THE IRONY OF GRAHAM PLATNER’S CAMPAIGN:
Most people don’t know this, but the rise of Graham Platner wasn’t remotely organic, and there is almost nothing real about his origin story or his campaign.
Jim Geraghty did a superb job explaining the process by which a wealthy, mentally unstable guy who was kicked out of an exclusive private school and who bragged about how he went off to war because he wanted to kill people was transformed into a working-class everyman oyster farmer.
This is a really valuable read to understand how Graham Platner rose – it wasn't some organic populist surge.
It was a well-funded op – including glowing NYT and GQ profiles BEFORE he even announced, promoting a very specific curated message intended to get libs online buzzing. https://t.co/4zR0Kf9gzU
— Matt Whitlock (@MattWhitlock) May 26, 2026
Platner was handpicked, groomed, artificially constructed, promoted through a sophisticated public relations campaign, and elevated to superstar status.
Read the whole thing; incidentally, AI image creation is getting increasingly sophisticated. For a split-second, I thought this was a real photo, although “Bernie’s” face looks more like it should be in Madame Tussauds:
Funny https://t.co/qfg6VUlp2F
— Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) June 6, 2026
Bernie going all-in on Platner recalls Kevin Williamson’s 2015 NRO piece: Bernie’s Strange Brew of Nationalism and Socialism.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN):
The Chapo guys (except the one who had the stroke), AOC, Mamdani, Platner, ‘Claire Valdez,’ etc. – they all have the same bios:
They come from affluent backgrounds and have educated and/ or wealthy parents but are downwardly mobile, they fail to launch and then find a foothold… https://t.co/vbLya0vasQ
— Coddled Affluent Professional (@feelsdesperate) June 6, 2026