{"id":1982,"date":"2026-07-08T23:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2026-07-08T23:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:46:17","slug":"pivot-podcast-gave-graham-platner-a-hall-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1982","title":{"rendered":"Pivot Podcast Gave Graham Platner a &#8216;Hall Pass&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"3 Massive IPOs. Scott Galloway Predicts a Crash | Pivot\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BJaulZjjNDE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here are two takes that aged like milk in the blistering Arizona sun.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pivot<\/em> podcast co-hosts <strong>Kara Swisher<\/strong> and <strong>Scott Galloway\u00a0<\/strong>gave scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate <strong>Graham Platner<\/strong> (D) a \u201chall pass\u201d \u2014 as Galloway put it \u2014 last month as sordid headlines started to pile up about the wannabe liberal lawmaker.<\/p>\n<p>But their kid-gloves treatment ended up looking especially bad this week, after Platner was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/breaking-graham-platner-accused-of-sexual-assault-in-explosive-politico-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accused of raping a woman<\/a> he dated about five years ago on Monday. A clip from their June 2 podcast in which both hosts cut Platner <em>a ton<\/em> of slack went <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mazemoore\/status\/2074658841334095898?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fairly viral<\/a> on X on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>By the time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/scott-galloway-rips-the-platner-campaign-for-attacking-the-media-but-urges-dems-to-stop-the-purity-tests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that podcast<\/a> was recorded, Platner\u2019s infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/republican-lawmaker-presses-splc-boss-on-whether-graham-platners-nazi-tattoo-should-dq-him-from-senate\/\">Nazi \u201cTotenkopf\u201d tattoo<\/a> \u2014 which he has since removed \u2014 was well-publicized, and news had broken a few days earlier that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/graham-platners-wife-fumes-at-shameful-reports-on-husbands-sex-life-extra-shtty\/\">sexted a number of women<\/a> who were not his wife. A grip of unsavory Reddit posts had been unearthed too. But the <em>Pivot <\/em>hosts\u00a0shrugged it off.<\/p>\n<p>Swisher said the sexting story reminded her of <strong>Gennifer Flowers<\/strong> claiming she had a long-term extramarital affair with soon-to-be-President<strong> Bill Clinton\u00a0<\/strong>during the \u201992 election. She said it wasn\u2019t a big deal and that Clinton went on to be a\u201dpretty good president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t get bothered by it as much,\u201d Swisher said about the sordid Platner headline. \u201cNone of it\u2026 he\u2019s someone who had a drinking problem as a Marine, probably got that tattoo, has some mental health challenges which he\u2019s trying to overcome, marriage problems which his wife is insisting they\u2019re going to counselors and overcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Galloway added to that, saying a minute later that the scandals seemed like \u201cone strike and you\u2019re out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a Jew, I don\u2019t love a Totenkopf tattoo, okay,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cIf he gets drunk one night and gets a stupid f*ckin\u2019 tattoo, the fact that he\u2019s trying to protect our liberties the next day and might get blown up by an IED \u2014 he gets a hall pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued by saying he was sick of the \u201cpurity tests\u201d in politics, because they ultimately led to \u201can incompetent running against a 9\/11 apologist\u201d in the Los Angeles mayoral race. Galloway added it wouldn\u2019t be an individual \u201ccrisis\u201d that brought Platner or any other politician down, it would be the \u201cinability to own it\u201d and say \u201cI f*cked up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the rape accusation<em> does<\/em> appear to be a crisis that has the Platner campaign on the verge of folding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"qualified qualified-2\">The accuser, a 41-year-old Maine resident named\u00a0<strong>Jenny Racicot<\/strong>, shared graphic details of the alleged rape with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737\">Politico<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner, who is now the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"qualified qualified-1 qualified-2\">Platner denied the allegation, saying \u201cany accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue.\u201d He then\u00a0announced he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/graham-platner-hits-pause-on-his-campaign-after-latest-sexual-assault-allegation-taking-the-time-to-reflect-on-the-best-path-forward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pausing his campaign<\/a>\u00a0to take \u201ctime to reflect on the best way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watch above.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff Here are two takes that aged like milk in the blistering Arizona sun. Pivot podcast co-hosts Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway\u00a0gave scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) a \u201chall pass\u201d \u2014 as Galloway put it \u2014 last month as sordid headlines started to pile up about the wannabe liberal lawmaker. But their kid-gloves&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-2026-07-08T112206-789.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}