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Graham Platner: “The Clinton administration really stood up for labor.”

Featuring: Graham Platner, Populist, Progressive | Former Candidate, U.S. Senate Maine

Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms

Published March 1, 2026 | Video Starts at 46:00

Yeah. Because they were all in labor unions. And then, I mean, it's not like in the 1990s, it's not like The Clinton administration really stood up for labor. You know, we, the Democratic Party has a lot of a role to play in the diminishment of labor power in the free trade projects like nafta that really did, in the end screw a lot of working Americans. (46:00–46:03)

CLAIM

Asserts that the Clinton administration did not support labor.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Graham Platner

“In 2020, Sarah Gideon race outspent the Collins race almost three to one.”
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“We have a specific law from 1980 which does not extend to the Maine tribes the same protections that all other 570 nationally federally…”
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“In New England, there's only one clinic [for IVF].”
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“I was already pretty cynical about money in politics and that has. That. That cynicism has just been supercharged.”
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“You clearly need to raise money to compete for this stuff, but there is just a whole apparatus that seems to exist just to suck up money.”
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“Our fundraising has been some so much small dollar stuff and because frankly the establishment of even my party wants nothing to do with me.”
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“Some [Democrats] rise to [culture wars] on purpose because they don't want to have the other conversation [about systemic reforms].”
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“Structurally it's borderline impossible for regular people to pull this off.”
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“I knew that was coming. And when it came, I was happy to talk about it, because, quite frankly, I think it's a pretty standard story of…”
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“We also have to very much understand that if we're going to build a better future, we need to keep an opening for a lot of people to change.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 06:25-06:33
“We are truly trying to build a real on the ground, organized, broad coalition of frankly, working class power.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 08:24-08:36
“I do three to six public events a day.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 09:12-09:14
“We very well might meet everyone in Maine.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 09:19-09:22
“We're building an on the ground organizing apparatus.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 10:55-10:59
“An immense amount of money was spent on negative ads about Susan Collins. It didn't do anything.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 12:03-12:09
“We've held 40 town halls and we're gonna hold 20 more before the primary.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 13:07-13:12
“The governor has effectively vetoed every single pro labor bit of legislation that's come across her desk.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 16:41-16:49
“Maine has a very fraught relationship with the Wabanaki Nations.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 17:32-17:38
“The governor has opposed all [attempts to fix the law regarding tribal sovereignty], both as Attorney General and as governor.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 18:17-18:21
“The governor has vetoed multiple bipartisan bills, some written by Republicans that were trying to raise taxes on the wealthy in Maine.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 18:51-19:00
“I became very critical of American foreign policy.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 21:17-21:20
“This whole system, in many ways, does seem to be built by people in power with wealth to maintain or expand their wealth and power.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 21:38-21:48
“An out of state PAC came in with a bunch of money and backed a very anti-trans candidate [in a school board race in eastern Maine].”
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“The school district pulled back protections for LGBTQ kids that had been there for six years.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 26:27-26:36
“We actually wound up like winning the next school board race.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 28:46-28:50
“We're trying to get candidates to run for county commissioner.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 28:51-28:55
“I'm convinced we're not just going to beat Susan Collins in November. I think we're going to trounce Susan Collins.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 30:04-30:10
“Eastern Maine is economically depressed.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 31:14-31:20
“It's most, it's commercial fishing. It is a lot of construction mostly because we have some pretty substantial summer communities nearby.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 31:21-31:30
“Across the bay from us, we have Acadia National Park.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 31:30-31:33
“Working people are working themselves to the bone.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 33:21-33:25
“The Democratic Party, at least elements of it certainly in D.C. have, have really walked away from [economic populism].”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 33:47-44:04
“Bailing out the banks, bailing out the big industries, letting people walk away with golden parachutes while those banks still turned around…”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 36:55-37:11
“I think that's why we need to...change the political will of the Democratic Party...people should have gone to prison.”
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“I honestly don't think the American people would be angry if the Justice Department went after folks that...destroyed their retirement…”
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“We need to use the anti-monopoly laws we already have on the books.”
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“We need to cut ties with...the donor world that comes from the financial system, the donor world that comes from Silicon Valley.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 41:40-41:40
“The deregulation of the banking system resulted in [the financial crisis of] 2008.”
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“We used to have laws in place [to prevent financial crises].”
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“A lot of Democrats supported [the deregulation of the banking system].”
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“We need to use the tax code to go after the money that has been stolen from working people over the past four decades.”
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“The Epstein files are showing people of all political stripes that there is a class of people who lives above accountability.”
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“Ohio went from being a blue stronghold of unions to becoming this red stronghold of disenfranchised, angry working-class people.”
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“Free trade projects like NAFTA really did, in the end, screw a lot of working Americans.”
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“The Democratic Party has a lot of a role to play in the diminishment of labor power.”
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“The culture war stuff was all invented to keep us from having the conversation about taxing billionaire wealth and breaking up corporate…”
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“Democrats have taken the bait [on culture wars].”
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“Donald Trump won and then he won again and we lost a lot of seats around the country.”
Graham Platner SLAMS Trump, Lays Out Democrats' Strategy for the Midterms | Uploaded March 1, 2026 | 50:04-50:10
“The only way forward for us as a party is to really become a real party of working people again.”
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“In this America, the middle class is the working class.”
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“We're not talking about going after small business owners, we're not talking about going after big business owners.”
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“We need to use political power to claw that stuff back.”
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“Right wing populism, it's not making things cheaper.”
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“It needs to be a national policy.”
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“Small rural states, we don't have the money.”
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“We're talking about building a national risk pool.”
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“I essentially get universal health care. I'm a disabled combat vet.”
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“Without it, I would not have ever been able to be an oyster farmer.”
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“The VA only has problems when Republicans cut its budget.”
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“In rural Maine, health care is collapsing now.”
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“I've read Bernie's full bill, and it's essentially universal health care with the name Medicare for all.”
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“Premiums have gone up by like triple fold.”
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“A relative of mine had to drop her health insurance because her premium doubled because of the loss of the ACA extensions.”
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“As long as there is a substantial profit motive with a substantial middleman, we're just gonna like, unless we address that part of the…”
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“It would be one of the largest projects we've really ever undertaken as a nation to transition from the health care system we have to a…”
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“The VA doesn't cover [IVF] if it's not, like, clearly my problem.”
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“Her insurance didn't cover it, the VA stuff didn't cover it.”
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“Their only clinic is in Portland, Maine, which is three hours away from where we live.”
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“In Norway, it's really cheap and everybody's really nice.”
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“Even with the travel, staying in an Airbnb for two weeks, the plane tickets, it was one quarter the cost of just the baseline of doing it…”
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“You go to, like, Norwegian hospitals where, you know, literally no one, no one is sitting there worried about how much this costs.”
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