Jonathan Last: “Platner is new. He’s a post-Trump figure. He does not carry scars from a decade of Trump wars. Which means that he never had to make opposition to Trump and Trumpism central to his political identity. He can start from scratch in establishing who he is and what he represents.”
“It also means that he can plausibly position himself as concerned with only the future and not the past.”
“One of my theories about 2028 is that Democrats will succeed not by doing what I want them to do—reform government to make it harder for an authoritarian takeover—but by pushing all of the pro-democracy stuff I hold dear to the side and focusing on economic populism.”
“Platner, never having had to be part of the pro-democracy movement, can do that. He never carried the burden of opposing Trump when it mattered most—which will be a huge advantage.”
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