Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Dems, Not GOP, Looking for Post-Trump Paths
The United States has begun its primary season in earnest, setting the stage for the November general election. With Mr. Trump done as president after this term, both parties are looking for a formula, package or simply an image that will help them succeed after he is gone. Do the Democrats run toward the center as they did in 1992 (prefering Bill Clinton to Jerry Brown – a poor decision) or do they go full-blown AOC, Mamdani Bernie Sanders? Does the Republican't Party continue as a cult of personality without the personality? Or does it return to its pro business, small government mantra? Or is there some other thing lurking out there? The results of the primaries suggest that no one really knows, yet.
In Maine, Democrat Graham Platner got the nomination of his party with 72% of the vote.This journal has watched politicians for decades, and he appears to be of a type that turns out to be much more conservative in office than on the campaign trail. He will disappoint much like Joe Manchin of West Virginia used to and the way Senator Fetterman of Pennsylvania does to this day. Mr. Platner is a 41-year-old, Marine vet and oyster farmer. He will face Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican who pretends not to be full-on MAGA but seems to always vote that way.
The Guardian stated:
Platner was carrying substantial political baggage, including old incendiary Reddit posts, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, sexually explicit messages sent to other women early in his marriage and accusations from a former girlfriend, denied by Platner, that he had been physically intimidating. Platner has apologised repeatedly for aspects of his past conduct and has linked some of his struggles to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In other words, the party that asked/demanded Al Franken resign from the US Senate for a photograph of him making a rude gesture at a woman 10 feet away from him is now running a guy for US Senate who has done much more. In one sense, it is a sign that the Democrats are growing up and abandoning the goody-two-shoes approach that they have had since Mr. Clinton got it on with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.
In another sense, it is handing the Republican'ts an easy target for this November. The ads almost write themselves. If Mr. Platner wins, it will mark a significant move away from being such scolds. If he loses, it will probably cause the party to tighten up even more than it has.
Meanwhile, the Party of Trump had its own little showdown in South Carolina where Senator Lindsey Graham is fighting for re-election. He is a Trump acolyte of the highest degree (he golfs with the president, who cheats), and therefore, he had the endorsement of the president. He stormed to victory last night, avoiding a run-off.
Meanwhile, in the same state as Mr. Graham, MAGA Congresswoman Nancy Mace lost her bid for re-election. Despite being such a Trumper, the presidential endorsement went to Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, and she will face the second-place finisher is Alan Wilson, AG of the state, in a run-off as neither got 50% of the vote. Ms. Mace was fifth in the vote totals.
She said in a statement posted to X, "I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that. As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund. I chose to expose DEI judges. I chose to expose the abusers of children. And apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election."
So, there it is. The Democrats are lowering their moral standards, and the GOP is sticking with the cult for now.
© Copyright 2026 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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