhibit in the heart of Washington<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strategy that was tested almost immediately after he secured the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n

President Trump, speaking in the Oval Office the day after Mr. Platner clinched the nomination, spent more than three minutes attacking him \u2014 calling him a \u201cthug,\u201d \u201cfake,\u201d \u201cphony\u201d and \u201ca pig.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Platner responded by leaning in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, gotta say, being called a thug and the worst person to ever run for office by Donald Trump might be the highest compliment I\u2019ve ever received,\u201d he said. \u201cFor Donald Trump to come after me personally \u2014 that might be the nicest thing anybody\u2019s ever said about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exchange echoed a dynamic central to Mr. Trump\u2019s own rise. During the 2024 campaign, he repeatedly framed attacks from political leaders, prosecutors and the media as evidence that he threatened entrenched interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not coming after me, they\u2019re coming after you,\u201d he told crowds. \u201cI just happen to be standing in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Platner, who, like Mr. Trump in 2016, is a political newcomer, is now running the same play from the other side of the aisle, insisting everyone from Mr. Trump to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and the media is out to get him.<\/p>\n

He entered the general election carrying considerable baggage: past inflammatory social media posts, a tattoo he had covered up that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol, and sexually explicit texts he sent to women after getting married. Mr. Trump and Republicans argue he is cosplaying as a working-class hero \u2014 pointing to his private-school education, a $200,000 loan from his father to help purchase his home and questions about the scale of his oyster-farming operation.<\/p>\n

Mr. Platner\u2019s answer has been to go on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason he\u2019s doing it is that he\u2019s scared,\u201d Mr. Platner said of Mr. Trump. \u201cHe knows that when we win this election, when we take this kind of politics down to Washington, when we retake this seat for working-class Mainers \u2014 he knows that\u2019s coming, and it\u2019s got him shaking in his boots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parallels extend beyond rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Jacobs, a political science professor at Colby College in Maine, said both men have relied on a populist structure that casts the candidate as the vessel for a broader movement \u2014 and treats every new controversy as evidence that the system is out to stop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that the defense of Platner has gone is almost Trump\u2019s defense to a T,\u201d Mr. Jacobs said. \u201cThis is the political class digging up dirt on me. Chuck Schumer\u2019s trying to ruin my life. That sounds exactly like something Donald Trump said in 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. Jacobs said the dynamic is a feature of populism, not a bug.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump saw himself as a leader of a movement. Platner is always talking about how he\u2019s leading the movement,\u201d Mr. Jacobs said. \u201cAnd if there\u2019s a movement bigger than themselves, you have to overlook individual failings \u2014 and in fact every time a scandal comes up it seems to vindicate their message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Mr. Trump cast himself as the billionaire-turned-populist standing between the \u201cforgotten man\u201d and a corrupt ruling class, Mr. Platner casts himself as the combat veteran and oyster farmer standing between working-class Mainers and what he calls the \u201cEpstein class\u201d \u2014 a formulation that turns one of Mr. Trump\u2019s favorite attacks back on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems the only thing the party establishments can agree on is a love of Jeffrey Epstein \u2014 and a hatred of me,\u201d Mr. Platner said in his first general election ad, referring to the late sex offender Epstein.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jacobs noted one major distinction between the two politicians: authenticity.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump never pretended to be something he wasn\u2019t \u2014 telling working-class voters he was for them, not because he was one of them, but because he knew how rigged the system was from the inside. Mr. Platner\u2019s working-class image, Mr. Jacobs suggested, may be harder to sustain.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump never puts on a Carhartt,\u201d Mr. Jacobs said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t go to the bowling alley and take shots. He never pretends to be something he\u2019s not. What he tells people is, \u2019I\u2019m for you, not because I\u2019m one of you, but because I know how damn rigged the system is \u2014 because I\u2019ve been part of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Bernard Sanders sees it differently. The Vermont independent, one of Mr. Platner\u2019s most prominent backers, pointed to the $99 million in Republican super PAC money lined up against Mr. Platner as proof that the working-class message is landing where it counts. \u201cWhat they are worried about is that he is going to be a strong voice against oligarchy,\u201d Mr. Sanders recently told the National Press Club. \u201cTo my mind right now, we need allies who have the guts to take on the big money that is dominating this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether the Trump formula holds for Mr. Platner through November is the central unanswered question of the race.<\/p>\n

For now, Mr. Platner has tried to broaden the frame. \u201cThis story \u2014 the story of this campaign \u2014 is not about how the political establishment counted me out,\u201d he told supporters in his primary victory speech. \u201cIt\u2019s about how for far too long the political establishment has counted out the voices of every single person without the money to buy influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the national pundits, the political establishment \u2014 they keep looking for that one story, that one headline, that one moment in my life that they can define the campaign by,\u201d he added. \u201cBut in trying so hard to understand me, they failed to understand that this is not about me at all. This movement is about us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Lead Iran negotiator tells allies Tehran will go to war again if U.S. does not fulfill commitments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graham Platner is adopting elements of President Trump’s populist approach in the Maine Senate race, tapping into voter frustration with a system they believe is stacked against them and casting the criticism he faces as evidence that powerful interests are trying to block him and his supporters from reclaiming power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[14,202,204],"class_list":["post-3345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-graham-platner","tag-maine"],"yoast_head":"\nPlatner borrows from the Trump playbook in maverick left-wing run for U.S. Senate - Home Buyer Relocation<\/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:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3345\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Platner borrows from the Trump playbook in maverick left-wing run for U.S. Senate - 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