Astonishing or "disgusting," as Lyndsey Fifield described it to The Free Press? Answer: yes.
Fifield came forward at the urging of the New York Times to discuss the abuse she experienced in a relationship with Graham Platner. She was assured the newspaper took the allegations seriously and that they would carefully present them and the evidence in support, along with the stories of other women who had similar experiences with Platner. The newspaper held the story until the end of early voting in Maine, and then whitewashed it with testimonials from other women about Platner being "fun" and "caring."
Fifield exposed the NYT's attempt to deploy a "trap and tame" strategy for Platner, and then went to The Free Press to het the truth out. Fifield re-told her story, discussed the media's treatment of her and the other victims, and expressed shock at the "disgusting" way that Platner ended up profiting off of it:
Twenty-four hours after the Times story dropped, Platner’s campaign reported a single-day fundraising haul of $200,000—its best day since his main primary opponent, Democratic governor Janet Mills, stopped actively campaigning in April (she stayed on the ballot). ...
Speaking at her kitchen table, Fifield said she was frustrated at how people reacted to the bedroom anecdote. As she told the Times, Platner held the door shut and told her to remain in the room until she was “calm.” Fifield eventually fell asleep and left in the morning, she said.
Fifield says people have suggested she instigated the fight or could have left the room if she wanted to. “I have seen a lot of people conjecture about it. I was 120 pounds. I absolutely could not have left if I wanted to,” she said. “At first I was fighting back, and then I had this primal sense that if I really kept forcing the issue and got that door open, I would not be safe.”
Fifield and Platner were romantically involved between 2013 and 2015. The Free Press reviewed diary entries as well as messages she sent to friends, describing the emotional turmoil she experienced during and after the relationship. In a July 2016 diary entry, Fifield wrote about breaking her lease in Washington, D.C., after the two split: “This jealousy used to scare me so much I literally MOVED to get away from him,” she wrote. “He didn’t want me but didn’t want anyone else to have me either.”
Platner has since claimed that he and Fifield only had a "casual" relationship, and that he considered himself "single at the time." Fifield, on the other hand, has the text receipts from that period, and they paint a much different picture. He professed his love to Fifield "in a way I can't even describe," as The Free Press reports, and that Platner told Fifield that he'd "been falling over myself for you for as long as you'd have me." The physical abuse and the false imprisonment look a lot more like an abusive and obsessive boyfriend in light of those texts, and Platner's credibility seems non-existent.
TFP also talked with Platner's former campaign director, Genevieve McDonald, who penned a Washington Post op-ed urging Maine Democrats to choose anyone but her former boss. McDonald heard a much different story from Platner about the nature of his relationship with Fifield, when he assumed she would be an ally:
Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, told The Free Press that the campaign had internally flagged worries about ex-girlfriends, specifying one who used to work for the Heritage Foundation. McDonald said that last fall, she and Platner were on a long drive when he started “bragging about how he could get cross-party support, and he mentioned his ‘ex-girlfriend Lyndsey.’ ”
“He called her his ex-girlfriend, and bragged about the fact that he was so well-liked by Republicans that his ex-girlfriend was one,” McDonald said. “I stored her name away.”
As the campaign went on, a pattern of mistruths emerged. He consistently leaned on his “working class” background on the stump, despite having attended a prominent boarding school with an annual tuition of $25,000. He said he purchased his home with the help of a VA loan, but The Washington Free Beacon unearthed property records detailing only a $200,000 loan from his father, a prominent local attorney. During his campaigning, Platner said he witnessed Chris Kyle, the famed “American Sniper,” deliberately shoot civilians—a claim Kyle’s wife and fellow soldiers vehemently denied.
So Platner was all set to promote Fifield when he first launched his campaign, because he was oblivious to the damage he'd caused. When he realized that she would offer a very different portrait of their relationship, Platner lied about it in order to save his political skin. That follows other lies used to form him as some sort of working-class stiff when in reality Platner has mooched off his wealthy parents for years while adopting a series of false poses.
Fox News covered some of this as well on Monday:
Platner’s 2025 financial disclosures show that he listed "other $5,001" as his annual income from farming oysters. The candidate’s entire business is only worth between $50,000 and $100,000, which accounts for his boat, lines, anchors and other farming equipment, per the disclosure. ...
While Platner credits federally funded healthcare for his ability to start a business, a number of other factors have assisted him along the way.
A restaurant owned by Platner’s mother, for instance, is the only customer listed on his financial disclosures as purchasing oysters from him. Additionally, Platner’s farm is located on a private island owned by his business partner’s family and he received a $200,000 loan from his father to purchase his home, the Washington Free Beacon previously reported.
"Platner lies in this clip," freelance journalist Magdi Jacobs said of Platner’s statement on Friday. "He says he ‘makes a living off the sea.’ He objectively does not."
The astonishing and "disgusting" aspects to the reaction to all of these reveals is that Democrats just don't give a crap. That includes Democrat leadership, who to a person, have now rushed to embrace a violent Nazi-tatted creep and liar. Kirsten Gillibrand is hardly alone; Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have endorsed Platner, and other Democrats such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have promoted him all along.
The Free Press wrote the article that the New York Times should have run within a week of talking with Fifield in April. Be sure to read it all, and when the Kik messages start to emerge, be sure to check there first as well.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
Help HotAir continue to report on the Democrats’ radicalism and inform voters as our nation faces a crossroads. Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member