The Democrat Senate Primary in Maine is next Tuesday, and the presumptive nominee Graham Platner is facing a new revelation of sexting with woman outside his marriage, to go along with several  previously reported Reddit posts where he referred to himself as a “communist,” called “all” police officers “bastards” and said rural White Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, and then there is his Nazi tattoo. But if you were watching CNN's Inside Politics Tuesday, Host Dana Bash's segment on Platner covered almost all of this up, even though it was CNN's KFILE who broke the story on Reddit posts last October. Bash headed into a break, teasing the segment with, "We have new details on Graham Platner meeting today here in Washington with Senate Democrats as another revelation rattles his race to flip a GOP seat." Nice tease,but there would be barley a mention of that new revelation.  Bash began the segment by disclosing that Platner was headed into the meeting carrying "new political baggage," claiming that it is "giving his party new reasons to worry." But she made no mention of new or old reasons to worry, instead tossing to a clip from Platner supporter Bernie Sanders, who asked of Platner, "Is he a saint? I guess not. I don't know too many saints." She then gave the floor to Bloomberg Political Columnist Nia-Malika Henderson, who also kept quiet about any specifics. HENDERSON: Progressive Democrats were first out of the gate in backing Platner. Now they have to hope that he is Teflon....They have to in some ways, hope that he's like Trump, who has had many, many scandals, obviously survived the primary in 2016, in the presidency. There is probably a little bit of buyer's remorse.... This is a bit of a mess. What bit of a mess? Why does he need to be Teflon? She didn't give a clue, yet she brought up Donald Trump. Next, Semafor Politics Reporter David Weigel, came the closest the segment would come to revealing anything that Platner had posted or done. WEIGEL: What happened with his former campaign adviser going to the press and saying, his wife told me that he sent texts that we've not seen, but texts to women who he wasn't married to right after he got married. That's a different kind of story, that complicates the narrative that this is a man who went through PTSD, and remade his life. Nine hours later on Fox News's Hannity, Sean handled his Platner segment in a completely different manner, with honest reporting.  HANNITY: We begin in Maine tonight where a rich kid turned communist Graham Platner is now trying to unseat moderate Republican Susan Collins but unfortunately for Democrat, Platner's extremist views are not even his biggest problem. Tonight, sex acts. Apparently he can't pass a porta potty without being attracted to the porta potty to.. pleasure himself. A sexting scandal during his current three-year marriage and of course nearly 20 years that disgusting Nazi tattoo. Graham Platner is clearly unfit for office. He then played a clip of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer being asked over and over again if he still supports Platner, after meeting with him earlier in the day, and the Democrat kept repeating, "We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate." HANNITY: He's like a robot. Now chuck Schumer is refusing to condemn a candidate with a tattoo based on a symbol used by the Nazi SS guards at death camps. That is moral cowardice. Chuck Schumer, you are a moral coward. Hannity would go on to welcome in Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz with, "You look at this guy, the Nazi thing should have been enough. It wasn't. Sexually explicit messages. Porta potties pretty bad. Blaming sex assault victims suggest women take responsibility.... All cops are bastards, an admitted communist. He called people in his state of Maine, white men, he said they are racist. Hannity told his audience who Platner is, and because it doesn't fit the left wing media narrative of taking the Senate, Bash and CNN kept their viewers totally in the dark.

After the firing of 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, MS NOW dedicated much of its special primary election night coverage, helmed by Rachel Maddow with panels full of fellow nighttime opinion hosts like Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhle, to the Pelley news. During one segment, Psaki dramatically read from the former CBS employee’s first released statement with commentary intertwined throughout its reading. As election coverage reached close to midnight, Maddow, with a coarse voice, handed the reading of Pelley’s statement to Psaki. It began with an explanation of the growth of 60 Minutes before he began his attacks on the new ownership of CBS and claimed the show, “lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause.” Psaki then read more from Pelley, who alleged that the network told him to “inject falsehoods,” before she gave her own commentary: "(...) For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told –" These are just incredible words to hear from Scott Pelley.   MS NOW's Primary Election Coverage was intertwined with the discussion of Scott Pelley's firing at CBS after his outburst. It included a dramatic 3+ minute reading from Jen Psaki of Pelley's statement after he was fired: pic.twitter.com/yIz0iqInQd — Nick (@nspin310) June 3, 2026   Ruhle and Maddow then asked for a repeat, as Ruhle asked, “Read that part one more time,” and Maddow agreed, “Yeah, just read that sentence again." After Psaki repeated the line, she continued, with more interjections from Maddow: PSAKI: He goes on to say, “I've been told to include assertions that are unverified.” MADDOW: Wow. (...) PSAKI: Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all. MADDOW: Wow. Psaki mentioned the viewership numbers for 60 Minutes, which averaged 9 million viewers last season, according to a CBS press release. Ruhle called the show “a financial powerhouse for the network.” Psaki closed the reading of her statement, and the rest of the panel was still in dramatic shock. Ruhle exclaimed, “How does the rest of CBS News come to work tomorrow?” The soon-to-be mid-morning host on the network then claimed the changes to 60 Minutes were the equivalent of Elon Musk’s DOGE: “They’re DOGEing CBS, right?”   In more of the election special that turned into CBS firings coverage, Jen Psaki called 'BS' on the idea that Scott Pelley and Cecilia Vega are "products of the left," before adding, "I had no idea what their politics were." Rachel Maddow then wanted MS NOW to hire Pelly pic.twitter.com/3pQVmz00UC — Nick (@nspin310) June 3, 2026   At the end of the segment on Pelley, Psaki gave a defense of the fired correspondents. She called “preemptive BS” on those who would say that Pelley and Vega were “products of the left.” Psaki then added: “I had no idea what their politics were.” In case anyone wondered what Pelley’s politics were, explore this MRC compilation of his worst and Vega’s moments of left-wing bias at CBS. To close, Maddow implored her employer, MS NOW, to hire Pelley as she asked, “Scott Pelley, if you’re watching, come work for us.” The panel laughed as Maddow said she did not have the power to hire him, as Ruhle then declared, “But if MS takes a vote, we all vote yes,” before the channel returned to primary election coverage. While it seemed likely Pelley may be an avid MS NOW viewer of shows hosted by the likes of Maddow and Psaki, it seemed much more likely he is poised to take the resistance podcaster route on Substack instead, just like Jim Acosta, Katie Couric, Scott McFarlane, and Terry Moran before him. The transcript from MS NOW’s special election coverage is below. Click “expand”: MS NOW’s We The People 2026: Primary Night June 2, 2026 11:53:54 PM Eastern (...) RACHEL MADDOW: Scott Pelley has put out a statement tonight, just in the last few minutes, in response to being fired. I would read it to you, but listen to me. I sound like I've been gargling with steel wool. Luckily, Jen Psaki is here and is going to read. JEN PSAKI: I'm going to be your spokesperson, sort of.  This is incredibly powerful. We were just talking during the break about how everybody needs to hear every word, so I'm just going to read every single word so that the audience hears it. It starts this way.  “There's never been anything in America like 60 Minutes. The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly, with an unheard of 9% jump in. Viewers on CBS. “60” has been the number one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects.  Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently, to curry a moment of favor with the Trump Administration. The waste is heartbreaking. Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias. They stood for professionalism against chaos. For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told -” These are just incredible words to hear from Scott Pelley. STEPHANIE RUHLE: Read that part one more time. MADDOW: Yeah, just read that sentence again. PSAKI: “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.” This is similar to what Cecilia Vega also had in her statement just last week.  He goes on to say, “I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. -” MADDOW: Wow. PSAKI: “ - To date, in every case, I've managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast, giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.  Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all. MADDOW: Wow. PSAKI: This is 60 Minutes. I mean, 9 million people, I believe, were watching as of last night. RUHLE: And a financial powerhouse for the network. PSAKI: And financial powerhouse. “At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to keep up the good fight.  Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight, but now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable.  The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well. I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion, a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women at CBS News who encouraged and enriched, enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again. A day when sanity, competence, and courage return. PANELIST: Wow. RUHLE: How does the rest of CBS News come to work tomorrow? PSAKI: How does the rest of 60 Minutes come to work. And how do the correspondents who are still there feel? MADDOW: And how do the people who are doing this look themselves in the mirror? RUHLE: Fine. Let me be clear. They’re a-okay. MICHAEL STEELE: They’re good. They are good. RUHLE: We talked about this during the break. I would liken this - this is the equivalent - this is - they’re DOGEing CBS, right? Elon Musk came into the government not understanding how the government worked and bulldozed it, realized after mistakes, and just left a wasteland. Hated what he -  hated the government he was tearing apart, and there was no evidence that they wanted to rebuild it. That's what we're witnessing here. (...) 12:01:50 AM Eastern MADDOW: Jen? PSAKI: I was just going to say, I want to call some preemptive BS on what we're going to hear from the right, which is that, you know, anybody- that Scott Pelley, that Cecilia Vega are products of the left. That they are defending Democrats.  And I'm just going to say I worked for two Democratic presidents who were interviewed by them. I was grilled by some of them every single day. I had no idea what their politics were. They were tough as nails on every single person I worked for. They called out things that they didn't think should be happening in government. That's who they were. So, anybody who calls that out is - that is total BS. And I can tell you from experience. MADDOW. Yeah. And I would also say that Scott Pelley, if you're watching, come work for us.  I actually don't have the power to hire you. [Laughter] PSAKI: Sure you do. [Laughter] If anyone here does. STEELE: You have the voice. [Laughter] RUHLE: But if MS takes a vote, we all vote yes.  STEELE: We all vote yes. MADDOW: Yeah. All right. As we are continuing our election coverage tonight, we are watching as results come in in California, that governor's race and that LA Mayor's election are both cases in which we're looking at top two finishers going to a runoff. That's the hallmark of all of these California races that we are watching.  (...)

How many people can walk into their workplace, defecate on the new management, insult their new direct supervisor, and get immediately fired for cause right before getting a glowing sendoff on the way out? Well, there’s Scott Pelley, apparently, given the sendoff he just got from the CBS Evening News.  The Evening News ran an extended A-block in order to give Pompous Pelley a five-minute sendoff. The sendoff was bifurcated into two segments, the first being a process piece on the runup to Pelley’s firing and aftermath, which was handled by national correspondent Jim Axelrod (click “expand” to view transcript).

"Spencer Pratt surges to runoff in LA mayor’s race after angry voters send message to Karen Bass." Does that sound like a reasonable headline description as to what happened on Tuesday in the mayoral election in Los Angeles? After all the incumbent mayor Bass was rejected (as of this writing) by almost two thirds of the voters. It is a headline that appeared on the 930 WFMD Radio website and is somewhat reflected in a bizarre way at Politico which somehow managed to give the election results a laughably different interpretation with "Becerra and Bass surge in California as anti-establishment fever breaks." Yes, the Wednesday Politico spinmeister team of Liam Dillon, Alex Nieves, and Daniel Miller somehow groks that a nearly two-thirds vote against the incumbent translates into a "surge" for the establishment. In addition, contrary to Politico attempting to wishcast anti-dem establishment candidate  Spencer Pratt away by portraying him as coming in third behind two diehard Democrats during the last week of May, he appears to be solidly in place for the November runoff election against Bass as of this writing (unless mysterious boxes appear loaded with  Nithya Raman ballots). Even more absurd is the portrayal of Xaviera Becerra as experiencing a "surge" since he came in second in the election for governor behind Steve Hilton who at this point leads Mr. Surge by three points. The strong antipathy of Politico towards Hilton is illustrated by the fact that in the entire article he is mentioned just once. Let the drums roll for the lone brief mention by Politico of the actual winner of the gubernatorial open primary: "Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host endorsed by President Donald Trump, was just ahead of Becerra early Wednesday morning." Keep in mind this Pravda-like portrayal of Becerra as somehow surging comes on the heels of Politico taking a strong dose of hopium last Friday with this headline: "Second poll shows Becerra’s ahead in California governor’s race." The world of Politico appears to be so desperate to hype failed establishment Democrat candidates that they can laughably twist a candidate portrayed as being ahead in the governor's race as having surged a few days later despite unexpectedly falling behind (as of this writing) the Republican candidate by three points. Ironically, Politico itself seems to have unintentionally placed something of a reality check on its wishcast headline since just below it on the front page the surging incumbent also appears this headline: "Karen Bass heads to runoff in Los Angeles."

On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, Democratic strategist Antjuan "Sour Grapes" Seawright lashed out at the growing success of political newcomers like Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, dismissing the trend as part of a “reality TV, or trash TV” model in the Republican Party. “I also think there’s a new model in the Republican Party, reality TV, or trash TV, and you don’t have to have experience and you audition for the job.” Great point, Antjuan! Unlike Karen Bass, whose "experience" includes letting the Palisades burn, while needles and human waste pile up on LA’s streets. Seawright argued that voters responding to name ID and relatability — the same factors he credited for Donald Trump’s rise — support candidates who lack serious policy depth. At the end of the segment, Seawright, while still predicting defeat for candidates like Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt, grudgingly conceded: “However, I think competition is good for the marketplace.” That was too much even for host and fellow liberal Audie Cornish, who responded with sarcasm: "Very charitable of you, Antoine. I appreciate you saying that." Conservative panelist Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, was visibly amused [see screencap] throughout Seawright’s condescending "trash TV" rant. When given the floor, Schilling offered a far more sensible take, saying Republicans are looking for outsiders who will actually speak to the concerns of working families. The exchange perfectly encapsulated the Democratic party’s current posture toward populist-conservative candidates: whistling past the graveyard with open contempt, mixed with reluctant acknowledgment that competition might not be so bad after all — especially when their own party’s grip on deep-blue California is showing cracks. CNN’s chyron tried to downplay Pratt’s strong performance by claiming he was only competing for "second" — despite live results showing him much closer to Bass than Raman is to him. A more accurate chyron would have been: "Pratt, Bass Competing For First In L.A. Mayor's Race." Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 6/3/26 6:14 am EDT ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT: I also think there's a new model in the Republican Party, reality TV, or trash TV, and you don't have to have experience, and you audition for the job.  And some of what the primary process is about is name ID and whether people can relate to you from some other experience. I think that's part of the reason Donald Trump's rise in politics happened. I think there are others in the Republican ecosystem who feel like Trump maybe opened up a pathway for them to try that same model. Because in reality, most people cannot articulate what his policy positions are, and how he will seriously make a difference, if you've never had your tires kicked or your hood checked in politics. . . .  SABRINA RODRIGUEZ:  Well, I think, look, the bottom line when it's all said and done about this race, this California governor's race, it has been a mess. I mean, we were talking over a year ago about whether Vice President Kamala Harris would decide to run for governor, we talked about whether Senator Alex Padilla would decide to run for governor. Neither one did it. We saw Governor Newsom didn't endorse, Nancy Pelosi didn't endorse in this race. I mean, we saw a sort of a free for all. AUDIE CORNISH: Which has allowed these Republicans to advance in a way, and obviously California can have a Republican governor, it's happened plenty of times. What is it about Hilton that you think is striking a chord? 'Cause we were talking during the break of like, who does he represent in this sliver of the Republican coalition? TERRY SCHILLING: Well, as Antoine was saying earlier, I would have a more charitable view of it, these outsiders, people that aren't in politics — that's what Republicans are looking for. They're looking for someone that can speak to their concerns for their families. You know, it's really tough to get by for working families these days, and they know that the current regime of Democrats in California public office aren't -- CORNISH: The California term is disruptor from Silicon Valley, right? Like someone who's gonna come in and break a system they think is not really working. SEAWRIGHT: After this primary process is complete — well, this jungle primary, let me start here — is about survive and advance. It's like political June madness in California. But after that process is over, you're gonna see base consolidation, and that's where you're gonna see Democrats, independents align with a serious candidate who not only can win, but who can speak directly to the issues and get something done.  And that's why Steve Hilton does not even stand a chance of winning in November. However, I think competition is good for the marketplace, and I think you'll see the same thing -- CORNISH: Very charitable of you, Antoine. I appreciate you saying that.  SEAWRIGHT: I think you'll see the same thing in the mayor's race, although it may be close because last race was close with a billion -- CORNISH: Well, I'll be watching to see at what point does the race basically, fundamentally become national, or a referendum on Trump?