Why President Trump should endorse Graham Platner in Maine

Isn’t it obvious? President Trump should immediately endorse Graham Platner to be the Democrats’ nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine. Sound crazy? Actually, no. As Trump enters his lame duck, twilight era it makes perfect sense.  

Allow me to explain.  

First, if Platner wins the Democratic primary he will face Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the general election.

Trump delights in humiliating Republicans whom he sees as not loyal to him. It does not matter if they are the strongest general-election candidate.

Collins voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial after the riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. She voted against Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” She opposes his legislative effort to make it more difficult to register to vote with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Collins also voted against one of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees.

Collins also helped tank Trump’s first choice as attorney general in the second term, the scandal-plagued former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

After she voted to block him from sending troops to Venezuela, Trump said Collins “should never be elected to office again.”

Second, in thinking about a Trump endorsement of Platner, consider Trump’s record in dismissing Republican women.

He persuaded Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a total Trump loyalist, to withdraw her nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to preserve his narrow Republican majority in the House. 

In return, Stefanik was expected to win Trump’s endorsement as the Republican nominee for governor of New York. She even positioned herself as a Trump-like rival of New York City’s progressive Mayor Zohran........

© The Hill