Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner unveiled a plan during an interview on Thursday to “shut this White House down” so that the Trump administration is not able to function.
“Something we’re going to have to do if we’re in the majority [is] we need to use the power we get to shut this White House down,” Platner told MS NOW host Jen Psaki during “The Briefing.” “We do that, I think one of the best ways is through committee hearings and investigations. I want the Trump Administration not to function, because everyone in the White House is being hauled under subpoena in front of a Senate committee, day after day after day, not just because one, we have so many crimes to investigate at this point, We could probably be doing this for the next 30 years.”
Platner said the Democrats need to adopt a “theory of power,” and establish goals.
“I think we need to understand that the Democratic Party needs to form a theory of power. I don’t think it’s had one for a long time,” he said. “You have to define the end state. What is the goal? What do you want to use your power in the service of? And then, how are you going to craft the policies to get there, and more importantly, build the political will and the political power to make those policies a reality?”
Platner said he wanted to wield the power, should the Democrats take back the House and Senate, to keep members of the administration “busy” by bringing them in for investigations.
“It’s a lever of power, using subpoena power, bringing people in for investigations, that keeps them busy and that doesn’t allow them to go start another stupid war, that doesn’t allow them to continue to give billionaires more and more and more of our economy,” he said. “And so, I think it’s very important that if we are in the majority, we’re going to wield the power that we have to rein this thing in.”
“Graham Platner is saying the quiet part out loud: Democrats’ one and only priority is obstructing the Trump Administration. President Trump and Republicans delivered historic tax cuts, created hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, secured our border, and restored America’s standing in the world. Meanwhile, Democrats are embracing Nazi-loving communists like Graham Platner and an agenda of anarchy,” RNC Spokesperson Kristen Cianci told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Platner also argued that not a single Democratic senator should vote for a Trump administration nominee.
“I think we need to use all of the power we have around funding and the power of the purse to stop paying for these kinds of stupid wars, stop paying for agencies like ICE, stop paying for the things that the Trump Administration is doing, that are materially hurting our democracy and hurting working people,” he said. “But we need to get people into office who have a theory of power, and who understand that the purpose of power isn’t just to have it, it’s to use it. It’s to wield it.”
Platner has run a controversial campaign, including being the subject of multiple controversies, such as accusations that a tattoo he has resembles a “Totenkopf,” a Nazi SS symbol.
He was running in Maine’s Democratic Primary against Gov. Janet Mills, who announced Thursday that she is dropping out.
Mills had the full backing of the Democratic machine when she entered the Senate race last year, receiving endorsements from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and prominent Democratic groups.
However, Platner was backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
