For release: 07/09/26
Graham Platner is not Democrats’ only problem
By Cal Thomas
Tribune Content Agency
The troubles Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing (he may have withdrawn by the time you read this) are only a small part of his party’s larger problem.
A week before the deadline to withdraw from the Maine race, a woman has come forward to accuse Platner of sexually assaulting her in 2021. Platner has said any sex he had was “consensual” and denies her charges. This comes on top of his Nazi tattoo and revelations that he sexted women after he was married and apparently has – or had according to him – a drinking problem.
Democrats are so desperate to win a majority in the House and Senate they were willing to nominate someone they knew had a tainted past. They also can’t separate themselves from attacking President Trump, though he will leave off in January 2029.
Voters deserve to know what Democrats have to offer. Will no reporter ask Democrat candidates if they have an agenda, other than investigating Trump? If they win a majority in one or both chambers, will they do more than investigate and again impeach the president? Those aren’t policies, but retribution.
Will Democrats re-open the southern border, allowing a flood of people to violate our immigration laws? Will they refuse to finish building the wall which has significantly reduced crossing attempts by those intent on breaking the law to get into America?
Will Democrats bow to the surging socialists, defund the police, open prisons and add to the unsustainable $39 trillion debt by increasing spending and raising taxes? What will they do about Iran? Will their hatred of Trump reverse his policy of vowing to never allow the Ayatollah regime to have a nuclear weapon? Education? School choice is sweeping the country, but the iron-clad hold the teachers’ unions have on the party might force Democrats to stick with public schools, even those that are failing to provide a rudimentary education.
Then there is the question of character, a subject that seems to have evaporated from the political discourse. According to The New York Times and other reports, the president’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have made billions off crypto currency and other questionable deals, including with foreign governments. The president has said that’s their business, but it’s really all in the family. Then there is the hypocrisy of many evangelical Christians who forgive the president for his sexual misconduct, including a civil judgment that found Trump liable for sexual abuse and battery, as well as defamation, against writer E. Jean Carroll. A judge later clarified the intentional ambiguity in the language and called what Trump did rape. In two separate trials, juries awarded Carroll more than $88 million in damages. The Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal. Trump must now pay the $5 million jury verdict entered against him in the Carroll case.
Before Bill Clinton, many voters – especially many Republican voters, and certainly many evangelical Christians – believed good character was an important component for any president, whether or not that turned out to be the case.
So, what do Democrats stand for and who is their leader? Kamala Harris? Hardly. California Governor Gavin Newsom. Less and less likely. Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is the subject of a federal investigation into her personal taxes and the finances of her affiliated nonprofits. Look to Graham Platner to see how such things can turn out. Maybe it won’t matter if character no longer matters.
Bottom line: Democrats have no leaders and no positive agenda. Other than that. The Democratic Party in Maine is refusing to provide Platner with any more money for his campaign. Endorsements are being withdrawn and an increasing number of Democrats are calling on Platner to drop out of the race. Platner is pausing his campaign to contemplate what to do going forward. Too bad Democrats cannot sit out this election and regroup.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
(C) 2026 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
Dear Cal: I have been reading you pieces for decades and find that you always provide new insights into events of the day and I am blessed to be able to receive benefit of your knowledge. You are correct so often that you almost never hear from me, but your piece: “Platner not Dems only problem” requires me to make a couple of comments. First, you ask all the correct questions that should be asked of the Democrats regarding positions on important issues like the border, Iran, school choice etc., but you fail the readers by not telling them that the Dems answers to all these questions is most likely to be the opposite of what most Americans would want. Any Democrat saying they will enforce a closed border, Iran without nuclear weapons, or school choice for all, is lying. as they could not pass the litmus test of being a Democrat. Governor Spanberger is the poster child for Democrat lies.
Secondly, in the E. Jean Carroll case, you ignored the fact that in her testimony in the trial, she could not specify the exact date, or the day of the week that her claimed assault by citizen Donald Trump occurred. She said it happened in the Spring of 1996. It is beyond any reasonable belief that Carroll, a writer, could be assaulted by one of the most famous men in the world and not know the exact date, and time that such an event occurred. That a jury would not speculate that using the time frame of “Spring” was designed by Carroll to make sure that Trump could not prove his innocence by showing that he was not in NY at that moment. It is travesty of justice that the Jury found him guilty, but then this is NY where the word justice is not understood by the vast majority of residents. As a devout Christian I did not have to forgive Trump for this event as I am quite sure that if it occurred Carroll would know the date and time.
God bless you Cal, I will continue to look forward to your insightful columns.
Thanks for writing, Ray, and for your kind cmments about my work. Much appreciated. I have raised similar questions about Carrol’s claims, but the judgment fell along Trump’s defamation of her and that’s where the fine and court judgment came from. If the Supreme Court had doubts, they could have overturned the lower court ruling, but they didn’t. The problem as I see it is that character matters. Trump has a history with women that is anything but noble. And so when a charge involving a woman becomes public, a lot of people think it might be true. It’s the reason the Psalmist says “guardyour heart.”
OI do appreciate your taking the time to write and you are correct aboutnthe Democrats. Recall, thogh, what Jesus said: “