PLATNER'S REPUBLICAN-OPERATIVE EX IS A SORE WINNER

I don't have anything constructive to add after reading the big New York Times story about Graham Platner's toxic behavior in past relationships, but I'll direct you to this story, from which we learn that the political operative who is the story's main source is reacting to it in a quintessentially Republican way:

Graham Platner accuser calls NYT article 'a gift' to his Senate campaign

The woman who was quoted extensively in a New York Times article accusing Graham Platner of abuse during their past relationship is now claiming she was "set up" by the journalists who spoke with her.

In her first public messages since the article was published Thursday, Lyndsey Fifield, Platner's ex-girlfriend, posted a series of messages on X detailing how she initially "resisted her conservative bias" and decided to "fully trust the Times journalists."

... Fifield is a conservative activist whom the Times reported has worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns....

"It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along," Fifield wrote Friday morning. "The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life."

I believe what Fifield said about Platner's anger and toxicity -- she might have embellished details, but it's consistent with what a couple of other women say in the story, and it's consistent with other bad behavior we know about. I know that Fifield is a GOP operative. I still largely believe her account.

But Republicans are so spoiled by having been the dominant political party in America for nearly half a century -- Fifield's entire life -- that this particular Republican can look at highly damaging story published at nearly the worst possible time for Democrats and think, The media is still displaying liberal bias.

Maine's primary is on Tuesday. The only rival to Platner who's shown any vote-getting ability dropped out of the race more than a month ago. There isn't enough time for Maine Democrats to coalesce around an alternative candidate. And a large number of Democratic voters don't want to.

So what's likely to happen is that Platner will win the primary and limp into the general election, weakened and probably highly beatable.

Fifield's two long tweets in response to the story are here and here. She says she went on the record reluctantly, provided diary screenshots that the Times never used, and offered names of people who could corroborate her story. She says she was told that other women had similar stories, and was put in touch with them while the story was being put together.

After the story went up I began to ask them ... wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs dedicated to detailing my work history (more than has been published about Graham’s by far)?

(What? Is she saying that Platner's work history hasn't been reported anywhere?)

Why does it say “nobody could corroborate” when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?

(I can only assume that the friends didn't say to the Times what she thought they'd say -- perhaps because they remember the relationship differently, perhaps because they didn't want to get involved in the story to that extent.)

It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along. The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.

This story is an invitation to every ambitious reporter in America: Find more dirt on Platner. Fairly soon, for instance, someone will report on Platner's behavior during his overseas postings, and the stories probably won't be pretty.

Fifield set this in motion with stories like this:

... she said he regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks — and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.

During one argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was “calm.” Eventually, Ms. Fifield said, she fell asleep and left the next morning.

And this:

He had what she described as a “warrior ethos” and would fantasize about killing people he deemed a threat, she said. She said he told her that rape was about power.

It was something that stuck with her through the years, Ms. Fifield said.

“He said this a lot: If anybody ever broke in here, I would rape them,” she recalled, saying that he added that it would not be in “a sexual way, not in a gay way.”

“He was like, I would rape them to show them that I’m dominant,” she said.

Is it all true? I don't know. Has it damaged his campaign? Undoubtedly. Lyndsey Fifield should understand that. Take the win, Lyndsey.

As for me, I'm with Lauren Mae:

There are a lot of lefties on social media scolding anyone who's supported Platner. Fuck that. People supported his platform. They thought he was a good messenger, and they wanted to believe he was working on not being a bad person. Some still feel that way. They're not the enemy. They're not like Republicans, who wallow in Donald Trump's evil.