this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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I'm gonna keep posting this on every thread about Platner, but my issue is that people like him who say they have changed or people who are explicitly seeking forgiveness for past actions always try to jump the line. Like a former KKK member shouldn't be putting themselves up to head the anti-racist action coalition before spending a decade working to repair their damage to the community. Even if they want to help do the opposite of what they used to do, community trust needs to be built back over a long period of time and ideally with the people actually harmed.
There is no reason he needs to be the candidate over someone similar to him in views. He should be in the background helping someone else get elected who doesn't have his issues and he should have the self-awareness to see why his past makes him a problematic pick.
You're not wrong. When the whole totenkompf thing happened, I looked into the other candidates in the race, and there are absolutely candidates that could fill his shoes. However, politically, they are even more non-viable than he is, just given the momentum he already has in terms of endorsements from people like bernie sanders and the whole infrastructure he has built up. It's not as easy as just transferring all that momentum to another candidate, so people are willing to overlook his past in hopes that he is genuine. It's not an ideal situation, by any means, but it does speak to the current political atmosphere, where progressive politics are so appealing that even problematic candidates are cracking through the noise.