An asshole to the end

As little as I think of the team surrounding Graham Platner, at least apparently some of his consultants advised against leaving the race with a narcissistic spew of conspiracy theories blaming everybody but the person responsible for his implosion (himself):

Several of the embattled Maine Democrat’s closest advisers pleaded with him Wednesday to strike a “conciliatory” tone in the announcement terminating his Senate campaign, according to two people close to Platner’s team with knowledge of the internal discussions. But the progressive bucked their advice and made it a condition of dropping out of the race that he get free rein to assail establishment Democrats and blame them for the ignominious end to his rapid political rise.

And so, shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday — just two days after POLITICO reported that a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021 — the oysterman released a defiant, emotional social media video. He continued to deny the allegations against him. He blasted the “corporate media system and the political establishment” for acting as “judge, jury and executioner.” And he railed against Washington Democrats for ripping the rug out from under him.

“Those in power, who have the ability to do so, are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign,” Platner said. “They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.”

The behind-the-scenes details about the debate that unfolded inside Platner’s campaign before his Wednesday night announcement were confirmed by the two people on condition they be granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

One of the individuals said Platner’s aides specifically urged him to focus on “gratitude” in his campaign farewell message — but to no avail. Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The idea that the rest of the party isn’t sufficiently focused on beating Collins is exactly the kind of projection you’d expect from a self-centered misogynist. Again, his general election campaign was a low-energy, shambolic trainwreck that was overwhelmingly likely to blow the most favorable Senate race of the cycle:

But behind the scenes, his campaign was messy, disorganized and haphazardly run. Mr. Platner did not disclose explosive, politically damaging secrets to key members of his team. And he was guarded by an insular and zealously protective inner circle of advisers who did not always seem to grasp the seriousness — or strangeness — of what quickly became a steady drip of scandal, according to party strategists, Democratic officials and former staff members.

Repeatedly, Mr. Platner promised there was nothing else damaging from his past to come. And each time, he was wrong.

Mr. Platner, said Ronald Holmes III, his former national finance director, was “seriously flawed.” But he faulted Mr. Platner’s team for failing to “ask the right questions and get honest answers.”

[…]

But by June, Mr. Platner was trailing far behind Ms. Collins in campaign funds. Mr. Platner’s campaign had just $1.3 million in the bank when he exited the race, a fraction of Ms. Collins’s $9.7 million war chest as of late May. A person familiar with the campaign’s finances said the amount of cash available to spend was even lower — under $100,000.

Part of the problem is that Platner has never held down a real job since he stopped being a professional killer, and more of it is that he and too many of his core supporters cared a lot more about intraparty factional struggles than beating Collins and Trump.

Anyway, Maine Democrats will get a second chance, and let’s hope they use is a lot more wisely. And Collins’s campaign knows that their odds of winning just got a lot worse.

…via Ira, Jamelle’s take on this is very good: