Economic dunce-in-chief Paul Krugman’s pretense that concerns over the current threat of socialism in the U.S. are just McCarthyism rebranded is the equivalent of an ostrich burying his face in the sand.  Krugman published another doozy July 2 on his self-aggrandizing Substack, sneering in his headline that “There Are Very Few Socialists in America.” Krugman attempted to dunk on a Fox News poll indicating that socialism was gaining traction among the electorate. “But I don’t believe it. Young people may be more receptive to the word socialism, but that’s only because right-wingers constantly use that word to smear policies that have nothing to do with real socialism — i.e., government ownership of the means of production.” Krugman apparently has tunnel vision, because his narrow definition of socialism ignores that it also encompasses control of the means of production (not just ownership), which expanded dramatically throughout the 20th century U.S. and culminated in the overbloated regulatory state hamstringing economic growth today. The Competitive Enterprise Institute estimated in 2025 that regulatory costs gut over $2 trillion annually from the U.S. economy. But Krugman just acted like none of this screamed “socialism,” and completely dismissed the disturbing trend of socialism being embraced by the Democratic base: “The fact is that very few Americans — even among politicians who call themselves “democratic socialists” — are really socialists.” It’s a wonder how he would interpret the recently released Pew survey which found that “[a]bout a third of Democrats (32%) say they like leaders who describe themselves” as “democratic socialists.” Just yesterday, the Washington Examiner reported that the Democratic Socialists of America organization just “broke membership records” after topping 120,000 on Independence Day of all days.  But Krugman watered all of this down as if the evidence to the contrary didn’t exist: What many, I’d say a majority, of Americans support is what Europeans call social democracy — an ideology that is OK with living in a mostly market-driven economic system in which some people make much more money than others, but one that advocates policies to tame markets and inequality with progressive taxation, safety net programs, and regulations. News flash, Krugman: the U.S. has the most punitive and progressive tax system in the developed world, vastly outpacing even left-wing Spain which is currently governed by the  — *checks notes* — Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. Even Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle conceded that the reason why “socialism” was a much easier sell in the early-to-mid 20th century, per McArdle, was a “practically virgin tax base” that “was ripe for the plucking.” This begs the question about what highfalutin red line exactly do U.S. cities need to cross before Krugman admits socialism is actually a thing nowadays? Who knows, but maybe Krugman’s delusion is exacerbated by the fact that he routinely peddles socialist ideas himself, like minting a trillion-dollar coin to pay down the national debt. According to Krugman’s brain, however, socialism appears to be on the rise “[m]ainly because right-wing propagandists continually smear social democratic policies as socialist, trying to make popular, mainstream policy ideas sound extreme.” Good grief. Gallup News had released a devastating report in September 2025 finding that the support for capitalism amongst Americans slipped to 54 percent, the lowest on record. Meanwhile, per Gallup, “Perceptions of socialism remain steady at 39% positive.” For a supposed Nobel Prize winner whose entire forte is supposedly in data analytics, a “39%” figure is nowhere near the ballpark of what researchers would call statistically insignificant and rubber-stamp Krugman’s prima facie assertion that “There Are Very Few Socialists in America.” According to the survey, 66 percent of Democrats held a positive view of “socialism” proper. That’s what is called a “majority,” Krugman.  Even recent history blows up Krugman’s argument. The socialist May Day protests which blanketed major American cities on May 1st to rail against the bourgeoisie clearly didn’t give Krugman a clue either. The so-called “May Day Coalition” of leftist groups organizing the events — which included outfits heavily backed by leftist billionaires George Soros and Neville Roy Singham — boasted on its website, “On May 1, 2026, millions of workers, students, and families made their voices heard in actions across the country to demand a nation that puts workers over billionaires, with many refusing business as usual through No School. No Work. No Shopping.” Nah, that’s not socialism, per Krugman’s logic.  Then again, Krugman is the same pseudo-intellectual who claimed in 2023 that leftists had “no significant influence on the Democratic Party.” Krugman’s entire schtick is living divorced from reality, like when he told President Joe Biden before his inauguration in January 2021, “Don’t worry about inflation.” Perhaps Krugman should retire from his computer and try touching grass once in a while, especially given that he’s supposedly taking a day off July 7 because of a “crashing headache.” This is what happens when you suffer from perpetual brain hurt. 

The latest revelation about Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner is certainly a political sex scandal, but also a media scandal. And over the past few days, the liberal media have desperately tried to cover their tracks and claim innocence, to the point that some have shifted the blame to other news outlets, including those ideologically aligned with them. That’s exactly what MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell attempted on Tuesday’s episode of The Last Word, as he painted himself as a longtime Platner skeptic.  “We've been very careful about what campaigns we have focused on here,” O’Donnell began his grueling, nearly 30-minute-long coverage. He talked about Platner longer than he talked about Trump, which was probably the first time in a while that the orange-skinned boogeyman has managed to avoid O’Donnell’s squinty glare for longer than five minutes.  “And the reason that this program never once covered the Graham Platner campaign for Senate in Maine is that those other stories are more important, and that that candidate did not appear to me to be the kind of candidate who could make it all the way to November,” O’Donnell explained.     He then went on to boast about his clairvoyance in sussing out Platner’s real nature through is early scandals: I, for one, did not find any of Graham Platner's answers to questions about a Nazi tattoo or previous sexist social media comments or accusations by women who had relationships with him, all of which he denied, to be credible at all. I didn't think any of his answers were credible . . . I don't know what happened, but I know, and I've always known, that I cannot believe him. And saying that I never believed Graham Platner is simply a statement about his own credibility as he addressed these controversies. But his credibility problem for me was always much wider ranging than all of that scandal detail in the reporting about him. It wasn’t a particularly unpopular stance, to not find Platner’s past defenses or denials satisfactory, but the question then remains - why didn’t O’Donnell say anything until now? He claimed that he “found it very, very difficult to take Graham Platner's claims about himself seriously,” after learning about his family’s money and business dealings, but he still refused to ring the alarm. He didn’t speak out when Platner’s sexting scandal broke, nor when the New York Times released Lyndsey Fifield’s allegations of domestic violence. He, like the rest of the Democratic media, withheld the firestorm until this week, when they were finally allowed to unload on Platner and sink his campaign after the polls started to turn. And it was that rest of the “news media” that O’Donnell blamed for hyping up Platner in the first place: The image created by him and by the eager news media was of a humble, roughly educated oyster farmer in Maine who decided he was just mad as hell and couldn't take it anymore, and he was going to step up and save Maine from Donald Trump and Susan Collins. O’Donnell’s own network was partially responsible for glorifying Platner’s image, including his fellow hosts Joe Scarborough, along with Jen Psaki, with whom O’Donnell always chats very amicably during the show handoff. This blinding hypocrisy was, unfortunately, to be expected from the elitist media, who only bark when directed by their DNC handlers.  The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 7/7/26 10:22:00 p.m. Eastern LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: This hour of television obviously does not have enough time to cover the details of every political campaign this season and this year. And so we've been very careful about what campaigns we have focused on here.  And the reason that this program never once covered the Graham Platner campaign for Senate in Maine is that those other stories are more important, and that that candidate did not appear to me to be the kind of candidate who could make it all the way to November. And so I didn't want to waste this audience's attention on a candidate who might not even be there on election day.  And at the same time, the Platner campaign was getting a tremendous amount of coverage everywhere else. And so it didn't really matter in the least whether we covered that campaign here or not. And no one noticed that we didn't. Whenever a new, unknown candidate who has never been vetted in any way suddenly surges and creates pundit excitement, I always, from experience, just stay quiet and wait for the vetting. And I knew, with a candidacy like Graham Platner, that the vetting would come from the news media. And so it has. And every stage of that vetting, every stage of it has been disturbing.    I, for one, did not find any of Graham Platner's answers to questions about a Nazi tattoo or previous sexist social media comments or accusations by women who had relationships with him, all of which he denied to be credible, at all. I didn't think any of his answers were credible. And I'm in no position to say who is telling the truth in stories now told about Graham Platner by people who knew him, women who were alone in a room with him. I don't know what happened, but I know, and I've always known that I cannot believe him.  And saying that I never believed Graham Platner is simply a statement about his own credibility as he addressed these controversies. But his credibility problem for me was always much wider ranging than all of that scandal detail in the reporting about him. The image created by him and by the eager news media was of a humble, roughly educated oyster farmer in Maine who decided he was just mad as hell and couldn't take it anymore, and he was going to step up and save Maine from Donald Trump and Susan Collins. And he could do it because he knew the struggles of the working people of Maine who were being ignored by the Republican policies of Susan Collins and Donald Trump. But he didn't. He's never known those struggles. His most obvious credibility problem to me from the start was saying, "I'm a working class guy that lives a working class life." He also said, "I've never been close to money and power," and that was a lie.  He's a graduate of a private high school, and his father is a rich lawyer, rich enough to give the maximum contribution to a Democratic Senator, Ruben Gallego, who endorsed Graham Platner, and who has now retracted that endorsement, like every other Senator who endorsed Graham Platner. Platner's grandfather was Warren Platner, who the New York Times describes as "A celebrated architect who designed the dining room of Windows on the World., the storied restaurant atop the World Trade Center, and offices for the Ford Foundation building. Before Mr. Platner was born, his grandfather also designed an expansive family estate in Connecticut that he said was inspired by 'a chateau in the Loire Valley' of France. Warren Platner is best known for a namesake line of furniture, including mid-century modern easy chairs that today are priced starting at 15,000 dollars." And the oyster farmer thing is true, but it's not exactly the struggling version of oyster farmer. His mother owns a restaurant and is the biggest customer for his oysters.  And here's what Graham Platner knows about the affordability of housing; The New York Times reports, "Property and tax records show he bought the home for 205,000 dollars and received a 200,000 dollar mortgage loan from his father." So, his father bought him a house, and his mother buys his oysters.  I found it very, very difficult to take Graham Platner's claims about himself seriously after reading those facts about him, publicly available facts.  But the enthusiasm kept building and building. And when the New York Times reported that he was really a rich kid, the image of honest oyster farmers somehow just miraculously held.  Then came the women accusing him of being abusive, and they were ignored by the Platner supporters and endorsers because Graham Platner denied the accusations.  Then Monday, a woman offered detail of an encounter with Graham Platner that she said was non-consensual, and yesterday that woman told Politico about a night in 2021, when Graham Platner was "Deeply intoxicated and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual. 'I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,' she said. 'I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, this is no longer my choice.'" And that did it. That report in Politico, using the woman's name, was the breaking point in this story.  And here is the big, big problem with that. That same woman had already been an unnamed source in other reporting about Graham Platner's abusive conduct with women, and she thought what she had said as an unnamed source was clear enough about his aggression with women.  But she was ignored. And so the very same person decided that she needed to go public on the record with her name, including in a video interview, and tell the story - tell her story, with all the details of what she says happened to her. And only then did the people who ignored her the first time take her seriously this time, even though Graham Platner once again denied her accusations. And so it's over tonight, and Graham Platner is clinging to the wreckage of his campaign, mercilessly and foolishly dragging out the day and the hour on which he will announce that he cannot find a path forward for his candidacy.  And the lesson of it all could not be simpler. It is just one word, and sometimes it's the hardest word, for many of us. Patience. It's all it is. When the new exciting candidate emerges who no one knows anything about, always just wait. Find the patience to wait for the vetting. The vetting isn't perfect, but vetting is the safest way to place your bets.  And when someone has already run for elective office and won, and then maybe run for another office and won or lost that one, that person has, to some degree, been vetted, at least by the news media, repeatedly.    (...) 10:33:34 p.m. Graham Platner was trading on the positive feelings generated by truly great candidates for the offices they were running for, like Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A familiar feeling for Democrats. That's what he was trading on.  And he abused that feeling in people. He abused that goodwill extended to him by the people of Maine.  And in his video statement last night, he said that he was "humbled."[Cut to video] GRAHAM PLATNER: Over the last ten months, I have been deeply humbled by the faith Mainers have put in me.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: And that is Graham Platner's one and only appearance on this program. And I firmly believe that he was lying when he said that.  Applause does not humble people. That is a cliche politician's lie, "I am deeply humbled by your adoration." To find a path forward in his life, Graham Platner is going to have to be, finally, deeply humbled, possibly for the first time in his life.  Failure is an opportunity. Disgrace is an opportunity is an - it is an opportunity to rebuild. It is an opportunity to look within, through humility, to find your way forward in life.  Graham Platner tonight is still not deeply humbled enough to find his way out of his campaign.

As liberal media outlets and the Democratic Party continue damage control around their Graham Platner disaster, this Wednesday, NewsNation’s On Balance host Leland Vittert instead asked the most important question: Why did Democrats allow Platner to get this far? Recalling the countless other scandals leading up to the bombshell rape accusations that dropped on Tuesday, Vittert criticizes the Democrats for supporting a candidate with so many different scandals, especially when they were aware that more scandals were likely to come: Democrats in Maine overwhelmingly voted for him. They knew about the Nazi tattoo, they knew about the domestic violence. They knew about the racist posts online. They, along with all of the other Democrats who endorsed him, knew about the rape fantasies online. If you fantasize about raping someone, you might have raped somebody. On top of that, Vittert called out Democrats’ vicious political pragmatism, looking the other way in regard to Platner’s moral bankruptcy until he became completely electorally unviable. They only broke from him once he risked their precious chances of seizing the Senate: They all knew he was a repugnant human being. And 156,000 people still voted for him. But now that he might lose, the Democrats around the country that defended him now want him to drop out.   Leland Vittert does a great job holding Democrats accountable for letting Graham Platner get this far. Networks like CNN are dodging the difficult questions like whose fault this is, but Vittert is tackling the scandal head-on. This is what real reporting looks like. pic.twitter.com/oU2ETpRvtm — James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 8, 2026   Even the left-leaning guests on the show shamed those who supported Platner following the initial scandals. They distanced themselves from the more radical and even some of the (relatively) more moderate elements of the Democratic Party. While the mainstream left shrugged off the issues of the Nazi tattoo and even Platner’s marital infidelity, former Biden assistant Megan Hayes asserted that she joined with another former Biden staffer, Yemisi Egbewole, in “calling for [Platner to drop out] after the Nazi tattoo.” Of course, Vittert didn’t just dig into the past actions of the Democrats. He also blasted a number of left-wing voices who remained on Platner’s side in the race. Apparently, despite the continued spiral of scandal after scandal that Platner has fallen into, some Democrats were still willing to support the man: Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, he said something about it after the Nazi tattoo that goes, 'He sounds like a normal guy to me.' And I thought to myself, 'I don't have any friends who have Nazi tattoos. I would not let somebody with a Nazi tattoo date my sister or had- put this on the internet.' There are still Democrats, though, who are defending Graham Platner. Some other voices in support of Platner were The View co-host Sunny Hostin, who refused to retract her support for Platner even after the news was broken (before later retracting it), as well as New York Times columnist Charles Blow, who seemed more concerned with getting a hit in on Donald Trump than discussing Platner, the elephant in the room. Nazi imagery, sexual abuse, and even rape are apparently not enough to dissuade some Democrats from their cause. Americans deserve better than the Democrat-dominated media empires. Leland Vittert and NewsNation represent a model the media should strive to emulate. He investigates the issues, regardless of political affiliation. He dissects the causes, being critical of those culpable. Most importantly, he holds the culprits accountable for their actions. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read. NewsNation On Balance with Leland Vittert July 7, 2026 9:30:32 PM Eastern LELAND VITTERT: Much like the lion in Wizard of Oz, Democrats have finally found their courage and told Graham Platner to drop out of Maine’s Senate race. Welcome to the party. Let me tell you something you will not hear anywhere else on TV. Maybe if he's watching, he can listen. Graham Platner, you should not drop out.  Democrats in Maine overwhelmingly voted for him. They knew about the Nazi tattoo. They knew about the domestic violence. They knew about the racist posts online. They, along with all of the other Democrats who endorsed him, knew about the rape fantasies online. If you fantasize about raping someone, you might have raped somebody. They all knew he was a repugnant human being. And 156,000 people still voted for him.  But now that he might lose, the Democrats around the country that defended him now want him to drop out. Why now? Well, they only have six days to replace him on the ballot and The New York Times that buried the Platner scandal before the primary election is now all in, trashing the everyman oyster man. [Headline shown on—screen] Headline is there. To them, winning is everything. They excuse the Nazi tattoo when they thought he would win. Now they have abandoned him. So much for democracy.  Yemisi Egbewole, former Biden White House Press Office Chief of Staff, former assistant to President Biden, Megan Hayes, and Michael Sheppard, political editor of Bangor Daily News is all here.  Thank you all. Ladies first, as it was. [Gestures to Megan Hayes] You've been all over this from the very beginning so I’m gonna start with you real quick. I predict that if Platner goes dark for two or three weeks and stays in the race, come the middle of August all these Democrats will say, “Well, he's better than Susan Collins” and send back all the money and the endorsements. MEGAN HAYES: I don't think he’ll last two to three more days. VITTERT: Why not? HAYES: I mean, he can, but just don't think that's possible. And I think, much like Yemisi, have been calling for him after the Nazi tattoo was— VITTERT: He’s a horrible human being, but the voters have spoken. Why shouldn't they get their say?  YEMISI EGBEWOLE: Graham Platner doesn’t have the money, the DSCC has already pulled out. Senator Gillibrand's not coming back. The establishment that he criticized so much at— since he was anti—establishment is not going to fund him. And for these anti—establishment candidates, the hard lesson for them is that they need the folks in Washington, the folks in California, the folks at Aspen to do those pretty little meetings at those big houses and raise money for them and no one's going to do it and, unfortunately— VITTERT: So you think if he stays in the Democrats will just write off the Senate seat?  HAYES: Yeah, I mean, they've already said that right? Like the Democratic— VITTERT: They’ve said lots of things. HAYES: —but the Senate Majority PAC and the DSCC, they're going to move money elsewhere, to seats that they can win. They know that they cannot win this seat. So this is about winning back the majority or putting forth an effort for it. So they're going to go invest in Texas and Ohio and Iowa and Alaska and North Carolina, where they do see a movement for the map to win back the majority. So they're not going to waste their money on someone like Graham Platner. VITTERT: Okay, Michael, I want to get you in on this from on the ground. As you talk to voters who voted for Graham Platner. Does this allegation rather than the Nazi tattoos or the rape fantasies or anything else— are you talking to people who say, “Oh, well, if had known that, I wouldn’t have voted for him”? MICHAEL SHEPPARD: I mean, I think that, look, this is— this is a rape allegation right. And it's a little more abstract when it's on Reddit and it's not something you can— you can hold, right? And I think that this has escalated, right?  And I think there is a— there's a sense here that it's not just this one thing. It is the creep— VITTERT: Yeah. SHEPPARD: and the— I mean some— as we a— this evening right, The Washington Post reports on a— on an ex—girlfriend who alleges that he— that he took condoms off during sex without her consent. So this is just one thing after another. We don't even know if we’re at the end yet, right. VITTERT: No, you’re never the end with guys like this because there's always gonna be more, but thank you for talking about The Washington Post report. (...) 9:36:25 PM Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, he said something about it after the Nazi tattoo that goes, “He sounds like a normal guy to me.” And I thought to myself, “I don't have any friends who have Nazi tattoos. I would not let somebody with a Nazi tattoo date my sister or had— put this on the internet.” There are still Democrats, though, who are defending Graham Platner. This is sound bite number two: [Cuts to video] CHARLES BLOW (NYT COLUMNIST): We continue to have a situation where Democrats compose their plan by completely separate rule books. [Cuts to video] SUNNY HOSTIN (THE VIEW ANCHOR):  I think that we are in a time of existential crisis in this country. I think Republicans fall in line. They don't fall in love. Democrats want to fall in love and not fall in line. [Cuts back to live] VITTERT: Sunny Hostin said she'd still vote for him. HAYES: That's, I mean, despicable. It was despicable— again, he has a Nazi tattoo, he’s lied about how he makes his income. He has lied from day one.

With the Democrats’ Maine Senatorial candidate going up in flames, some in the media shifted their coverage to the lesser observed Michigan race. On Tuesday, MS NOW Reports discussed the Michigan Democratic primary candidate, Abdul El-Sayed. There was only one small problem: the candidate they spotlighted also had an extremist streak. Being the further left candidate of the two, MS NOW’s chief political reporter, Chris Jansing, gave a brief description of his stances: He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money. And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive.   MS NOW trying to pretend Abdul El-Sayed is some kind of moderate candidate. This is the guy who hangs out with Hasan Piker, known for claiming "American deserved 9/11", calling for the murder of his political opponents, and other insane things. pic.twitter.com/IRVjF1zSth — James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 7, 2026   From that description, El-Sayed didn’t seem that radical, at least compared to the wave of socialists now popping up in Democratic primaries. Looking deeper into his actual beliefs however, not just those fed to us by MS NOW, we see a different picture. El-Sayed had received the endorsement of Hasan Piker, a radical leftist who has argued that America deserved 9/11 and endorsed the murder of his political opponents. Aside from the company he kept, El-Sayed’s own policies were not nearly as moderate as MS NOW made them out to be. Alongside his labelling of the Israeli government as “evil” and his calls for “Medicare for all,” he also had a plethora of now-deleted tweets supporting defunding the police.  Later in the segment, Jansing implied that Trump’s efforts to curb election fraud in Michigan were actually a plot to rig the elections against the Democrats: [Trump] called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors. What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds.  Jansing’s leading questions to El-Sayed would even more obviously imply that some kind of rigging would be going on, even playing the racism card: And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.   They also cry about Trump sending people to monitor the elections in "Democratic strongholds" like Detroit. Every city is going to be a Democratic stronghold, it's not some kind of wacky targeting to aim for the places with the highest chances of major fraud. pic.twitter.com/lPfbgUHeuD — James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 7, 2026   Jansing’s pearl clutching regarding the DOJ’s move becomes ridiculous when you remember two simple facts. Obviously, any major city will be a “Democratic stronghold,” but major election fraud was also most likely to occur there. On top of that, election monitors weren’t likely to scare anyone away - anyone except people who might actually want to rig the vote. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read. MS NOW Reports July 7, 2026 11:41:15 AM Eastern ANTONIA HYLTON: Let's bring in MS NOW chief political reporter Chris Jansing, who is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for us. And Democratic strategist Basil Smikle is back at the table with me. Chris, you just spoke with Abdul El-Sayed. We played a little bit of it right there. Tell me more about what he shared with you. CHRIS JANSING: Yeah, we sat down for about 20 minutes and to put it very simply, I learned a lot. Look, he knows that this race is highly competitive. He knows it's going to be very expensive. And he is very focused on tonight's debate against Haley Stevens, a four-term member of Congress.  He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money.  And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive. But here's what he did say. Take a listen: [Cuts to video] ABDUL EL-SAYED: I think there is a political system that has been locking people out for a very long time, and there are some of us who want to unlock that system for people.  I don't think it's a radical idea that everybody in this country, the richest, most powerful country in the world, should have health care. I don't think it's a radical idea that we shouldn't be sending our money abroad to bomb people, when that money could be used to invest in our schools here. I don't think it's a radical idea that corporations shouldn't be able to buy their politicians.  I don't know how it's moderate to believe any of those things are not true. [Cuts back to live] JANSING: And look, tonight's debate, you'll hear more of that. It was already highly anticipated. One of the candidates has already dropped out. So this is going to be a two-person race. And one of the things that we're going to be listening for very closely tonight is what they have to say about the future of the Democratic party, because Democrats everywhere are listening to that.  Is there a message that someone like Abdul El-Sayed has that's going to resonate not just in November but also in 2028? And he said to me very specifically, listen, because this is about 2028 as well. Antonia? HYLTON: Basil, what are you going to be watching for tonight with this debate? I mean, as Chris spells out there, it is this head-to-head race right now, someone's very clearly in the establishment lane. And maybe he doesn't like the word progressive, but he's absolutely sort of in the progressive flank here. (...) HYLTON: Chris, there's also just the reality of the president, his DOJ, them sending these letters, threats already around the election. We know that the president has long had- had a- you know, certain kinds of things to say about the city of Detroit, for example. How is that hanging over this race? JANSING: Yeah. He called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors.  What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds. They are critical not just for whoever wins the Democratic nomination for Senate, but also for one key Congressional race. Let me read to you what the response was from the Secretary of State, who said: And while the U.S. Department of Justice continues to pursue baseless allegations to confuse voters about facts, we welcome anyone who wants to, in compliance with the law, observe Michigan's election process. One of the things that we have been hearing as we have watched these attacks escalate, the federal government does not have a role in these elections. And I asked Abdul El-Sayed about that. Here's what he told me. [Cuts to video] EL-SAYED: It's really concerning. I mean, this is exactly what Donald Trump has said he wants to do. He does not believe in free and fair elections. He does not want certain kinds of people to vote. And he's following through with that. I mean, when you put the SAVE act ahead of solving one of the biggest housing crises in recent memory, it tells you what his priorities are, and he's following through. [Cuts back to live] JANSING: And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.

Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, flagship ABC newscasts World News Tonight and Good Morning America refused to mention new disturbing allegations from Graham Platner ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield, who shared new instances of verbal abuse and said he repeatedly had unprotected sex without her consent. Instead, ABC chose to only continue emphasizing the rape allegations from Jenny Racicot, another ex-girlfriend of the Maine Democrat candidate. GMA spent three minutes on Platner, but couldn’t find a single second to mention Fifield. Perhaps it’s because Fifield is a conservative and Racicot a progressive? Perhaps, considering ABC seemed particularly concerned about the fallout for it’d imperil the Democrats’ chances in Maine. Co-host Michael Strahan huffed in a tease about an “exit strategy” to influence “the scramble to replace him” “as his campaign collapses.” “We’re going to go now to the growing pressure on Democrat Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race after a woman accused him of sexual assault. Platner is being urged to step aside in a critical race for Democrats, hoping to take control of the Senate,” he later said in cuing up D.C.-based correspondent Jay O’Brien. BIAS BY OMISSION: Wednesday’s ‘Good Morning America’ spent three minutes on Graham Platner, but not one second on the new allegations @LyndseyFifield spoke about with CNN and The Washington Post pic.twitter.com/PALdlH7sql — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 O’Brien relayed that while Platner “is still in the race....his campaign now confirming it’s discussed a possible exit strategy with Democratic leaders in that state and that already leading to a clash” about the future of “a race that could decide control of Congress.” Notice O’Brien’s almost singular focus on process, not how awful of a human being Platner is (click “expand”): O’BRIEN: Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign collapsing around him, setting off a scramble to try to replace him on the ballot after an allegation of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend, which he denies. RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: I looked at him, and I remember this very specific look in his eyes, and I could smell alcohol, and I was, like, this is different. O’BRIEN: And this morning, several state Democrats now jockeying to take Platner’s place and challenge Maine’s longtime GOP senator, Susan Collins. Under Maine law, Platner has just five days to drop out to be removed from the ballot. State Democrats would then have two weeks to select a new candidate, but there’s no exact roadmap for how that process would go overnight. The executive director of the Democratic Party of Maine saying Platner team has reached out, accusing them of trying to dictate the next steps. MAINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEVIN MURPHY-ANDERSON: Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. [SCREEN WIPE] We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee. O’BRIEN: Platner campaign confirms they have reached out to the party, but denied trying to influence what comes next, saying in a statement, “while Graham [Platner] wouldn’t want to be part of the process, he would want to make sure the voters and volunteers make this decision, not the political establishment.” O’Brien also focused on the fact that, following Racicot’s interviews, “Democrats are abandoning the embattled candidate” with “more than 20 senators calling on him to drop out,” including socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and “progressive voices like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani[.]” Later, O’Brien framed the necessity of Platner getting out: “A sense of the stakes here. Any possible path for Democrats taking back the Senate almost certainly runs through Maine. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator this year defending a seat in a state that Donald Trump lost in 2024.” While both their Tuesday evening shows skipped Fifield, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today were able to acknowledge Fifield’s existence in their reports. On NBC, co-host Craig Melvin opened the segment by saying Platner was “facing new calls to drop out” following “a new accusation of non-consensual sexual conduct.” Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles lamented, “[t]his situation really has become a waiting game for Democrats in Maine” with Platner holding the cards, leaving them “paralyzed and unable to move forward in what may be the most important race on the Senate map.” Only then did Nobles bring up Fifield’s graphic allegations (click “expand”): NOBLES: A new bombshell rocking the critical Senate race in Maine that could determine control of Congress. Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Platner, is facing mounting pressure this morning from top Democrats to end his campaign. It comes as another woman stepped forward overnight with new allegations of non-consensual sexual conduct. Platner’s ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Fifield, telling The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without consent during sex, saying: “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.” Platner’s campaign calling the accusation “categorically false and politically motivated.” Fifield previously accused Platner of aggressive physical conduct, especially when he was drinking, which he also denied. Fifield telling CNN Platner later apologized to her for his behavior. LYNDSEY FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: I’m hoping more people will come forward, at least saying he was known for being very rough with people. I mean, like, he apologized sober the next day on many of these occasions. NOBLES: This after another former romantic partner of Platner’s, Jenny Racicot, accused him of rape, saying he forced himself on her five years ago. JAKE TAPPER [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: Did Graham Platner rape you? RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: By definition, yes, absolutely. NOBLES: Platner denies her allegations, too. A source familiar with Platner’s thinking tells NBC News he’s still undecided about whether to step down in the race against GOP incumbent Susan Collins.  Towards the end of the piece, he found two man-on-the-street voters with an elderly male voter stating emphatically Platner had to go while an elderly white woman argued Mainers should stick with Platner because “we have to go with what we have” to defeat Collins. CBS Mornings fill-in co-host and former Today newsreader Natalie Morales described the state of the race as “Platner fac[ing] new sexual misconduct allegations and a wall of opposition now from fellow Democrats” who believe he’s “ interfering with the process of choosing a replacement.” Congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns said from Maine the race was “getting messy” with “[t]he Platner campaign say[ing] that they reached out to the Maine Democratic Party to try and understand what the process to replace him might look like and they insisted that voters, not party leaders, should decide who that is.” “All of this as we’re learning new details from one of his accusers. Graham Platner is still holding on in Maine’s U.S. Senate race despite mounting allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and growing calls for him to step aside,” she added. In contrast, the @CBSMornings piece from @CHueyBurns did mention Fifield as well as the fact that, just last month, major progressives were still on board with Platner such as Bernie Sanders (despite all that was known at the time) pic.twitter.com/BEvS3iaEkN — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 This segued into Huey-Burns summarizing the new claims from Fifield (click “expand”): FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It terrifies me to think of him having any type of power politically because what is he going to do with the testimony in his office. HUEY-BURNS: Lyndsey Fifield, who says she dated Platner more than a decade ago, told The Washington Post he had repeatedly removed condoms without their consent while the two had sex. She had previously told The New York Times Platner had gotten rough with him and spoke about it with CNN Tuesday. FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It was domestic abuse. HUEY-BURNS: All of this comes after another woman came forward to Politico, accusing Platner of rape. Platner has categorically denied both women’s allegations. But what made CBS’s package the strongest was Huey-Burns pointing out next that, just over a month ago, Sanders was still on board: HUEY-BURNS: He has now lost nearly all of his big-name supporters, like Senator Bernie Sanders who just a month ago had this to say. SANDERS [on 06/01/26]: Graham Platner is playing an extraordinarily strong campaign. HUEY-BURNS: Now, Sanders is joining the chorus of Democrats urging Platner to step aside. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who had preferred more moderate candidate Governor Janet Mills in the primary, blamed progressives. Only then did Huey-Burns say this hullabaloo has led “some Democratic voters here” to worry “about whether the party still has a chance to flip the seat held by long-time Republican incumbent Susan Collins.” To see the relevant transcripts from July 8, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).