Democrats Have Gone Full Platner

There is a contest this year among Democrats to find the worst possible candidate for the general election. As a Republican, this is great news, as it should lead to Republican wins, but as an American, I am appalled.

This September marks the 25^th anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and, were it not for brave patriots who overpowered hijackers and downed a fourth plane, the attempted attack on the U.S. Capitol or White House. Yet if you can believe it, the Democratic House candidate from New Jersey, Adam Hamawy, was affiliated with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” who attempted to take down the World Trade Center in 1993. Hamawy is backed by radical podcaster Hasan Piker, as is Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race. Both are radical leftist candidates.

The Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina is Roy Cooper. As its former governor, he drew strong criticism for his heavy-handed COVID lockdowns and policies. Recently, it was reported that he released violent criminals before their sentences were up with a secret agreement with the NAACP. Many of those released criminals reoffended. Decarlos Brown, who slashed the neck of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska as she rode the train in Charlotte, was on that early release list.

Next, look at Texas State Rep. James Talarico’s comments about God, made in the Texas legislature and from the pulpit, which are totally out of the mainstream. He has said, “God is non-binary … God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between.” On the border, he suggests the U.S. should have a “welcome mat.” In a deeply traditional Christian and America’s most border-y border state, these are not Texas values. They’re also not American values.

Then there’s Graham Platner. No doubt Democrat party leaders searched high and low for anybody, anybody else to run for U.S. Senate in Maine. Some say the Democrats’ only chance to take control of the U.S. Senate is to flip Maine’s Senate seat. It’s been almost fun watching national Democratic leaders squirm, hesitate, and contort themselves into knots while trying to explain their support for this lunatic.

Platner, until recently, had a Nazi SS tattoo (and most likely knew it was when he got it), has made racist and homophobic comments, has sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women, is on a social media platform that seeks out underage girls, and has allegedly been violent with past girlfriends. He has intimated that rape victims deserve what they get, has spoken in favor of political violence as a means to an end, and has disparaged veterans.

To add insult to injury, he claims that he said these things in a “dark” period of his life and attributed them to PTSD from his time in the military. As if insulting and devaluing women isn’t enough, he insinuates PTSD is an excuse for his bad behavior and vile words. Understandably, this has incensed many veterans.

There was a time not long ago when these types of behaviors and comments would have elicited calls for cancellation by party leaders, yet Platner’s have been glossed over by supporters like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). Their hypocrisy is off the charts. Whatever happened to “Believe all women”? Eric Swalwell must be kicking himself, thinking he caved too soon.

Democrats’ support of Platner is insulting to women. Women voters in Maine, unless they have an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, should be running as fast as they can toward Maine’s moderate Republican incumbent Susan Collins.

Platner campaigns with the party’s backing as its official candidate, and it seems Maine’s Democratic voters are sticking with their man. Still, there are whispers that even more salacious allegations are to come. If the Democrats do end up dumping him, it will only be when they become convinced he will lose.

These horrible candidates now constitute the Democrat Party’s norm. They’re radical, corrupt, indecent, and just plain strange — poster children for a party that has completely lost its moral compass. Some are socialists. Some are opportunists. Some are both. But they are all products of a Democratic Party that has decided winning matters more than decency, and ideology matters more than the Constitution.

It is time for Americans to reject these candidates and the un-American values they peddle before they get the chance to act on them. We have a Tricentennial to celebrate in 2076. Let’s make sure we get there. God Bless America.

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Martha Jenkins is president of the National Federation of Republican Women.