The ends justify the means, Niccolo Machiavelli (more or less) argued in 1513.
And more than 500 years later, that dubious principle still thrives in our political culture. During an interview last week, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan was espousing it as we discussed the party’s sketchy nominee for US Senate in Maine, Graham Platner.
Should character matter to voters? “Sure,” said Kerrigan. “You're asking the people of your district or your state or the country to entrust you with some incredibly important decisions.” And he deplored the judgment of die-hard Trump supporters who are willing to overlook his adultery, dishonesty and selfishness. “No one's character is perfect, but…when you've got leaders like Donald Trump who put themselves first and foremost, above everybody else…that to me is a critical character flaw.”
OK. But while Trump’s character deficits are undeniably gargantuan, what is the difference between his chronic abandonments of his marriage vows and Platner’s pitiful sexts with women behind the back of his relatively new bride?
To his credit, Kerrigan, who’s about as thoughtful and measured as partisans come these days, didn’t try to play pretend about Platner. “Does he have a lot of explaining to do on a lot of issues? Absolutely, to his spouse, to his family, to the voters of Maine,” he said.
But the GOP incumbent has her own honesty problems, maintains Kerrigan. “Susan Collins has time and time again said one thing and gone to Washington and done another thing, and the people of Maine are sick and tired of it. What they need is at least a leader who is going to admit when they're wrong and step up and own their truth. She's got to go. He is now the nominee of the Democratic Party in Maine, and we'll do everything we can to help.”
Steve, with all due respect, you’ve been Platnered.
For the benefit of the “word of the year” judges, you’re Platnered when you buy into Machiavelli’s dictum a bit too thoroughly. Agreed, no one is perfect, and good luck finding a political candidate who never made a mistake, let alone getting them past primary voters who more and more seem to confuse sleaziness with authenticity. If Platner gratuitously disrespected his own marriage vows, he’s hardly the first political figure to do so. Should Democrats have abandoned FDR and JFK - and should Republicans have ditched Eisenhower and Reagan - because they didn’t keep their supposedly-sacred promises?
Maybe Trump’s election and re-election means a majority of voters are willing to overlook bald-faced dishonesty. But how did that come about if not as a result of the rapidly calcifying belief that lying to the masses is par for the course? In 1964, 77% of Americans believed you could trust the federal government most of the time. Now, according to Pew Research, it’s 17%. In 1976, Jimmy Carter’s most effective campaign line was “I will never lie to you.” By 1988, Bill Clinton was sternly informing a grand jury that his denials of the affair he had with an intern were only lies depending upon “what the meaning of the word 'is' is.”
Democrats were Platnered. Did their equivocations about Clinton help cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000? Gore thinks it did. Would the past quarter-century have turned out differently if they’d figured out the means - and the damage it did to the party brand - not only didn’t justify the ends, but actually undermined them?
The 2026 Democratic playbook in Maine and the lower 49 is obvious - whatever you might think of us, Trump and his mob are worse. Good luck making that tar stick to the mild-mannered Collins, who we’re guessing has never sexted. And Platner will need more than luck to draw an effective contrast with her because, as Kerrigan puts it, she says one thing and does another.
You mean, like, “I do”?
It’s a tough year for Republicans, thanks in no small part to their self-Platnerization in service to Trump. So can Platner make it close in November?
Sure he can. But as they say in Ipswich: close, but no cigar.
