OMISSION: Sunday Shows Continue to Mostly Avoid Platner Scandals

Jorge Bonilla
June 14th, 2026 6:11 PM

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The Elitist Media Sunday Shows continue to mostly run cover for Herr Oystergruppenfuhrer Graham Platner, doing the bare minimum if anything at all to make mention of the various scandals swirling around his candidacy. In fact, most of the shows went silent despite new revelations.

The sole Sunday show to discuss the Platner allegations was NBC’s Meet the Press. In fairness, “discuss” is a heavy lift here. Host Kristen Welker asked pro forma questions and allowed her guests to dodge. Here is her exchange with House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries:

KRISTEN WELKER: I want to ask you- the big news this week out of the Senate, Graham Platner winning his primary in Maine. Of course, he has faced allegations of being physically threatening to ex-girlfriends, which he denies, among other controversies which have followed him. Here is a campaign ad being run by Senate Republicans. Take a look.

NRSC AD VOICE-OVER: Susan Collins doesn't have a Nazi tattoo, and she doesn't have an account on a notorious predator's paradise ad. Graham Platner did for years. And this was his profile picture. Oh Gosh. Please. Please. Get that off the screen. Anyway, Susan Collins: a senator we can be proud of.

WELKER: Does Graham Platner have the character to be a U.S. Senator, Leader Jeffries?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: First of all, I thought you were going to say the big news of the week is the Knicks winning the NBA Championship….

WELKER: We’re gonna get to that, too.

JEFFRIES: …for the first time in 53 years. I appreciate that. In terms of the Maine Senate race, listen. The voters of Maine are going to be the ones to decide what's in the best interest of the people of Maine. At this period of time, I'm just focused on making sure we take back control of the House of Representatives so we have a Congress that is a check and balance on an out of control Executive branch, consistent with who we were meant to be according to the Framers of the Constitution, as opposed to what we have seen house Republicans do, which is to serve as nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.

WELKER: Let me ask you though, Leader Jeffries- because under Maine's election laws, Democrats still have enough time to replace Graham Platner. Given all of the controversies he has faced, do you think they should replace Graham Platner or stick with him?

JEFFRIES: Well, the voters of Maine elevated him in the primary and ultimately senators are going to have to make that collective decision, I assume, in terms of what happens. And again, I think I have a responsibility -- we have a hard enough job pushing back against Donald Trump's extremism and the sycophantic behavior of my Republican colleagues in the House. We need to focus on that and we need to make sure we’re doing everything possible to win back control of the United States House of Representatives in November. 

Two passes and that’s it. Jeffries tried to brush the first one off with a “how ‘bout them Knicks” and deferred to Maine voters on the second. There was no “let me put a fine point on it” or other interruption from Welker, who allowed Jeffries to dance around Platner before moving on to the Knicks.

Welker’s related exchange with Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock went pretty much the same, with one glaring exception:

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KRISTEN WELKER: Senator, let me talk to you about the midterms. One of the big headlines this week: Democrats officially nominating Graham Platner as their candidate in Maine, despite controversies from allegations of abusive behavior from ex-girlfriends, which he firmly denies, to a tattoo associated with a Nazi symbol. He says he obtained that without understanding its meaning. He has since covered it up. Do you believe Graham Platner has the character to serve in the United States senate?

RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Well, here’s what I’ll say, character matters. And that's what I'm saying in this new book that I have written, "The crooked places made straight." I think the voters of Maine have an opportunity to see who they want to represent them in the United States Senate. They will decide that.

Here, Welker gets into some of the scandal details, but downplays them. Platner’s Totenkopf tattoo becomes “a tattoo associated with a Nazi symbol”- as opposed to a tattoo of THE distinctive symbol used by the Nazi SS. On-the-record testimony of domestic violence becomes “allegations of abusive behavior from ex-girlfriends.” There is no serious pushback of Warnock as he tries to deflect to his book.

Awful as this coverage is, it is the only coverage of the Platner allegations. ABC and CBS instead chose to bleat about President Trump’s name being removed from the Trump-Kennedy Center:

The Sunday shows often remind us that what is not covered is often more important than what is covered. If it weren’t for double standards, there would be none at all.

 

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