Following credible accusations of rape and sexual assault, former Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner withdrew from the race. The Maine Democratic Party has until July 27 to choose a replacement.
Many people, including me, believed that Democrats should have figured out long ago that Platner was unfit for office. Yet Platner was buoyed through numerous scandals thanks to his claims that he had changed, and his insistence that his past words and actions did not define him. Platner was a veteran who discussed past struggles with PTSD and addiction. He catered to people’s love of a redemption arc.
And while he’s an atheist himself, Platner also leveraged America’s very Protestant belief that the internal experience of transformation or goodness is more important than what one has done, or even than what one is doing.
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