The Platner Debacle Is the Fault of Corporate Democrats and Outrage Journalists

The Platner Debacle Is the Fault of Corporate Democrats and Outrage Journalists

I predict that the corporate democrats are once again going to take the exact wrong lesson from the Platner Debacle. Instead of listening to the people, they’re going to subject us to an offensive lecture because that’s what they always do. “See? See what happens when you demand something other than one of our anointed candidates? Now be good little voters and get behind the bland corporate white man we select for you.” They do this over and over. It goes hand in hand with their lie about how “progressives can’t win” in red areas even though when you look at election results you see them doing exactly that. The other thing you see is centrists losing, but somehow the corporate Democrats never acknowledge that fact. We’re in this authoritarian mess because of corporate Democrats. They lost the presidency, they lost congress. Even worse, when they actually had control of everything in 2021, they lacked the courage to meaningfully use their power. All they had to do was put all the insurrectionists in jail—all of them. Platner was a mess from day one, but that’s as much an indictment of the corporate Democrats as it is of him. The voting public is so fed up with what the DNC shoves in our faces that they’re willing to support basically anything else. That’s what created MAGA. Yet, the DNC still sticks with their, “Do what we say” narrative. The voters in Maine clearly indicated that they’re fed up with politics as usual. Unfortunately, now we’re stuck with the DNC selecting a candidate… again. When given the choice to help or punish, the corporate democrats always reach for the whip. Our current media is also complicit in this disaster. Both the legacy media, and the crop of obnoxious “former celebrity” losers who flock to substack and have 10,000 paid subscribers over night. These are individuals who are more interested in outrage content than following the truth. It’s frustrating, because we literally have the power in our hands to get good people elected. If the journalists on this and other platforms with huge followings would just elevate good people, voters would have the information that allowed them to make informed decisions. But so many of our most well funded “journalists” are just undercover agents for corrupt corporate entities. Before the Maine primary, I became disgusted with all the dialogue presenting the race like it was already Platner vs Collins. A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman] mentioned that there was another democratic candidate on the ballot. I tracked down his web page, sent him an email and Eevie and I interviewed him the next day. It was simple. What this interview showed me was that there are good candidates out there. It’s just that the DNC and the “celebrity” media works hard to suppress them. David Costello has years of experience in public office. The advantage of that is that he knows the job. He has reasonable solutions for problems that won’t be undone by nefarious political mechanisms. This is why I prefer a candidate like Costello over somebody like Heather Cox Richardson [https://substack.com/profile/4875576-heather-cox-richardson]. In my opinion, HCR is very well suited to elevating good candidates. She’s got a massive platform. I don’t believe in electing people to senate who have never been in government before. It’s too long a term. State government should be a testing ground. You put people in office, see if they actually perform, discover if they have any skeletons in their closet, and if they pass all those tests then you elect them to longer terms. Make them demonstrate they have integrity. Make them prove it with positive action over years. The problem we’re living through right now is that the DNC gets rankled if the voters are allowed to select the candidate. They got so angry at Mamdani’s win that they tried to sabotage it. They become furious about primary challengers even though primaries are the best way to gain visibility for new talent. Our current DNC only stands for control and corruption and that’s why people are flocking to untested voices. Unfortunately, we end up stuck with Fettermans who the DNC can point to and say “See? See?” The DNC doesn’t try to fix anything, they just want to maintain control. What we need is a party that will actually listen. We could get there if our “celebrity” journalists started listening too. I’ve yet to see Qasim Rashid post his apology over his coverage of Platner. Many of my creator friends attempted to warn him of how they saw Platner as problematic and he didn’t listen. I’ll give him credit for interviewing Francesca Hong after I did. I’ve reached out to him several times asking him to interview more of the great people from my list of candidates—but we’ve never had a dialogue. I mention him because he seems like one of the good ones, but there’s so much more he could do. We should be working together. If he’d interviewed David Costello, maybe we’d be in a better position right now. He’s not the only one. I’ve been literally begging all the massive platforms to help cover the primaries. The only people who have helped are those platforms that are more or less the equivalent size of my own. Honestly, I’m done asking. People out there with one thousand, four thousand, and ten thousand subscribers can get the word out about great candidates. The mainstream media and the celebrity journalists aren’t going to help us. From what I see, they’re only interested in promoting corporate interests. Indulging in constant rage content keeps the voters angry and uninformed. That’s why we get Platner instead of Costello. A decent media would have promoted all the flaws with Platner before he managed to sabotage this race. Even now, they’re patting themselves on the back for getting him to resign and not calling for him to go to jail. When a man is accused of raping a woman, it’s not sufficient punishment to say, “Well, now he has to drop out of his race for one of the most powerful offices in the world.” No, we need to start demanding true accountability. Nobody should even whisper about a redemption arc until they’ve served their sentence and provided restitution to all the people they hurt. If they can’t fix what they broke—then they have to work humbly for the rest of their lives. What we’re seeing right now is a repeat of the same media and political incompetence than sabotaged Kamala. The DNC failed to support her. The media posted endless criticisms even as they disregarded the fact that she was running against a criminal and a sex offender. When she “lost,” the DNC pivoted to their tired racist narrative of the need to run a white man. The media allowed them to get away with it. We need a massive change in philosophy and it has to happen one person at a time. Even as it stands right now, candidates that get their start with small publications are likely to turn to the big ones when they start to gain national attention. We need to understand that we have to transform the media. We have to help build each other up. That means we have to revoke our support for the big platforms that aren’t doing their jobs and help the small platforms that are. The simple fact is that our corrupt political system is going to change. It’s either going to self-destruct under the appalling weight of its own incompetence, or we’ll correct the ship and save all of humanity. It’s up to all of you to get us on the right track by supporting the politicians and writers out there who are actually fighting for truth instead of enriching themselves on distraction and outrage. The best thing you can do to pressure the big journalists is withdraw your support. There are platforms on Substack run by men facing rape allegations that still have thousands of paid subscribers. There are felons and grifters and “former” republicans that aren’t working for us. Why are people still supporting them? This morning alone I received dozens of comments attacking the woman who bravely came forward about Platner. When I checked the profiles, I found that every single one of them financially supported one of the main centrist platforms. It’s weird. It’s like these groups are attempting to manufacture the appearance of support with fake profiles. Just because somebody has a thousand paid supporters doesn’t make them legitimate. It’s a pretty easy thing to fake. There’s a lot of money out there being spent to brainwash the general public and create the illusion of credibility. When you get a gut feeling that something is off, believe it. We have to be more diligent about curating the content we consume. People who say, “Why didn’t you come forward before now” are not being honest. The truth is that we did come forward before. It’s just that nobody listened. Start listening before it’s too late. The best way to do that is to curate your list and hold writers responsible. Don’t be coerced into financially supporting your own oppression. Reject the lies of corporate media and corporate politics. Find good candidates in your area and advocate for them. Find good writers and support them. We do have the power to fix our country, we just have to stop supporting people who refuse to do the work. I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Why It's Absurd and Offensive to Appeal to Moderates

Please support me if you can! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] In our current political landscape, we’ve got one group that wants to use public funds on education, infrastructure, housing and healthcare. Then there’s another group that wants to siphon all taxpayer dollars to a group of men who divert themselves by abducting children so they can rape them on a private island. Moderates are individuals who look at those two extremes, sigh to themselves, and say, “Gee, there’s merit on both sides, I’m not sure where I stand.” To make matters worse, the Democratic party insists that we MUST focus all our appeals on the group that can’t determine whether they should support cruel elites that run global child torture networks, or people who want to give free lunches to kids. “Well,” say the moderates, “I get what you’re saying, but socialism…” At some point the entire population of the United States needs to get hit in the face with a bucket of ice water. We have to stop allowing nefarious forces to reframe our situation so that we’re constantly stuck spinning our wheels and appealing to people who can’t choose between a chocolate sundae and a s**t sandwich. “Well… they have a similar texture, I can’t decide.” The idea that “moderate” is somehow a noble position to take is absolutely absurd, particularly when you’re faced with extremes that vary between compassion and indisputable crimes against humanity. Out of context, yes, it does sound reasonable to pick a viewpoint that lies between extremes. But before you submit to that model and insist on applying it to all situations, you really need to sit down and name the extremes. Child torture versus basic humanity should not be a difficult choice. Anyone who is having a hard time making that choice does not have a viewpoint we must feel compelled to acknowledge. “I try to see all sides of every issue,” says the moderate. No they don’t. Instead, they refuse to recognize the extent of the horrors before them. The problem is that, at least in our current political reality, moderates are operating on wishful thinking rather than facts. “Well, they can’t possibly be that extreme. What’s your evidence? The fact is that what you’re saying represents a horrific reality beyond anything I want to recognize, therefore I’ll pretend it doesn’t exist. You’re making me feel uncomfortable. That’s inappropriate. It’s all about me. I’m going to vote for your opposition. They don’t make me feel bad.” Maybe they don’t make you feel bad now, but wait until they abduct, rape, murder and consume your children. The prevalence of assumption combined with the toxic river of our cultural identity is the source of all our problems. Add the deliberate, malicious influence of AI assisted propaganda, and you end up with the implementation of project 2025. Moderates, “Oh, he said he doesn’t believe in that and I totally believe him. Has he ever lied to us?” Meanwhile the DNC starts rubbing their hands together and chanting, “There, there little moderates. We love you. We’ll never do anything to counter the hostile brainwashing of the right that has become your end of times comfort food. Please vote for us.” It’s honestly impossible at this point to depict the dystopian reality we’re living through at its current level of absurdity. As long as people are distracted by streaming services and scrolling social media, they’ll allow the whole house to burn down around them. We’re living in the era of “Kill the messenger.” Unfortunately that doesn’t make the problem go away. Things are not going to get better until we knock the cell phones out of people’s hands, grab them by the temples, and force them to engage with the atrocities happening all around. “Give me back my digital device. I was in a miraculous candy land. I don’t like this burning world.” “No! You have to help me put out the fires.” The time has come to recognize that moderates are not our friends. We have to stop insisting on the default assumption that they occupy a point of reason between unacceptable extremes. The Overton window has shifted. Moderates have to be forced to stop being so fixated on their model and recognize what they’re passively enabling. If the spectrum goes from no murders to three murders and then finishes at ten murders, three murders is not the reasonable position just because it happens to be in the middle. Break the conditioning. The middle is not the middle. The middle has become the extreme! One of the most effective tactics of white supremacists is that they sanitize their crimes against humanity through appeals to reasonable sounding ideas. “Well, I’m a moderate. I like to see things from all sides.” “What’s your position on diversity?” “I hate it.” “So, you’re not so moderate after all now are you?” But white supremacists get away with their incessant abuse grooming because we’ve been culturally conditioned not to call them out on their contradictions. This individual brainwashing is what we have to shake off if we’re going to succeed. We can no longer default to assume the middle is always the most reasonable course in all cases. Instead, we have to make the psychological shift to evaluate every point on the graph. It requires critical thinking, which is yet another skill that has been impeded by brain capture through oligarch scrolling. Yes, it feels like a daunting task, but until we become masters of our reality we will remain abused servants and enablers. Don’t even allow people to use the word “moderate.” Make them take the extra step. Make them declare what they stand for. Anyone who can’t declare they are opposed to the rape and torture of innocent children is not somebody who is worthy of your time. In fact, they are deserving of your staunch opposition. Moderates aren’t innocent, they are often the puppet masters of the the very forces that are marshalling to destroy us. Stop appealing to the driftless center that has no other purpose than to escape accountability. Your true enemy is not the assassin that shows up at your home. The assassin is the shadowy figure that paid, trained, and sent the killer to your door. The middle is our real enemy, precisely because they attempt to claim they don’t really have a side. They’re lying. Please support me if you can! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Easing Economic Anxiety in the Collapse With Mutual Support and Fearlessness

Hello Everyone! I really appreciate all the wonderful people I’ve gotten to meet on Substack. I first met A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman] because one of my readers recommended one of her articles. It was a thoughtful piece on how white women maintain the patriarchy, and I brought Natasha K. [https://substack.com/profile/177254780-natasha-k] on to discuss it. Eevie’s been writing a lot of provocative pieces and she’s gaining a lot of followers. It’s been great to see. This was my first time meeting Derek of The Omission [https://substack.com/profile/476890041-the-omission]. He’s absolutely fantastic and he kept making me laugh (which is the best thing to do when confronted with the challenges we face today). This conversation went all over the place and I’m grateful for it. I am looking forward to more talks with these two wonderful people! Thank you LC - Silence is Complicity [https://substack.com/profile/498003941-lc-silence-is-complicity], Chris Resists [https://substack.com/profile/315050911-chris-resists], Rick Kohut [https://substack.com/profile/461104-rick-kohut], LeftieProf [https://substack.com/profile/116079548-leftieprof], Stuart Cohen [https://substack.com/profile/351205065-stuart-cohen], and many others for tuning into my live video with A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman] and The Omission [https://substack.com/profile/476890041-the-omission]! Join me for my next live video in the app. Please support me if you can! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Reflections on Building My Life With My Wife and Kids

Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Right Is Actively Building Concentration Camps and Plotting Genocide While the Media Attacks the Left

Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Let me be clear. I denounce hate. I denounce racism. I denounce antisemitism. I denounce genocide. We are living through an era of intense stress. I’ve personally had to keep my children home from school at times because there were rumors we were going to be raided by the masked gestapo. Every day I’m terrified that armed men will knock down my door and murder my family. The threat is real. We’ve seen innocent people get shot in the streets. There have been reports of children being abducted and raped. The entire right wing of our political spectrum is enabling child abusers by violating the Epstein files transparency act. Yet, when I log into social media I keep seeing false accusations directed at the left. Absolutely nobody is talking about how neo-nazi groups have infiltrated law enforcement and our centrist politicians refuse to even discuss police reform. But when a lawyer says she wants to learn the facts of a crime before she settles on labels, she gets accused of antisemitism. True incidents of antisemitism are ignored by the media, while a disproportionate response is directed at the innocent. We are being manipulated. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by the well-funded masters of deceit. It’s especially distressing to me when former legacy media journalists engage in reckless accusations designed to launch a narrative of division. It’s so obvious. We’re not going to be safe until everyone can recognize the pattern. With every day that passes, it’s clear that the center of our political spectrum is just as corrupt as the right. They use the exact same tactics of division. It could be argued that the center is worse because they’re so calculating. Remember, every accusation is a confession. So, before you believe the lies and manipulation, take a moment to trace back the narrative to its origins. All roads lead to the Heritage Foundation. Neo nazis absolutely love it when the left starts infighting. They come into the room to stir up a conflict, then retreat out the back to steal our money and continue their cruel plotting. Do not be duped. Do not assume the worst of your allies when you KNOW who the enemy is. I realize that we’re all under enormous stress. Slowly, we’re all coming to realize that many of the people we trusted have been working against us this whole time. The right is going to use some extremely underhanded tactics. They are duplicitous. They are liars. They are schemers. We all need to take a deep breath and step back from the distractions. The right always knows that they can leverage fear, shame, and anger to get you to react to their lies. Above all else, they don’t want you thinking rationally. When you are reacting, they can provoke you to do their dirty work for them. Do not allow neo nazis to make you turn against your allies. This week, I had a wonderful phone conversation with a creator friend who was worried about the antisemitism narrative. We talked for about a half hour and assured each other of our allegiances. I repeatedly told him that I loved him (and I do). I also thanked him for just taking the time to talk with me. As long as the line of communication is open, we have a chance. When people hear a fraudulent accusation that makes them unwilling to listen, we become captured. That’s how we lose. The right is trying to divide us. They’re well-funded and they’re using every trick in the book. As we get closer and closer to the end, their tactics will only become more desperate. Remember who your friends are! Today, I woke up to a comment that left me deeply disturbed. I’d written the following note: Our opponents don’t want you listening to progressive voices so they’re accusing them of “antisemitism.” This predisposes the public to not even give progressives the benefit of the doubt. The right contains the neo nazis. The right actively plots genocide. Don’t let lies and right wing purity tests manipulate you into fighting with your allies. We need unity. I immediately received an accusatory response. It was a lengthy response where the writer declared his religious affiliation multiple times. The essence of the comment was, “Many of us don’t support the genocide, please don’t lump us all together. Do not attack us.” It’s such a malicious comment because I hadn’t made any attacks and I hadn’t lumped anyone together. The comment itself demonstrated a predisposition of mistrust. The writer, based entirely on his own misconceptions, assumed I’d harbored malicious beliefs, and scolded me. In times such as these, we have to be very precise in our language. We can’t let our assumptions about other people cloud our interpretation of their language. I deleted the response. When I came back twenty minutes later, I found the response had been reposted word for word. This suggests it wasn’t a spontaneously written response. Instead, it was something that was being cut and pasted all over the internet. This is bot behavior. The left is currently the target of a malicious hate campaign. This is a right wing campaign that’s designed to divide us. Do not fall for it. Remember, the RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. By definition, the left stands for diversity, equality, and basic humanity. Do not be tricked into doing the division work of neo nazi groups. Even as I type this, the right is actively engaged in genocide all over the world. The right is building concentration camps and funding a secret army right here at home. Do not equate that with the offense of misleading quotes taken out of context. They are not the same. We cannot allow ourselves to put insensitive language in the same category as deliberate and coordinated acts of violence. Remember that whenever the right makes accusations of “violence” or “racism” or “antisemitism,” it’s designed to distract attention from right wing crimes that are exponentially worse. Every accusation is a confession. As we continue to navigate these troubling times, I urge everyone to withhold their judgement until the facts are known. Neo nazis and other right wing groups love to manipulate your emotions. They come and whisper accusations in the hope of sparking the rage of betrayal. Why do we give neo nazis the benefit of the doubt even as we hold our close friends to an impossible standard? Do not be so predisposed by the lies of the center and the right that you don’t even give good people the opportunity to have their say. Above all else, both the center and the right want to suppress voices of integrity. The center and the right know that if the people actually listen to the new generation of candidates, the authoritarian movement will fail. Once you’ve listened to these candidates, you can’t be duped by the lies of our corrupt legacy media. For the last year, I’ve been interviewing people of integrity. Absolutely no major publication has helped me promote these interviews. In fact, many of the publications you trust are actively working to sow the seeds of division even as they suppress the new generation of candidates. This is because many of the failed celebrity journalists and “former” Republicans are losers who are desperate to hang on to the coattails of power. They’re telling lies and fearmongering as part of a grift. They do not have integrity, but they have traces of fame left over from their days of association with cruel oligarchs. Wake up! It is a simple, basic fact that the left stands for diversity, unity, and humanity. The people out there saying otherwise, knowingly or not, are propagating a division strategy of the neo nazis. Doesn’t anybody fear making a false accusation of antisemitism against somebody who is innocent? Based on the “journalism” and the arguments I’m seeing lately, it doesn’t seem like it. It’s challenging to see clearly when your enemy activates your emotions, but we have to allow ourselves to evaluate all accusations with a cool head. Guilty people seek out scapegoats. Right now the right is scapegoating the left. We are not going to win unless we are committed to reason. Don’t believe accusations without evidence. Take a moment to identify where the narrative originated and what the people who launched it have to gain. In 2024, we allowed our corrupt media to spread endless lies about Kamala Harris. Look at where that got us. In 2026, the media is still doing the same thing even if many of the culprits from 2024 have moved on to independently owned publications. Don’t listen to the lies of neo nazis who want to make you suspicious of your allies. The RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. They’re building concentration camps and plotting genocide. Every accusation is a confession. Don’t be driven by fear. Listen to your intuition. Keep the door open for conversations with good people. The right is plotting to come after us all, but first they want us isolated and confused. Do not fall for it. Do not allow them to trick you into surrendering your power. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]