On the June 10, 2026 episode of The Five, the panel dissected the shocking primary victory of Graham Platner in Maine’s Democratic Senate race. Despite a string of damaging scandals, Platner emerged victorious, leaving hosts stunned and sharply divided.
Panelists highlighted his history of leaked explicit text messages, allegations of domestic violence from a former girlfriend, controversial tattoos with alleged extremist symbolism, and inflammatory social media posts. Critics called it a troubling sign of the party’s standards, while others argued voters prioritized policy over personal flaws.
Greg Gutfeld quipped that Platner’s win proved “scandal is the new normal in politics,” while Jesse Watters questioned how such a candidate could prevail in a competitive primary. Dana Perino and Juan Williams debated whether this reflected deeper divisions within the Democratic base or simply weak opposition.
The discussion underscored growing concerns about candidate vetting and the increasing tolerance for controversy in modern elections. Platner’s unexpected triumph sets up a contentious general election ahead.
let’s be strategic, let’s get some power. you’re seeing a star is born. emily: there is so much to say, dana. start out.
dana: we know about his character and what was interesting about morning joe is he was giving platner, like leading witness in a courtroom. he’s like, tell me about your trauma and how it hurt your character. like, basically listing all of the things that platner could then say, obviously very practiced. he also said flat out there is nothing more to come but everybody has heard the rumors. there is more to come.
however, i will say this. i think that what the senator just said is where the democrats are at the moment and there was a huge turnout of democrats in maine last night, and while i still believe that susan collins will win, when she ran in 2000 she won by nine points. i don’t think maine has changed that much, but something is happening. bernie sanders is winning all of these different primaries and there is something behind that part of the party. i don’t know what will happen in some of these state races. you could look at it and say logically, he could never win but when you have turnout like that in a state like maine that has shown an independent streak then i do think it might be harder than people think. it will be more expensive than people think.
I just keep remembering this one guy, alexis mcadams, when she was there, she interviewed a couple of people and he said, i don’t care, i’m blue no matter who. if that’s the idea behind it, then the republicans are not going to be able to just say obviously this guy is a monster, a pig, and he’s terrible. i don’t know if that will cut it.
Emily: strategic, greg, does that mean focusing on his imperfections, should it now just be about policy? will that help susan win?
Greg: i just look at this. i step back and i see what happens when you frame everything as an existential threat. for democrats, who are always fighting hitler every tool is acceptable including electing a nazi to fight hitler because you need to win the senate to destroy hitler.
so if you think about all of the bad things that have happened, say, in the last 10 years or so, they are directly linked to this framing, that we’re fighting a fascist dictator. they built a frame that excuses the behavior that they condemn. that’s why you saw the me too movement go away and now after calling everybody a nazi they throw their weight behind one.
what have we seen in the last 10 years? three assassination attempts, the murder of charlie kirk. riots and looting, covering up a brain dead president. election tampering. censorship. lying to the public. and now you see the democrats embracing a nazi person because the circumstances are life and death. the democrats always portray this next election as something that will cause the end of the world. that way all of their so-called principles can easily evaporate.
for us it’s not existential. we think platner sucks and he’s a pig, but you know what? we’ll keep living. but democrats, they are like fentanyl addicts. and politics is their fentanyl. so they don’t care what they look like when they are doing it. so when you’re looking at them and you’re going, what are you doing? they are like, the world —
greg: what should the remaining principled democrats do? they should support collins. she’s a liberal republican. she has an incredibly low american conservative union rating. that doesn’t seem to me as an existential choice. the democrats’ back isn’t against the wall. it’s not like you’re choosing between platner and david duke. you’re choosing between platner and a woman with the lowest conservative rating of all senators. she’ll cross party lines like it’s a crack in the sidewalk. it’s not a big deal.
so if you choose platner over collins, you have to admit that your existential argument is a sham, because what you’re saying is, even if things are okay, i.e., you could vote for collins, you would still vote for the nazi.
we live in two worlds. reality and politics. reality, if collins wins life goes on and nothing really changes. in politics, if platner loses, a fascist regime will destroy democracy because in politics, the stakes are delusionally high. who made those stakes high? the democrats. we do not have to play ball in this delusion. i never want to hear another moral lecture from those douche bags at morning joe. i always knew it was fake. i said it was fake but now when you see him set up that crap — these people are absolutely abysmal.
by the way, the hysteria around trump will not go away. whoever comes next that will be hitler, that will be a fascist, too, and they will do the same thing. god knows what they might elect next.
emily: standards are abandoned in the apocalypse. give me weinstein, platner, all that matters is we defeat the enemies because our lives depend on it.
jesse: the democrats have meth mouth. they are okay with it. they look in the mirror, no teeth. it’s fine. you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
i’ve spent years living in maine and platner is a vibe. i understand why he’s connecting. the guy’s voice sounds like a pickup truck driving over gravel. this guy wears ll bean jeans. he looks like he drinks a lot and spends a lot of time on a dock. he’s got tattoos. he’s a marine, a bernie bro from next door in vermont. he’s got oliver anthony energy. he hates the rich men. he’s a liar and he’s kind of a fraud but he’s getting away with it because maine is a poor white new england state. fuel costs are really high. they don’t eat well there. their healthcare costs are really high. when i go there, i don’t eat well. so he’s tapped into it and just tapping into it is enough to get elected these days.
the republicans just can’t sensationalize him. i agree with dana. remember when we met me too bill clinton? what did that do? you can’t say he’s a racist or a nazi. look at what that’s done to donald trump. he’s been elected twice. yes, the guy is an ogre. a degenerate. he looks like he lives under a bridge. but i don’t think that’s going to cut it because the democrats will rally around someone like that. if everyone is — if he’s lying and kind of getting through it, they will say maybe this guy has something cooking.
The republicans have to hit him on policy. he’s going to raise taxes. he’s going to abolish i.c.e. green new deal. he has absolutely no common sense solutions for maine. in fact, if he gets in there and collins is out, he can’t bring home the bacon. when the republicans control the senate, they will throw susan’s stuff. when the democrats control it, they will throw student pork. if this guy gets in there he’s cut off because he’s a bernie guy and the republicans think he’s nuts. so, i would hit him like that with a laser beam right between the eyes. and we do a cable show, so we sensationalize it. it’s fun to talk about nipples and nazis and sex things but that’s not going to do it. we love talking about that.
I’ve been dying to ask you why the democrats didn’t use the weight of the machine that we have seen at play literally remove and disappear people all over this united states. why didn’t they find someone more normal? why didn’t they find a candidate that maybe wouldn’t even have the ogre —
they had one.
why didn’t they put the machine behind?they tried. the machine hunted jared golden who would have trounced in this primary but he doesn’t want to be in politics anymore because of the tone and the tenor of it. his family gets threats and he was like, know what? i’m out of here. when the state goes for trump jared still wins. he’s got tattoos.
