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Graham Platner: “The Constitution lays out clearly who is supposed to be in…”

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

Graham Platner Is Staying in the Race | The New Yorker Radio Hour

Published December 19, 2025 | Video Starts at 28:52

I'm a firm believer that we need to be passing legislation that is going to make clear that congressional input is necessary for military action. We. We cannot continue to go down this road. And also, I mean, it's a constitutional duty. The Constitution lays out clearly who is supposed to be in charge of war powers. And it is the bodies that represent the American people most directly, which is Congress. (28:52–28:58)

CLAIM

Asserts that the U.S. Constitution specifies Congress as the authority over war powers.

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

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“They were part of this project with the main afl, cio, a couple labor union groups trying to recruit a candidate.”
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“We make $60,000 a year and the Senate is not for people like us.”
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“I have been the chair of the planning board and also as harbor master.”
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“By the time I got out of the Marine Corps in 08, Petraeus and General Mattis had written the counterinsurgency manual.”
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“I also said that sexual assault didn't occur in the military as much as people said it did. It does.”
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“Sexual assault occurred often in the military and was often covered up.”
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“The Democratic Party, today's biggest problem is that there is an element of it that has become as attached to corporate interests as the…”
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“The Democratic Party used to be the party that represented those people, was the party of labor unions.”
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“In the 1990s in the Clinton administration...the party sold out organized labor.”
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“I continue to not have been contacted...from either Chuck Schumer or from the dscc, the Senatorial Campaign Committee.”
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“The DSCC set up to fundraise with [Governor Janet Mills] the day after she announced.”
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“We've held 35 town halls around the state of Maine the past couple of months.”
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“We have 12,000 volunteers.”
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“Continue pushing for universal health care, Medicare for all.”
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“We also need to restrict the ability of senators and congresspeople to trade stocks and bonds.”
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“We also need to fix the tax code because we cannot continue to tax wages at a higher rate than we tax wealth.”
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“All the money we're taking in is individual donations.”
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“I think the death count now is up to 95 [in Venezuela].”
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“No declaration of war, no even concept of why this is a war.”
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“I was four years the Marine Corps, four years in the United States Army National Guard.”
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“I think the number one thing we have to do is claw war powers back from the executive branch.”
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“Congress has abdicated its role in war making.”
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“We have handed off more and more power to the executive branch over decades.”
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“They're just dropping bombs on people's boats, and that shouldn't even be an option.”
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“We're entering into an era of politics of power, an understanding of what power actually is.”
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“There is an immense amount of working class angst in this country and for good reason.”
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“Nobody says yes [to living in a political or economic system that benefits them].”
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“Life got harder down here.”
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“Everything is owned by five companies now.”
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“Our system [is] purely built on the exploitation of working people, which is what we have right now.”
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“I am lucky enough to be a disabled combat veteran. I get health care. I don't think about it. I don't deal with insurance companies.”
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“Her rent is 60% of her monthly income.”
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“Rent everywhere is going up.”
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“This is eastern Maine. I mean, this is a. We're a poor community.”
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“I've watched people in my community watch their material conditions deteriorate at the exact same time that we watched Jeff Bezos and Elon…”
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