Late on Wednesday, the thoroughly disgraced Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner dropped out of the 2026 midterm race, after a new rape allegation and unfavorable polls surfaced. Even most of the liberal media was done running cover for him and trying to bury his many scandals. Two hours after Platner’s 11-minute dropout announcement video was posted to his campaign’s X account, MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell went on his show The Last Word to spend nearly the full runtime bashing Platner with a passion that, previously, he’d reserved only for Donald Trump. If only he had done this before Platner won the nomination. It was almost impressive how much Platner managed to tick off the elitist media’s old grump: I would love to be reporting to you tonight that Graham Platner looked within himself and in his own words, from the heart, delivered the best speech of his campaign. But that's not what happened tonight. Instead, Graham Platner lied his way out of the Senate race in Maine tonight.    Not gonna lie, it's so refreshing to see old Larry O'Donnell hating on somebody besides Trump Source: @MSNOWNews's @TheLastWord, July 8, 2026 pic.twitter.com/VYLQTLGbJz — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 9, 2026   O’Donnell attacked Platner for being recruited for office by a New York Democrat strategist who previously worked on Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign: That consultant, Morris Katz, described the recruitment of this candidate this way: "'Within a few minutes of talking to him, I was like, this guy owes it to the country to run for Senate,' Katz recalled, of his first meeting with Platner." That will take its place as the stupidest line about American politics said by anyone on the Democratic side of campaigning in this campaign season.    Oh so now they're gonna pretend to notice the Democrat political machine for the first time? pic.twitter.com/At23tXM6V7 — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 9, 2026   He then reiterated his criticism from the previous night about Platner’s false image as a working-class American: The image Graham Platner tried to create nationally was just of a hard working guy struggling with the mortgage payments, struggling with all of the economic pressures that people who just are living paycheck to paycheck have to struggle with. It was never true.  O’Donnell credited the New York Times with doing their “due diligence” on Platner and breaking the story of his intergenerational wealth, when the Free Beacon actually first broke the story months ago.   Um... the @nytimes definitely DIDN'T do their due diligence when it came to corroborating the rape allegations, right? pic.twitter.com/gXxgyQJlu0 — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 9, 2026   As NewsBusters reported yesterday, O’Donnell never bothered to reveal his skepticism on Platner before this latest round of allegations. He supposedly never thought Platner would make it to November, yet he kept his mouth shut through the Reddit posts, sexting, Nazi tattoo, and domestic violence accusations. However, O’Donnell denied the real reason Platner dropped out, accusing Platner of lying about the backstage forces compelling him to quit: O’DONNELL: Graham Platner said that this didn't happen to him because of horrible things he had written in old social media posts, which he never denied, or because he had a Nazi tattoo, which he claimed he had no idea was a Nazi tattoo. So, like, no discussion at all with the tattoo artist about what that was that was going on his chest?  And of course, it wasn't happening, he said tonight, by omission, because of women he knew and dated who accused him of sexual abuse and violence. That had nothing to do with what was happening to him, in Graham Platner's view.  In the Graham Platner lying version of where he is tonight, none of those things or people, none of the words from any of those women in any way brought him down. Instead, it was some dark, large force. [Cut to video] PLATNER: Large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do, and it was not remotely true.   He's only half-right. Platner dropped out because he was pushed by the Democrat party, who pretended it was because of his rape allegations when it was also very much about his falling poll numbers. Same old Biden-style switcheroo. pic.twitter.com/OuQJ2kmqem — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 9, 2026   O’Donnell was half-right. The scandals, which have been mounting for months now, certainly played a role in forcing Platner’s hand. But the final straw was the Democratic Party establishment pulling their support and money. All they had to do was pretend to suddenly grow a moral backbone, and they could have themselves a new, hopefully less problematic, Senate candidate. All the Democrats care about is winning. That’s why they didn’t force Platner to drop when the revelations about his Nazi tattoo or domestic violence came out. Their media did their best to paint him as a redeemed man, the embodiment of healthy masculinity. But when that didn’t work, they waited until Platner was down in the polls to stab him in the back and let his campaign die. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 7/8/26 10:01:57 P.M. Eastern (...) LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: And so, I would love to be reporting to you tonight that Graham Platner looked within himself and in his own words, from the heart, delivered the best speech of his campaign. But that's not what happened tonight.  Instead, Graham Platner lied his way out of the Senate race in Maine tonight.  He issued an 11-minute online video statement recorded today, full of self-pity, completely absent of any word of apology to anyone, and blaming everyone he could think of for the collapse of his campaign except himself.  He began by saying that everything we have heard and read from women who accuse him of sexual abuse is a lie. [Cut to video] GRAHAM PLATNER: Hey everyone, it's Graham Platner here. I think as many of you know, over the past couple of days, I have faced some very serious allegations. And I just want to make it clear this is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It's not real.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: It then seemed that he was going to tell the story of how his political campaign began.[Cut to video] PLATNER: Amy and I are regular people. We were not looking for this experience. We were not looking to get into politics. We had no desire to run for office.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: But that was the end of the story of how he decided to become a candidate. He didn't tell that story.  He left out the fact that he was recruited to run for Senate in the state of Maine by a 27-year-old political consultant who has lived his entire life in New York City, having been born and raised in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan.  That consultant, Morris Katz, described the recruitment of this candidate this way: "'Within a few minutes of talking to him, I was like, this guy owes it to the country to run for Senate,' Katz recalled, of his first meeting with Platner."  That will take its place as the stupidest line about American politics said by anyone on the Democratic side of campaigning in this campaign season.  Graham Platner complained about a corporate media system and the political establishment conspiring against him. Much of the corporate media he is complaining about delivered admiring coverage of his campaign to the entire country, thereby helping him raise money all over the country.  The New York Times, no doubt, is part of what Graham Platner considers the corporate media, and it was the New York Times that did due diligence on Graham Platner and reported to its readers that he was born a rich kid in a family of intergenerational wealth, with a rich, famous architect as his grandfather and a rich lawyer as his father, and that his mother, who owns a restaurant in Maine, buys most or all of the oysters that he harvests, and his father, in effect, bought him a house, providing him with a 200,000 dollar mortgage for a house that sold for 205,000 dollars. There is no way of tracking just how much of a struggle Graham Platner has in staying up to date in making mortgage mortgage payments to his father.  The image Graham Platner tried to create nationally was just of a hard working guy struggling with the mortgage payments, struggling with all of the economic pressures that people who just are living paycheck to paycheck have to struggle with. It was never true.  There was only one victim in Graham Platner's statement tonight, and that was, of course, Graham Platner.[Cut to video] PLATNER: We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish, that if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: Tell that to this guy. The only winning political campaign, which Morris Katz has played a significant role in was last year's mayoral election in New York City, where he served as Zohran Mamdani's top strategist. And no one [Zohran] crushed that mayoral campaign. And Zohran Mamdani's political influence has only grown since he won the mayor's election.  Graham Platner said that this didn't happen to him because of horrible things he had written in old social media posts, which he never denied, or because he had a Nazi tattoo, which he claimed he had no idea was a Nazi tattoo. So, like, no discussion at all with the tattoo artist about what that was that was going on his chest? And of course, it wasn't happening, he said tonight, by omission, because of women he knew and dated who accused him of sexual abuse and violence. That had nothing to do with what was happening to him, in Graham Platner's view.  In the Graham Platner lying version of where he is tonight, none of those things or people, none of the words from any of those women in any way brought him down. Instead, it was some dark, large force.[Cut to video] PLATNER: Large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do, and it was not remotely true.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: "Large forces."  Okay, here is what Zohran Mamdani, whose political movement has not been crushed, said yesterday about Graham Platner:[Cut to video] ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I believe that it's time for him to drop out of the race.  And when it comes to my own endorsements, I've made eight endorsements at the state and federal level. They've all been right here in New York City. I'm incredibly excited at the fact that they won their races, and that's where my focus is for now.  I think the focus of today should be to respond to the gravity of what so many of us have read, and I think that the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: So, according to Graham Platner, he must be part of the large force trying to crush Graham Platner and push him out of the race.  And it's worth noting that Mayor Mamdani, who shares his top political strategist with Platner, never endorsed Graham Platner's campaign.  Graham Platner told this lie about the people who urged him to drop out of the race:[Cut to video] PLATNER: They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next Senator from Maine.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: That is an obvious lie. That is what he looks like when he is lying to you, just boldly lying to you.  Not one Democrat anywhere in Maine or outside of Maine who has called on Graham Platner to leave the race would rather see Susan Collins win. He is lying about that.  They wanted him out of the race because they hope to beat Susan Collins in November, and that Graham Platner would have to leave the race, in their view, at this point in order to do that.  But when you are committed to a self-centered, lying version of what is happening here, that is the kind of lie that Graham Platner is willing to throw at people who chose to support him, people who know that's a lie, including United States Senators who chose to endorse him and who then called on him to leave the race.  Graham Platner said he's not trying to dictate who the next Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine should be:[Cut to video] PLATNER: I'm not trying to dictate to anyone who it should be or how we get there, but I will say this: it needs to be open, transparent and democratic. It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement, the people that showed up on June 9th. People in D.C. need to stay in D.C.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: That sounds good to me, "People in D.C. need to stay in D.C." But Graham Platner sure didn't think that when this guy, Bernie Sanders, came up from D.C. to endorse him. And now, every single person, every Senator, every House member who made the trip from D.C. to endorse and campaign for Graham Platner in Maine has already called for him to drop out of the race. They did that yesterday.  And so we have to wonder, who wrote that line, "People in D.C. need to stay in D.C.?" And one reason to wonder is that Morris Katz flew from New York City today to Maine to help Graham Platner prepare his exit statement tonight. So, who wrote that line?  And so, does Graham Platner think that people in New York should stay in New York? Because he sure didn't think that when he began his campaign at the urgings of that New York City political operative who flew to Maine today to help him.[Cut to video] PLATNER: We are suspending campaign operations. This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We're not doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: "We're not doing it because of the allegations." So, he's not dropping out because of anything any woman has ever said about him.  He's doing it because of those evil people in power, people like Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, people who have been advocating for the policy positions that Graham Platner took from them to use in his campaign for, in Bernie Sanders's case, decades before Graham Platner was even born.[Cut to video] PLATNER: All we were asking for was health care, was the end of genocide. To use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fairer system. We were asking for an end to the corruption, the end to the money in politics. We were asking for real democracy.[Cut back to live] O'DONNELL: Yeah, no one has ever asked for that before. No one's ever campaigned on anything like that before. So that campaign had to be crushed.  Bernie Sanders is a Senator from Vermont. You can - you could, if you wanted to, walk from Maine to Vermont, wouldn't take that long, walking across New Hampshire, especially at the Northernmost point, and find a Senator who's been campaigning on those things for all of Graham Platner's life.  But Graham Platner pretended tonight that without him, we never would have heard any of those ideas, all of which were lifted directly from Bernie Sanders and from many other Democratic elected officials all over the country.  There wasn't a single original idea in the Platner campaign, not one. Graham Platner, who has been paying attention to politics for all of a year now, decided to lecture the people who have the horrible job, now, the horrible duty to clean up after his mess. He decided to lecture our first guest tonight and all of the other people who were going to have to step in now and fix all of this, the mess that Graham Platner created, and do it in a hurry. (...)