MAGA influencers exploit Graham Platner scandal to win back men

[marmar]

MAGA influencers exploit Graham Platner scandal to win back men
Manosphere figures are using anger over the Maine race to coax young voters back to Trump

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published July 15, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Graham Platner has already quit the race to be the next senator from Maine, but defenses of the once-rising Democrat are only growing. Many of them aren’t coming from the progressives who had boosted the working class oyster farmer-turned-politician, but from people who typically loathe the left.

“Most every guy I know did what he’s being accused of at one point or another with their girlfriend at some point after a night of drinking,” complained the Donald Trump-loving comedian Adam Carolla on Sunday’s episode of his eponymous podcast. “It’s basically like: I’m drunk, I’m horny, I weigh 50 pounds more than you, we’re gonna have sex, it’s not really rape because we sleep in the same bed.”

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Carolla may be among the most famous, but he’s far from the only MAGA figure who is rushing forward to defend Platner from Democrats who called on him to step down after Racicot’s serious and credible allegations were first reported in POLITICO. While plenty of Republicans are joining in condemning Platner — hypocritically, considering their allegiance to Donald Trump, who was found liable by a grand jury for a similar assault — some on the right seem to spy an opportunity to appeal to young men, who voted for Trump in large numbers in 2024, but have been drifting away in recent months.

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Men under 30 voted for Trump by 56% in 2024, a dramatic change from 2020, when the same age group only backed the Republican president by 41%. Shortly after the election, Trump’s support with the demographic started slipping, and early polling suggested they could swing wildly back to the Democrats by the November midterms. Many self-proclaimed leftists saw Platner’s rise as an opportunity to win over young male voters with overt messages that he could lead the way toward dramatically reducing women’s role in Democratic politics, pulling them out of leadership and silencing feminist concerns especially. (It’s important to note Platner himself did not endorse this view, despite admitting to having said sexist things in the past.)

“Graham Platner represents a rejection of Dem HR lady politics,” presumed progressive Matt Stoller wrote in a now-deleted X post a few weeks ago. ......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/15/maga-influencers-exploit-graham-platner-scandal-to-win-back-men/