Trump Brushed Off His Scandals. Here’s Why Platner Couldn’t.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/07/10/platner-trump-scandals-rules-democrats-00992633

The Platner drama, in fact, is a vivid illumination of the distinctly different ways that the two major political parties respond to an era in which prevailing standards of acceptable conduct by politicians are in a state of radical flux.

Platner is a flamboyant anti-establishment disruptor accused of a lengthy roster of personal behavior that he declared irrelevant (his swastika-like “Totenkopf” tattoo) or false (Jenny Racicot’s allegation of rape.)

Trump is a flamboyant anti-establishment disruptor accused of a lengthy roster of personal behavior that he declared irrelevant (defying the decades-long principle that presidential candidates release their tax returns, to cite one of dozens of examples) or false (E. Jean Carroll’s allegation of rape.)

Platner was forcibly stripped of the Senate nomination voters handed him just last month when a chorus of Democratic leaders loudly and near-unanimously said he must go. Trump, by contrast, has ignored and in most cases humiliated Republicans who claimed his personal and political behavior is unacceptable.

Those different outcomes in turn suggest wide differences in the coalitions and prevailing mindsets that sustain both parties. Simply put, on questions of political accountability, the parties live in different universes.