Morning Joe’s Graham Platner Love-Fest Interview Glances Over Controversies

Nicholas Spinnato
May 2nd, 2026 12:26 AM

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On Friday, MS NOW’s Morning Joe hosted an interview with Democratic Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner, poised to be the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine. The supposed anti-establishment candidate went on the largest, liberal establishment morning talk show to discuss his campaign, as the hosts glanced over his controversies, which include Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his past comments on Reddit about women and other topics.

The only mention of any controversy was a lobbed softball from occasional co-host Willie Geist about the Republicans’ framing of Platner as “too radical” for Maine.

Joe Scarborough’s first question to Platner asked him if he would “actually exercise” Article I of the Constitution, as he set up Platner to go on an anti-Iran war speech.

Platner said, “We have seen, time and time again, Congress handing over war powers to the executive branch. And we need people in the halls of power who want to claw that power back.” 

 

 

Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked about current Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who he would replace if elected. Platner attacked the Big, Beautiful Bill and then went to the normal progressive, Bernie Sanders-like phrases and points about billionaires, corporations, and companies like Palantir: 

And that has happened because she and Republican politicians like her have prioritized the interests of billionaires and corporations over people.

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We have already seen out-of-state superpacs pouring millions of dollars into negative ads against me. Even before the announcement yesterday, super PACs that are funded by the CEOs of Palantir and Blackstone.

Finally, one of the hosts brought up the backlash to Platner and the points of interest against him, including posts on Reddit and a Nazi tattoo on his chest. But, Geist posed the question as just “Republican attacks” and paired the question of radicalization with, simply, “past comments” that he might regret:

Republicans have stepped up their attacks on you, putting out statements yesterday after Governor Mills bowed out of the race, that you're just too radical to win in the state of Maine. 

We've talked to you on this show, gone through some of the past comments you've made that you say you regret. The suggestion is that you're unsteady, that people can't be sure about how you lead. What do you say to those criticisms that you're radical? And going back to past comments that you've said some things that people shouldn't support?

Platner took the question first about radicalization, which he based on an economic wealth gap fight, similar to a campaign speech by Bernie and AOC. As for his past comments, he repeated a line about him being isolated after combat tours and said he had become a changed man.

Jonathan Lemire then posed a question about Platner as an anti-establishment candidate, while he was on the most Democratic establishment talk show. Platner pledged to work with the Democratic leadership, including Senator Chuck Schumer (NY), but also promised his campaign would remain grassroots. 

 

 

At the end of the interview, Scarborough compared himself to Platner: “It's what happened to me. I actually, I had party leaders working against me around the clock. Said I was too radical to get elected.”

Platner's response included a reference to their “very similar experience.”

Scarborough definitely did not have a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and he almost certainly was not a Redditor when he ran for Congress. But even with the controversies, he was definitely their candidate now.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

MS NOW’s Morning Joe

May 1, 2026

8:10:18 AM Eastern

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JOE SCABOROUGH: And Graham Platner follows us. Now. He is both a Marine and a U.S. Army Veteran who's deployed overseas four times. Graham, thank you so much for being with us. 

You know, we could talk about a lot of things. You talk about inflation, we can talk about the money. But I want to just start with Article One of the Constitution. Do you know what it is? And unlike Republicans in the United States Senate right now, would you actually, when you take the oath to God to uphold the Constitution of the United States, will you do that and actually exercise what, what our founding fathers demanded Congress exercise Article One powers over war and peace?

GRAHAM PLATNER (D-ME, CANDIDATE FOR US SENATE): You know, when this nation was founded, the Constitution lays out very clearly that the power to make war is in the hands of the body that most directly represents the American people. Because when the United States goes to war, it is the American people who are asked to shoulder the burden. 

And as ridiculous as the war in Iran is, I mean, I think we can all agree that this thing is just utterly insane. We have to be clear that this really does come on. Decades of Congress abdicating its constitutional duty. We have seen, time and time again, Congress handing over war powers to the executive branch. And we need people in the halls of power who want to claw that power back. 

And I'll be honest, for me, it's a pretty personal thing. I mean, I had to fight in Iraq. I wish to god there had been a Congress back then that didn't have people like Susan Collins in it, who were more than happy to send America's sons and daughters off to fight and die and take part in untold horrors, for what it seems like today was just a complete fool's errand. It's not just about the politics. 

It's not just, frankly, even about the constitutional responsibility. There is a moral clarity that we lack. There is a moral clarity that we have a lot of leaders who don't seem to have that when we send people off to war, we are asking of them horrific things and immense sacrifice. And for a long time, we have a political class that kind of treats war like it's a game, like it's something they get to do to look tough or to posture, or in the worst case, really just kind of pad the pocketbooks of defense companies that donate a lot of money to them. 

But either - however you look at it, we really have had, and I just want to make this clear, I think it's on both sides of the aisle. We've had a lot of people for a long time in power who have given up on the fact that we are supposed to be waging war. As a nation, we are not just supposed to give that power to one person and then let them run rampant with it, which, sadly, is why we find ourselves in the absurdity that is the Iran war and running up against insane statements like, well, because we have a ceasefire that stops the clock. That's that's just I mean, that's not how it works.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, you mentioned Senator Collins. Let's talk about the state of Maine. Maine is a hard-working, proud, beautiful state. How has she not served the interest of Mainers? How will you - I know a lot of business owners and families in the state of Maine who are still very much behind the president and his party.

PLATNER: One, in the 30 years that Susan Collins has been in office, things have gotten harder for working-class Mainers. I say this as somebody that lives in a small, working-class town on the coast of Maine and makes his living on the sea. We have seen our health care system fall apart. We have seen hospitals closing. I mean, over the past three years, we've lost three rural hospitals in the state, primarily because the Republicans passed a Big, Beautiful bill. 

Susan Collins did not use her power on appropriations to slow it down in any way. And those Medicaid and Medicare cuts that were used to justify tax cuts to corporations, those cuts have resulted in hospital closures. Because it turns out, as no surprise to anyone, rural health care is not really a profitable business. And it needed those subsidies to come in and keep those hospitals alive. Well, they're gone now. And now we have mainers who are driving two, sometimes three hours just to get health care, people giving birth in emergency departments, because labor and delivery units in eastern and northern Maine have closed. 

That has happened on Susan Collins' watch. And that has happened because she and Republican politicians like her have prioritized the interests of billionaires and corporations over people, which, I may add, is why over the past week, we have already seen out-of-state superpacs pouring millions of dollars into negative ads against me. Even before the announcement yesterday, super PACs that are funded by the CEOs of Palantir and Blackstone and, most amusingly, a private equity group that broke down and sold off for parts a lot of the mills here in Maine, specifically Jay and Bucksport.

They hate the fact that we are building a movement to represent Mainers, and we need to fight back. So, if anybody is watching, we could definitely use your help, grahamforsenate.com. We can use all the money we can get because we're up against billionaires in this one, and they're not going to give it to us easily.

WILLIE GEIST: Graham, good morning. Since, especially even just the last 24 hours, since it's become clear that you'll be the guy in the democratic side, Republicans have stepped up their attacks on you, putting out statements yesterday after Governor Mills bowed out of the race, that you're just too radical to win in the state of Maine. 

We've talked to you on this show, gone through some of the past comments you've made that you say you regret. The suggestion is that you're unsteady, that people can't be sure about how you lead. What do you say to those criticisms that you're radical? And going back to past comments that you've said some things that people shouldn't support?

PLATNER: So, one of the idea that my politics are too radical, I find somewhat laughable. I mean, as I go all over the state of Maine, you talk to any working person in Maine, Republican, Democrat, Independent, ask them if they think they live in a political system and an economic system that has their best interests at heart. Nobody says yes, nobody. 

Everybody knows. Everybody knows that. We have witnessed the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the ruling class in American history, and it has happened while we have watched our working communities in the state of Maine begin to fall apart. We've watched the hard work that Mainers have done for generations no longer be enough to own your home, to have health care, to have access to good schools for your kids. It's all becoming significantly harder to make life work down here. While we also watch the largest accumulation of wealth in human history happening at the top echelons of our society. Everybody sees that happening. 

And the idea that you want to show up for working people, you want to have a tax code that taxes wealth at at least the same rate as we tax wages, because right now we tax wages at a much higher rate than wealth. That's not radical. That's just showing up for the people that build this country, the people that go out every single day and work with their hands, work with their bodies, support their families, support their neighbors, support their communities. We put in the work down here, and we're just asking that that hard work be enough.

Again, when it comes to if I'm study enough. Well, I was an NCO in the Marine Corps in the army. I led men in combat. I have run an oyster farm for the past decade. I run a small business. I am a diver in the Gulf of Maine. Diving is a cold and relatively dangerous business and I enjoy it thoroughly because it's a challenge. Steadiness and a steady hand is very much a part of my existence. And I think that that's very much going to continue. And it's also what the people of Maine see, because I'm very much of them. I'm born and raised here, spent my life here, make a living on the sea here with my hands. 

And it is a - it's not surprising that the Republican party is going to attack me with that. I mean, these are a lot of people who've never worked a day in their lives. And if they have, it certainly hasn't been with their hands. They don't know what it's like to fix an outboard engine on the ocean. They don't know what it's like to have to like, you know, fix your chainsaw because a tree came down the neighbor's driveway and it's the middle of winter. They don't know what that life is. Mainers know what that life is. And for them, the only attack they're going to have is trying to make stuff up.

I mean, you guys were just talking about the fact that Tim Scott and Scalise are out there just lying about gas prices. I fully expect that to continue in all facets of this. 

But as to past comments, I got back from my four combat tours, and I was a pretty isolated and angry young man. And I went on the internet, and I expressed that. And I had opinions and beliefs and said things in the past that do not reflect who I am now. Because like most people, you grow, you change, you learn new things, you meet new people, and you realize that you can be a better version of yourself. And that's something I've been working on for a very long time and continue to do so. And I think the people of Maine see that.

JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Graham, we just mentioned the Republicans, of course, lining up their attacks, some saying they're salivating for this campaign. Also, no secret that you were not the candidate of choice for some of the Democratic Establishment Leader Schumer supported. Governor Mills, I know you spoke to Leader Schumer yesterday. Feel free to categorize that call. 

But also, though perhaps it was to this point to your benefit, to have some distance from the Democratic establishment. As you mount your candidacy, what will your relationship like with the party going forward, as you likely need their help in what will be a very expensive race?

PLATNER: Yeah, I mean, I spoke to the leader last night, and I'll just say that nothing brings people together like wanting to get Susan Collins out of office. That is the priority for me. That is the priority for Senator Schumer, and I'm happy to get whatever help that they are willing to provide. 

This is going to be a very expensive race. The Republican Party has already committed $42 million to this thing. And that's from the party. That's not even considering all the outside spending from billionaire super PACs. So, we're going to - we'll take money. But I will say this. What we have built is ours. We have built a campaign with tens of thousands of Mainers as volunteers. 

We have built a campaign that is focused on field organizing and building, frankly, working-class power in the State of Maine by getting labor unions and community groups and civil rights groups and political organizations and just individuals combining in a coordinated and broad-based coalition. That's what we've done. If people want to come in and give us money to help us grow, that is fantastic. But that is the game that we're playing. That is the battlefield that we are trying to shape. 

And I think, one, it's how you win this thing. You can't, like, you can't play their game. If we play the game, the old just kind of well-worn playbook of raise lots of money, spend it on consultants, spend it on TV ads, that's not how this is going to work. That's what they're going to do. We need to do something different. And that's what we've been doing since August of last year, which is why we have the momentum that we have, and we have the trust of so many Mainers because I go to every corner of the state. We've held 63 town halls. By the time this thing is done, I'm going to hold public events in almost every single town, over 2000 people in this state. 

And in Maine, going and talking to people, having that personal relationship, having their neighbors knock on their door and talk about this campaign, that's how we're going to win it. We're going to do that no matter what. 

And our criticisms, my criticisms of the party leadership, my criticisms of the party, they have not changed. And I've been very vocal about that since the beginning. But we will absolutely take the help that we can get. But it's our show, and we're proud of what we built, and we're just going to keep moving forward with it.

SCARBOROUGH: And that's a really great message to send, a great message to send to people in Washington, DC that are all going to jump on board now, and they should. 

It's what happened to me. I actually, I had party leaders working against me around the clock. Said I was too radical to get elected. And so people would come up to me halfway through my term and they go, “Hey, if you don't vote with leadership, they're going to,” I go, what? What?  Work against me? I got 62% the first time they worked against me. I'll get 70. 

So, you are in a unique position here to get their support and you should get their support. And I know a lot of people would say the Democratic Party needs to be united. But man, really quickly we got to go. But talk about the Independence it will give you, doing this on your own with your grassroots support and not getting help early on, from the senate leadership.

PLATNER: This is very much my kind of politics. And the reason that I'm running is because for a long time, and this is not just me, a lot of my neighbors, a lot of my friends, we've all been lamenting the fact that we have not seen an actual movement based, organizing focused political campaign in the State of Maine, really focused on working class people's issues, the material realities we all live in down here. 

We have been able to build that, and the fact that we have built it on our own. The fact that our average donation is $26 and 99% of our donations are less than 100 bucks. The fact that we've been able to do all of this without the help of the establishment, it puts us in such an amazing position. And it also, Joe, it's kind of funny. I think you and I, at this point, had a very similar experience being told very similar things from party leadership, from people who are experts in politics, who know better than we do. And it is in many ways, very heartening to see this kind of politics not just work, but work spectacularly and allow us to continue building what I think is the politics of the future at this point. This is how we need to do this kind of thing moving forward, certainly here in the state of Maine.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. I had people come up to me saying, "Son, you ran such a great campaign. You'll probably get in fourth or fifth place. It'll be great for you.” And like I said before, everything that's happened, you've built it along with your grassroots supporters. Man, that gives you such extraordinary Independence when you do get to Washington. Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, thank you so much for being with us, and good luck out on the trail.

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