Break down Platner's motive

[canetoad]

For running for the senate seat.

- God complex?
- Trolling?
- Ego?

WHY would this guy, with so many skeletons in his closet decide to run?

[yellow dahlia]

1. I'm aligned with number three.

[Quiet Em]

2. He was recruited by a group that had no business recruiting people

And those recruiters did know better but they didn't care. And I doubt those recruiters even prepared him fully on what could/would happen.

[betsuni]

6. Stunning overconfidence. They're right they're right you know they're right so you're evil if don't agree.

These types of candidates would be fine without the lying and name-calling against the Democratic Party. But that's the heart of the ideology. Lust to hate and destroy an enemy, the excitement of all-or-nothin fictional revolution .

[LisaL]

11. Obviously they didn't prepare him, because they didn't do him

or the state of Maine any favors.

[Raftergirl]

3. Hubris

[WSHazel]

4. This may have been a rat fuck

By one of his campaign staff. Run a guy with a big ego, some family money, and wrap him with an “outsider” label. I think they knew his history, knew it would come out, and wanted that outcome.

[cksmithy]

17. I completely agree and think it was planned from the beginning.

Platner might have just been an useful idiot to the other, "right wing" side. I am disgusted these things keep happening. I didn't like Eric Swalwell's tone in the 2020 presidential debate against Joe Biden. He dropped out shortly there after. He was a good representative, but none of us knew in California really knew about him. It was a shock to me, I thought he was just a little cocky. The media is to blame. There are no journalists doing the real work and checking people out to see who they really are and reporting news in real time. And if they do find out stuff, they write a book two years later.

[WSHazel]

19. Even a simple social media search would have uncovered these problems

I am not just talking about Platner's social media. An ex-girlfriend posted to people to stay away from him. His staff had to have known this stuff, and pushed him as a candidate anyway, knowing he would blow up.

[mucholderthandirt]

20. But people already knew about this stuff. It was discussed here, until everybody went cukoo for him.

One time I'm here, everybody's talking trash about him, the next, he's the best thing since sliced bread, gonna beat the crap out of Collins, GO DEMS!

He had a Nazi tattoo, he already had issues with his behavior with women, I can't even remember what else, and all of a sudden he's the next Great White Hope. I seriously think people are losing their minds, accepting this shit and acting like it was all a surprise. Who knew? Who could have expected this? FFS. EVERYBODY KNEW.

Oh, but at least he wasn't Fill in the Blank! At least he was better than XYZ! Yeah. That's how we lose elections. Decades, and still not learning. Who can we throw under the bus next? Women want a break. POC aren't too happy, either.

[Keepthesoulalive]

5. Money and power

[Blue Owl]

7. It's almost like this whole fucking thing was scripted from the beginning

Another GOP stunt to game the system, and keep the pedophiles in power

[calimary]

10. I wouldn't put it past 'em.

[LisaL]

8. He was recruited by the

people who are looking for political candidates.
I don't think he would have come up with this idea on his own.

[haele]

9. "Bros set me up, man..."

My impression is that his motive is simply that it was ego-boo for a child of privilege who never really had to grow up, even if he spent time in the military.

A bunch of cool people told him he had some great ideas, and he was a cool guy with a great background story, and he should run. So he did.

In his mind, all the bad stuff was just BS that happened when he was drunk or high. And, like, who doesn't get drunk or high occasionally?

[LisaL]

12. I don't think it was occasionally in his case.

Sure sounds like he had a drinking problem.

[haele]

13. Well, Kavanaugh said he didn't have a drinking problem...

He just really likes beer....
All problem drinkers I've met or dealt with have a very difficult time estimating how much they really drink.

[PCB66]

14. I think it was ego

I have never raped anybody and I don't have a Nazi tattoo but I do have a few things in my past that I wished I had done differently.

I can see my zeal for politics driving me to run for public office. My ego could very well overcome the caution of having the skeletons in the closet surface.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. He was asked, and personalities like that like to be asked.

[EdmondDantes_]

16. I think it's more complicated than that

I think like a lot of men (especially white men) today he's struggled to find meaning in his life in part due to economic challenges we're all facing in the K shaped economy but also things like women doing better and not settling for the bar being on the floor meaning men have to do better.

I think he was getting attention from his local groups which led to getting attention from the consultants. I think that appealed to that feeling of belonging and being valued we all want.

I think he probably believes he was honest with himself and his team. But true honesty is really really hard. And it doesn't come from a couple of months of therapy. It comes from years of work and being willing to see your actions through someone else's eyes and not your own preferential interpretation.

Admittedly maybe I'm interpreting this through my own life, but that part feels very familiar to me. I didn't make the same types of mistakes in terms of drinking and mistreating partners, but I definitely did some stupid self harming things to try to be appreciated.

And to be honest, for all his flaws he's definitely got a talent for rallying people. So in that sense it's not ego. Yes some of his story was enhanced, but that's standard. Whether he would have been good in office isn't known, but skill in running is an important part of being a politician. If he started at a lower level and did more work on himself including making amends with his exes, maybe it's a different result.

[GJGCA]

18. Just maybe not the brightest bulb...

...in the chandelier, and thought he could get away with it?

Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.

Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
--Schiller