Even though Mamdani is turning out to be much better than I had expected (he seems to largely satisfy his base with symbolic victories and fights with the rich and powerful in nyc, while moderating on actual policy), I remain skeptical of Platner. Platner seems like an actual stupid person in a way that Mamdani wasn’t. I always thought Mamdani was a smart, high IQ but naive and inexperienced person, who could learn on the job. I’m not so sure about Platner.
As a moderate, if leftists want me to overlook their ideology, at least put up a decent candidate so I don’t have to swallow both ideological and personalistic flaws. Candidate quality matters.
Well I’m a moderate so if leftists want me to overlook the ideology, at least put up a decent candidate so I don’t have to swallow both ideological and personalistic flaws. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable, I voted for Mamdani and so far, besides minor complaints, I’m okay with him. Platner hasn’t even tried to reassure his skeptics.
For what it's worth, I had never heard of the skull nazi symbol before the Platner story broke. That doesn't mean that HE didn't know, but it is at least plausible.
That being said, I would never get a tattoo of something that I did not research first.
If I were to guess, he probably didn’t know when he got it but found out later and never bothered to get rid of it. I don’t buy the story that he just found out. But again that supports my claim that he’s an irresponsible idiot, not an actual Nazi.
That's understandable, because you didn't spend 18 years seeing the symbol on a daily basis. Anyone in that circumstance who's minimally observant - to popular movies, books, news, etc. - would eventually recognize it, and indeed, his comments on multiple threads proved that he knew the symbol's precise meaning by 2019 at the latest. So the primary issue isn't the initial act (though I agree it's pretty foolish to not research it, either before or immediately after). The primary issue is he's lying about his awareness, and he spent many years not caring enough to bother getting it removed until he was forced.
I will say though a senator basically doesn’t do anything besides vote on bills and Platner is going to probably vote party line. I would have much greater concerns if he was running for an executive position (mayor, governor, president) where he’s responsible for day to day stuff and directly responsible delivering outcomes. I don’t blame Dems who either choose to vote for him or against him, they’re both understandable positions imo
Even boiling the role down to its most bare-minimum duty (which I think leaves out an awful lot), I'm not so sure how much confidence we can have in even that; the guy has virtually no track record on which to judge. We're basically being asked to trust him for six years based on... speeches.
It's very odd to see, within my lifetime, Nazis going from the stock villains in movies and TV shows to their fans and apologists becoming mainstream political actors. I doubt that anybody would have predicted that circa 1980, but maybe somebody did.
Its not just the shadow of Joe Biden. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (not a 'Democratic politician' but still) and Ted Kennedy are further examples of septuagenarians and octogenarians that refused to retire and ended up costing the party and, I would argue, the country dearly. It likely extends past elected officials too as 'Boomers' in do many aspects of society remain firmly in place and crowd out the generations behind them.
Right. On the other side, a problem is Clarence Thomas, whom we badly need to retire and let Trump appoint someone younger --- say, 35. (Kidding. 45 would be okay.)
You're not wrong. But Alito is over 80 as well. If Dems win the Senate in Nov, the right could be down two SCOTUS seats before the end of Trump's term unless one of them retires at the end of this term (which would be smart)
Amen. I hope Alito thinks seriously about this and does the right thing! What, 80??? Darn. He seems to be doing fine mentally, but you can't fight Mother Nature and he should think of our future, IMO, which is not going to include him. I don't suppose Clarence Thomas is up to that kind of thinking, but Alito could properly withdraw before November. And he may. They all must have noticed how annoyed the left was with Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she supposed she would live forever despite the cancer and recurring hospitalization, and correctly so.
Would love to see a similar graph for the GOP. I think the most telling thing about this graph is how tightly boomer Democrats are holding onto power instead of mentoring the next generation.
To some degree, demographics is destiny, so as a GenX-er, it doesn't surprise me too much that the age of a majority of candidates is undergoing a shift from Boomers to Millennials (originally called "Echo Boomers").
The number of Baby Boomers far exceeded those of GenX, and their children substantially outnumbered GenX, as well. So basically, the Boomers held office until their advanced age became a public issue, and then the next-most-populous generation took over (or is about to).
For god’s sake, get the fuck out of the way you old geezers! I am 72 and I loathe the ‘energy’ of Chuck “Mildly Miffed Max” Schumer and Hakeem “Oh, my, we must do something someday” Jeffries. Gimme Talarico or Plantner or of course AOC! Old people need to step down. Grassley looks like he died two years ago and arguably Mitch McConnell did die several months ago.
Chuck Grassley is sort of 92 ------ but I think he is peppy and able and in great shape. It DOES happen, and seems to have in this case; I hope both of us (and all of us here) are as lucky in age as he has been.
The statement about platner’s “poor tattoo choice” make me question the writers partisanship or judgement. Lets see, platner also wondered if blacks are good tippers, said women who get drunk shouldn’t complain about being raped, that he learned to understand gays by listening to them sing show tunes and posted a number of other non-progressive- maybe even reactionary - comments. It’s so odd he’s beloved by progressives. Reminds me of another senate candidate - John fetterman.
Fetterman is great. He's pro-Israel, not afraid to disagree with the Dems when they're wrong, speaks out against wokeness, and is totally authentic.
Most of Platner's other comments were fine or taken out of context - you've completedly misquoted or misinterpreted many of them.
That said, none of his comments matter when the guy **has a Nazi tattoo.** That should be disqualifying.
He'll always be the guy with the Nazi tattoo. Whatever he says, whatever he does, wherever he goes. He's the guy with the Nazi tattoo. It'll be in his obituary.
It's not worth anything - he only removed it after he was forced. His comments to multiple threads proved he knew the symbol's precise meaning by 2019 at the latest. And of course he did; he lived with it for 18 years. You're gonna notice eventually. So he spent many years not caring, then lied about his awareness. You don't get partial credit at that point.
Fetterman might be great for Israel but he's a terrible Senator for the Commonwealth of PA. This mofo cheering on a pointless war of choice with Iran while gas in the Philly suburbs just hit $4.40. We're all concerned about skyrocketing cost of living and he's using terms like TDS to describle opposing spending $400M in taxpayer dollars on Trump's ridiculous ballroom. Authentic my ass he's as phony as his hero in the WH.
Can't WAIT to vote against him in the '28 primary if he hasn't switched parties by then.
Funny that this is happening just as corporate America moves the other way. The average age at S&P 500 CEO appointment has risen from about 48 in 2000 to 55 today (NBER working paper by Kecht, Lizzeri, and Saidi). Boards say they need generalists with longer career paths. Voters apparently disagree about politicians. One of these groups is going to look wrong in ten years.
The closest historical parallel is the Watergate Babies of 1974—87 House freshmen under 40, knocking off committee chairmen they considered too old and too entrenched. Tom Downey was 25. The class shaved roughly two decades off the average age of House Democrats. Platner fits the archetype: outsider, anti-establishment, replacing a 78-year-old.
The irony is that the Boomers and near-Boomers who rode that wave into power then pulled the ladder up behind them. Pat Leahy stayed until 2023—48 years. Waxman and Miller did 40. They got their generational turnover in their 30s and then spent half a century making sure no one else got one. That's exactly why it has to happen again now, and why it has to be this disruptive to happen at all.
The NFL went through the same shift on a compressed timeline. The Sean McVay effect dropped the average head coach age from 53.4 in 2015 to 47.7 by 2024. The logic was the same too: better to be a year early on the next McVay than a year late. The catch is that nobody has actually shown a correlation between coach age and team performance. The youth movement was a bet on pattern-matching that may or may not pay out.
Even the Vatican is sort of in on it. Leo XIV at 69 was treated as the youthful choice after Francis (76 at election) and Benedict (78). But the long-run trend in papal age is still upward—average age at death has risen about seven years since the 18th century. Global gerontocracy is broadly winning; the Democratic primary electorate is one of the few constituencies actively pushing back.
It's the greatly increased lifespans, I think. 70 now is hardly 70 in 1950! Now, 70 is just getting started. However, if people are showing age-related problems they should be a lot easier to remove from office than they are. These congressional offices are just corporations, that hire a LOT of young people who don't want their principal to retire. Congress: best nursing home in the country, I read once.
Been saying this since the 90s; Generation X (my cohort) was too small to shove aside the Boomers hard enough. We've had to wait til they were literally dying off and that means policy over the last 40 years didn't shift to meet the needs of the incoming generations. We can see the downsides of that now as younger groups have fewer or no children since the economy and infrastructure failed us. Things we've been talking about last 10 years we should have noticed since the early 2000's but since GenX was too small nobody cared to notice.
If only the DNC would pick up the phone and call, or even text, Platner....unless a person passes the NPR Nazi/PMS_NOW Katherine Mayer/Rachel Maddow litmus test of despising hot dogs, hating the NFL and know the secret password: "non-binary cultural appropriation", you just don't count. After 33 years a party-line democrat, I quit. I'm now a proud Independent who won't send one cent to the DNC/ActBlue.
Very interesting. And no wonder voters are looking for younger representatives! High time to go to younger people. What about Republicans? That would be an interesting comparison.
As a younger Gen-X Dem voter all i can say is thank fucking god. The boomers have had way more than their fair share of political power, to say the least
Even though Mamdani is turning out to be much better than I had expected (he seems to largely satisfy his base with symbolic victories and fights with the rich and powerful in nyc, while moderating on actual policy), I remain skeptical of Platner. Platner seems like an actual stupid person in a way that Mamdani wasn’t. I always thought Mamdani was a smart, high IQ but naive and inexperienced person, who could learn on the job. I’m not so sure about Platner.
As a moderate, if leftists want me to overlook their ideology, at least put up a decent candidate so I don’t have to swallow both ideological and personalistic flaws. Candidate quality matters.
Yeah, the Nazi tattoo leaves me a little "skeptical" and "unsure" myself... I might have a few minor doubts!
I think he’s more likely just an idiot than someone with Nazi sympathies so we probably differ on what our concerns are but yes there are concerns
It remains to be seen whether being an idiot will help him or not in the election...
Nate should do a post on how many points being an idiot is worth.
Fun fact: some states ban idiots from voting. So why are they allowed to run for office? 😂
Well I’m a moderate so if leftists want me to overlook the ideology, at least put up a decent candidate so I don’t have to swallow both ideological and personalistic flaws. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable, I voted for Mamdani and so far, besides minor complaints, I’m okay with him. Platner hasn’t even tried to reassure his skeptics.
For what it's worth, I had never heard of the skull nazi symbol before the Platner story broke. That doesn't mean that HE didn't know, but it is at least plausible.
That being said, I would never get a tattoo of something that I did not research first.
If I were to guess, he probably didn’t know when he got it but found out later and never bothered to get rid of it. I don’t buy the story that he just found out. But again that supports my claim that he’s an irresponsible idiot, not an actual Nazi.
That's understandable, because you didn't spend 18 years seeing the symbol on a daily basis. Anyone in that circumstance who's minimally observant - to popular movies, books, news, etc. - would eventually recognize it, and indeed, his comments on multiple threads proved that he knew the symbol's precise meaning by 2019 at the latest. So the primary issue isn't the initial act (though I agree it's pretty foolish to not research it, either before or immediately after). The primary issue is he's lying about his awareness, and he spent many years not caring enough to bother getting it removed until he was forced.
I will say though a senator basically doesn’t do anything besides vote on bills and Platner is going to probably vote party line. I would have much greater concerns if he was running for an executive position (mayor, governor, president) where he’s responsible for day to day stuff and directly responsible delivering outcomes. I don’t blame Dems who either choose to vote for him or against him, they’re both understandable positions imo
Even boiling the role down to its most bare-minimum duty (which I think leaves out an awful lot), I'm not so sure how much confidence we can have in even that; the guy has virtually no track record on which to judge. We're basically being asked to trust him for six years based on... speeches.
Against one of the most brilliant politicians Maine has seen, the Dems chose... a guy with a Nazi tattoo.
Does age even matter when someone has a Nazi tattoo?
It's like the old joke. "but you fuck one little goat..."
This appears to be one topic on which we agree.
It's very odd to see, within my lifetime, Nazis going from the stock villains in movies and TV shows to their fans and apologists becoming mainstream political actors. I doubt that anybody would have predicted that circa 1980, but maybe somebody did.
Its not just the shadow of Joe Biden. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (not a 'Democratic politician' but still) and Ted Kennedy are further examples of septuagenarians and octogenarians that refused to retire and ended up costing the party and, I would argue, the country dearly. It likely extends past elected officials too as 'Boomers' in do many aspects of society remain firmly in place and crowd out the generations behind them.
Not endorsing it, but adding additional context.
Right. On the other side, a problem is Clarence Thomas, whom we badly need to retire and let Trump appoint someone younger --- say, 35. (Kidding. 45 would be okay.)
You're not wrong. But Alito is over 80 as well. If Dems win the Senate in Nov, the right could be down two SCOTUS seats before the end of Trump's term unless one of them retires at the end of this term (which would be smart)
Amen. I hope Alito thinks seriously about this and does the right thing! What, 80??? Darn. He seems to be doing fine mentally, but you can't fight Mother Nature and he should think of our future, IMO, which is not going to include him. I don't suppose Clarence Thomas is up to that kind of thinking, but Alito could properly withdraw before November. And he may. They all must have noticed how annoyed the left was with Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she supposed she would live forever despite the cancer and recurring hospitalization, and correctly so.
Would love to see a similar graph for the GOP. I think the most telling thing about this graph is how tightly boomer Democrats are holding onto power instead of mentoring the next generation.
To some degree, demographics is destiny, so as a GenX-er, it doesn't surprise me too much that the age of a majority of candidates is undergoing a shift from Boomers to Millennials (originally called "Echo Boomers").
The number of Baby Boomers far exceeded those of GenX, and their children substantially outnumbered GenX, as well. So basically, the Boomers held office until their advanced age became a public issue, and then the next-most-populous generation took over (or is about to).
For god’s sake, get the fuck out of the way you old geezers! I am 72 and I loathe the ‘energy’ of Chuck “Mildly Miffed Max” Schumer and Hakeem “Oh, my, we must do something someday” Jeffries. Gimme Talarico or Plantner or of course AOC! Old people need to step down. Grassley looks like he died two years ago and arguably Mitch McConnell did die several months ago.
Hakeem Jeffries is only 55, so pretty squarely Gen X.
Chuck Grassley is sort of 92 ------ but I think he is peppy and able and in great shape. It DOES happen, and seems to have in this case; I hope both of us (and all of us here) are as lucky in age as he has been.
The statement about platner’s “poor tattoo choice” make me question the writers partisanship or judgement. Lets see, platner also wondered if blacks are good tippers, said women who get drunk shouldn’t complain about being raped, that he learned to understand gays by listening to them sing show tunes and posted a number of other non-progressive- maybe even reactionary - comments. It’s so odd he’s beloved by progressives. Reminds me of another senate candidate - John fetterman.
Fetterman is great. He's pro-Israel, not afraid to disagree with the Dems when they're wrong, speaks out against wokeness, and is totally authentic.
Most of Platner's other comments were fine or taken out of context - you've completedly misquoted or misinterpreted many of them.
That said, none of his comments matter when the guy **has a Nazi tattoo.** That should be disqualifying.
He'll always be the guy with the Nazi tattoo. Whatever he says, whatever he does, wherever he goes. He's the guy with the Nazi tattoo. It'll be in his obituary.
For whatever it's worth, he's the guy that formerly had a Nazi tattoo and no longer does.
It's not worth anything - he only removed it after he was forced. His comments to multiple threads proved he knew the symbol's precise meaning by 2019 at the latest. And of course he did; he lived with it for 18 years. You're gonna notice eventually. So he spent many years not caring, then lied about his awareness. You don't get partial credit at that point.
Fetterman might be great for Israel but he's a terrible Senator for the Commonwealth of PA. This mofo cheering on a pointless war of choice with Iran while gas in the Philly suburbs just hit $4.40. We're all concerned about skyrocketing cost of living and he's using terms like TDS to describle opposing spending $400M in taxpayer dollars on Trump's ridiculous ballroom. Authentic my ass he's as phony as his hero in the WH.
Can't WAIT to vote against him in the '28 primary if he hasn't switched parties by then.
Fetterman intends to become a Republican, I assume. This midterm? Come on over, Fetterman! We love you!
Funny that this is happening just as corporate America moves the other way. The average age at S&P 500 CEO appointment has risen from about 48 in 2000 to 55 today (NBER working paper by Kecht, Lizzeri, and Saidi). Boards say they need generalists with longer career paths. Voters apparently disagree about politicians. One of these groups is going to look wrong in ten years.
The closest historical parallel is the Watergate Babies of 1974—87 House freshmen under 40, knocking off committee chairmen they considered too old and too entrenched. Tom Downey was 25. The class shaved roughly two decades off the average age of House Democrats. Platner fits the archetype: outsider, anti-establishment, replacing a 78-year-old.
The irony is that the Boomers and near-Boomers who rode that wave into power then pulled the ladder up behind them. Pat Leahy stayed until 2023—48 years. Waxman and Miller did 40. They got their generational turnover in their 30s and then spent half a century making sure no one else got one. That's exactly why it has to happen again now, and why it has to be this disruptive to happen at all.
The NFL went through the same shift on a compressed timeline. The Sean McVay effect dropped the average head coach age from 53.4 in 2015 to 47.7 by 2024. The logic was the same too: better to be a year early on the next McVay than a year late. The catch is that nobody has actually shown a correlation between coach age and team performance. The youth movement was a bet on pattern-matching that may or may not pay out.
Even the Vatican is sort of in on it. Leo XIV at 69 was treated as the youthful choice after Francis (76 at election) and Benedict (78). But the long-run trend in papal age is still upward—average age at death has risen about seven years since the 18th century. Global gerontocracy is broadly winning; the Democratic primary electorate is one of the few constituencies actively pushing back.
It's the greatly increased lifespans, I think. 70 now is hardly 70 in 1950! Now, 70 is just getting started. However, if people are showing age-related problems they should be a lot easier to remove from office than they are. These congressional offices are just corporations, that hire a LOT of young people who don't want their principal to retire. Congress: best nursing home in the country, I read once.
Quite interesting signal the boomer purge has begun.
I anticipate a more chaotic decade ahead with the youthful exuberance of our future 40 year old politicians.
Been saying this since the 90s; Generation X (my cohort) was too small to shove aside the Boomers hard enough. We've had to wait til they were literally dying off and that means policy over the last 40 years didn't shift to meet the needs of the incoming generations. We can see the downsides of that now as younger groups have fewer or no children since the economy and infrastructure failed us. Things we've been talking about last 10 years we should have noticed since the early 2000's but since GenX was too small nobody cared to notice.
Really interesting dichotomy between Boomers in Canada who live the Liberal Party vs. American Boomers all being Republicans.
Lol Nate could tell us better but I'm pretty sure Boomers are split something like 53/47. Gen Z literally was the deciding shift last election.
great graph.
If only the DNC would pick up the phone and call, or even text, Platner....unless a person passes the NPR Nazi/PMS_NOW Katherine Mayer/Rachel Maddow litmus test of despising hot dogs, hating the NFL and know the secret password: "non-binary cultural appropriation", you just don't count. After 33 years a party-line democrat, I quit. I'm now a proud Independent who won't send one cent to the DNC/ActBlue.
Very interesting. And no wonder voters are looking for younger representatives! High time to go to younger people. What about Republicans? That would be an interesting comparison.
As a younger Gen-X Dem voter all i can say is thank fucking god. The boomers have had way more than their fair share of political power, to say the least