Platner, speaking during a virtual town hall, also vowed to ‘get arrested … over the course of the Trump administration’
The left-wing candidate in the Maine Democratic Senate primary, Graham Platner, said he would “be willing to work” with Kentucky Republicans “Ron Paul” and Thomas Massie if elected to the upper chamber.
Platner—who appeared to mistake the 90-year-old Paul with his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.)—named the pair after an attendee at a Friday virtual town hall asked Platner, “Do you think bipartisanship is still possible, and in what ways would you be willing to work with Republicans?” Platner said he is “completely” and “very much” aligned with Paul and Massie on issues like foreign policy.
“Look, Thomas Massie is a Republican, and I think he and I are completely aligned when it comes to the Epstein files,” Platner, who has called himself a “communist,” said. “Ron Paul, who I disagree with on a lot of things, but when it comes to foreign policy and war-making, Ron Paul and I are very much aligned.” Rand Paul is a leading opponent of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda in the Senate and was the only Republican to vote for a March 4 resolution directing the removal of U.S. forces from Iran.
Platner also vowed to lead the resistance against Trump—who won Paul and Massie’s state of Kentucky by 30 points—in the Senate. Platner said he would “get arrested” during the Trump administration’s final two years.
“I believe in real power-building and using these roles in all of their power, and I will be totally up front: I fully intend to get arrested on a picket line or at a protest over the course of the Trump administration,” Platner said. “If we do not get power and cannot hold them accountable from the institutional level, we need to get out there and make sure that people are putting skin in the game and bringing visibility and attention to the things necessary, because our voice is almost as important as our votes.”
Massie, who calls himself “Kentucky’s most conservative congressman” and who routinely votes against legislation the White House supports, has attracted support from the left as Trump’s political operation engages in a campaign to defeat him in a primary. Last June, he met with the leaders of a left-wing PAC, the Integrity Political Action Committee, that has partnered with the Democratic Socialists of America to fight ICE’s “crackdown on immigration violations,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. He has also received sizable political contributions from top donors to “Squad” Democrats like Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.).
Platner seems to be a step behind another left-wing Democrat running for Senate, Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who has boasted on the campaign trail of being arrested at a minimum wage protest in 2018. Though El-Sayed said he put his “body on the line” and “did … time,” police records show that he was briefly detained and released with a misdemeanor ticket, the Free Beacon reported.
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