Dan Pfeiffer, host of “Pod Save America,” beat himself up over his prior faith in Graham Platner after the Maine Democratic candidate for Senate suspended his campaign following a bombshell report by Politico alleging he had sexually assaulted an ex-girlfriend.
“I’m mad at myself,” Pfeiffer told guest Alex Wagner.
Prior to the Politico report, Platner had come under fire in recent months over a number of scandals, ranging from a chest tattoo of a Nazi symbol to sexting other women while married to allegations of “unsettling” behavior from his exes.
“I did believe, naively apparently, the story he told about being a person who was dealing with PTSD at a dark time in their life in drinking and did a bunch of things and then and then changed their life, improved,” Pfeiffer said. “And I do believe that we should leave space for people who make mistakes to still be in politics.”
He added that he had doubts about Platner following the sexting scandal, since it “happened so recently” that it “brought into question the redemption story that I had naively believed from him.” But ultimately, he continued to back Platner after the candidate’s wife released a statement supporting her husband.
Watch Pfeiffer’s discussion with Wagner below:
On Monday, Politico published an interview with one of Platner’s ex-girlfriends, who said that in 2021, he entered her home in rural Maine without permission and forced himself on her.
Platner called the allegations false in an 11-minute video posted Wednesday, while also announcing that he is dropping out of the Senate race.
“There is a reason this is happening now,” he said. “I only have until July 13 until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot and that’s why this is occurring.”
He asserted that “larger organizations, the national-level party, the bigger donor networks” would “rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine,” referring to the state’s Republican incumbent.
Platner told Axios he intends to file the requisite paperwork with the secretary of state at the last minute on Monday to remove his name from the ballot.
When asked what she thought about Platner’s decision to drop out and the message in his video, Wagner responded, “Asshole, asshole, asshole.”
“Nobody needed to hear Graham Platner uncensored for 12 minutes, and the conceit in that video is preposterous,” Wagner said. “That I guess we’re meant to believe that a rape victim is a crisis actor, and that crisis acting is being used by the Democratic establishment to get Graham Platner out of the race, never minding that Platner’s exit from the race greatly complicates the race and potentially throws it further into jeopardy.”
Pfeiffer agreed with Wagner, adding that Platner is going “down this path of conspiracy theories,” thus making it “less likely” that a Democrat will beat Collins.
“This video is Trumpian in its nature. It is conspiracy theories. It’s denial. It’s making it entirely about himself,” Pfeiffer said.
The former top aide to President Barack Obama said the scandal-ridden oyster farmer should “just go away,” calling that “the best thing he can do for the things he claims he cares about.”