Non-sarcastic: The timing on the Platner rape allegation isn't even a little suspicious

Well. Here we are. (I did hope I was wrong.)

So, if you've been taking a news break, the bristling forest of red flags sprouting from Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner grew by one big one on Monday, with a woman who dated him in the past coming forward to say that, while they were dating, he raped her.

One response I've seen multiple times is that it's somehow suspicious that this allegation is coming out just days before the deadline for Platner to drop out and be replaced by another Democrat on the ballot. It is absolutely not suspicious, and if you find yourself saying it is, you need to step back, stop talking, and think real hard about your values and your basic cognitive processes.

Jenny Racicot is a Maine Democrat who was quoted in the June 4 New York Times article detailing allegations that Platner had been physically abusive in past relationships. If you were paying attention and willing to believe that there was something to this story, her comments in that article hinted strongly that there was something serious she was not willing to be specific about. She said that when she saw Platner's past comments about women – which include suggesting that it's common for rape allegations to come from women who get drunk and "wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to" – she thought, "I was like, that makes sense. This person does not respect women."

That article also referred to a time when Platner went to Racicot's house, drunk, after she told him not to. According to the Times, "She declined to elaborate, but said she cut off contact soon after that episode and found his behavior 'reckless' and 'unsettling.'" If you read that and flipped right over to "but the main accuser in that article is a Republican" rather than thinking about what Racicot was choosing not to say in the national media, you made a choice.

Racicot didn't go back to the Times to fill in the blanks of that story, which is interesting in itself. She went to Politico. And CNN.

According to Racicot, on the night in question in 2021, Platner had texted her and she had told him not to come over. He disregarded that, went to her house, let himself in, and forced himself on her as she repeatedly told him no.

"And, the look on his face and realizing what was happening, I just realized that, like, I am in a situation where there’s no consent here," she told Politico.

She told CNN that it was rape, "By definition, yes. Absolutely yes."

She also said that Platner was so blackout drunk that he may not have remembered it. But that doesn't mean he's not responsible for his actions – and she told him afterward, so he cannot reasonably claim these stories are news to him.

That's what happened. So why did she wait? Why now? Isn't it suspicious? Maybe the establishment put her up to it to drive this righteous man from the race?

I keep wanting to put the words "with all due respect" here somewhere, but the respect due these arguments is none. I get it, I really do. You're sick of being handed establishment candidates and told you don't have a choice. You're sick of triangulation and timidity. But it's still not ok to cast sneering doubt on a credible rape allegation.

Why did she wait? Because it's fucking painful to tell the world you were raped! Especially when, as for Racicot, the rapist in question is someone whose politics you agree with. 

"One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” she told Politico. “I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person.” 

Why now? Well, gee, guys, maybe if any of the half dozen or so revelations about Platner that should have been campaign-ending had, you know, ended his campaign, it wouldn't have come to this story now. Jenny Racicot would surely prefer she hadn't had to do this – she told CNN she'd thrown up three times that day. But when the Nazi tattoo didn't do it, and the past Reddit posts didn't do it, and the allegations of physical violence against an ex-girlfriend didn't do it (hey, she was a Republican), what was left for her? 

I'm sorry. It sucks. Platner is charismatic and smart and persuasive and says so many of the right things in this horrible moment in our country and we all want so very much to defeat Susan Collins in November. But it's been clear for a long time that he was a deeply flawed candidate, and the refusal to acknowledge that has done no one any favors.

There's also a systemic problem here. Platner has been taken as an example of the power of authenticity, and a rebuke to "the consultant class" in Democratic politics. But he was absolutely propelled by consultants and the media. His candidacy did not just come from nowhere. It came from a set of consultants committed to finding and promoting "outsider" candidates. And if we don't all acknowledge their importance in creating this debacle, we free them up to go on to do it again and again. 

Hopefully Platner will have dropped out by the time this piece even goes live. Hopefully Maine Democrats will find a strong candidate to replace him, in a process that leaves Maine voters feeling respected. Hopefully Susan Collins faces a resounding loss in November. And whatever the outcome of this specific race, hopefully lessons have been learned by at least a decent proportion of the people who need to learn them.