{"id":678648,"date":"2026-06-01T22:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678648\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:24:09","slug":"the-view-turns-on-maine-democrat-graham-platner-why-cant-we-do-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678648\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The View&#8217; turns on Maine Democrat Graham Platner: &#8216;Why can&#8217;t we do better?&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 He\u2019s even lost \u201cThe View.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheView\/status\/2061494984872710212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Hosts of ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d <\/a>turned on <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/01\/us-news\/graham-platners-wife-amy-gertner-defends-her-husband-in-sexting-scandal-while-on-campaign-payroll\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner<\/a>, ripping the horny oyster farmer for his alleged extramarital sexting scandal, voicing their disgust at his behavior.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39549517\" width=\"590\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/off-public-restrooms-phone-sex-129236245_dbbd83.jpg\" alt=\"Graham Platner's shirtless profile picture on the &quot;Predator's Paradise&quot; app.\" class=\"wp-image-39549517\"  \/>Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner\u2019s profile picture from his Kik account. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DEM CANDIDATE\u2019S WIFE REPORTEDLY FLAGGED SEXUALLY EXPLICIT TEXTS: &#8216;The View&#8217; co-hosts weigh in on the reported controversies coming from Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, which he denies. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JtCid0yvz1\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/JtCid0yvz1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The View (@TheView) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheView\/status\/2061494984872710212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is disturbing; it is horrible. Why can\u2019t we do better? Why can\u2019t we have better candidates?\u201d co-host Ana Navarro vented. \u201cWhy do we have to have Ken Paxton in Texas who has got baggage? It\u2019s not even baggage; it\u2019s steamer trunks of ethical questions around him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, bombshell reports emerged that Platner was <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/30\/us-news\/lefty-senate-candidate-graham-platner-reportedly-sexted-numerous-women-on-hookup-app-kik-and-wife-flagged-it-to-campaign\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sexting with up to 12 women<\/a> while married to his wife, with whom he tied the knot in 2023.\u00a0A current campaign official told the New York Times\u00a0it was only up to six women and that the Democratic hopeful has stopped doing it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/31\/us-news\/graham-platners-wife-defends-against-claims-he-was-posting-on-creepy-hookup-app\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">His wife\u00a0had\u00a0flagged the extramarital texting<\/a> to his campaign aides, including his former political director, Genevieve McDonald, who has since confirmed those messages\u2019 existence to the press.<\/p>\n<p>GOP-leaning Alyssa Farah argued that Republicans have a history of casting\u00a0aside character flaws in candidates\u00a0and that the country has lived with the\u00a0consequences of that.\u00a0She contended that Democrats have other ways of winning besides Maine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a Republican who sadly watched the quality of candidates we\u2019ve put in office or chosen to run diminish over the last decade, I will tell you\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0it\u2019s not worth it.\u00a0It\u2019s not worth compromising your\u00a0morals and values\u00a0and integrity,\u201d she said. \u201cTo be honest, his sexting is the least of my concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/01\/us-news\/trump-admin-live-updates-live-updates-on-iran-war-congress-more-june-1-2-3-4-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Platner has faced\u00a0a firehose of\u00a0controversies, including a tattoo he had that\u00a0resembled\u00a0a Totenkopf or \u201cdeath\u2019s head\u201d symbol, which\u00a0was used by the Nazi SS.\u00a0Platner denied knowing its Nazi ties and has since inked over\u00a0it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There have also been a torrent of incendiary screeds he made on his since-deleted Reddit account, saying that a Purple Heart veteran didn\u2019t deserve to live for drawing Taliban fire away from his squad, downplaying sexual assault,\u00a0defending soldiers urinating on dead Taliban soldiers, calling war \u201cthe most enjoyable experience,\u201d declaring that white Americans \u201cactually are\u201d racist and stupid, among others, and more.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39549528\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/graham-platner-breaks-silence-makes-129383962.jpg\" alt=\"Graham Platner and his wife Amy Gertner standing together during an interview.\" class=\"wp-image-39549528\"  \/>Platner\u2019s wife Amy Gertner flagged his sexting to his campaign. NEWS CENTER Maine<\/p>\n<p>Maine\u2019s Senate seat is widely seen as paramount to Democrats\u2019 hopes of retaking control of the upper chamber. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has held the seat for decades as\u00a0the Pine Tree State has seemingly shifted\u00a0bluer\u00a0over time. She is widely seen as the most vulnerable incumbent Republican senator\u00a0up for\u00a0reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some of the women on\u00a0\u201cThe View\u201d\u00a0threw shade at men\u00a0in general, grumbling over\u00a0how there have been a\u00a0string of recent sex scandals engulfing high-profile men, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/04\/us-news\/eric-swalwell-sent-x-rated-videos-pervy-messages-while-married\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">including former Rep. Eric Swalwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I was looking at this, no shade, gentlemen, but it just feels like y\u2019all are out of control,\u201d Whoopi Goldberg chided. \u201cEvery time we turn around, somebody\u2019s got somebody else up against a wall and a bed. What is happening?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are character flaws I\u2019m tired of hearing about,\u201d she added. \u201cJust keep it\u00a0in your pants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Co-host Sunny Hostin stressed the importance of Democrats winning Maine\u2019s Senate seat, but laced into Platner for making \u201cracist remarks,\u201d being an \u201canti-semite,\u201d \u201ca liar,\u201d and a \u201chomophobe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sara Haines called it a \u201ccharacter flaw\u201d and declared that \u201cthis man should be nowhere near Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The primary is slated for June 9, and Platner is the presumptive nominee at this point.\u00a0The Marine veteran has a 7.8 percentage point polling edge over incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/senate\/general\/2026\/maine\/collins-vs-platner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">according to the latest RealClearPolitics<\/a>\u00a0aggregate of polls.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 He\u2019s even lost \u201cThe View.\u201d Hosts of ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d turned on Maine Senate hopeful Graham&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[57991,4515,88,246428,10482,10815,228953,111,2516,92,194,14300],"class_list":["post-678648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ana-navarro","tag-democrats","tag-entertainment","tag-graham-platner","tag-maine","tag-media","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-politics","tag-the-view","tag-tv","tag-us-news","tag-whoopi-goldberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}