Trump Called Graham Platner a Sleazebag and Said the Other Democrat Is Even Worse

Trump went on the New York Post's podcast this week and called Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner a "major sleazebag."

Platner had just gotten caught sexting multiple women while married – and his own wife turned him in.

Then Trump said there's another Democrat running for Senate right now who makes Platner look clean.

Trump Brands Graham Platner a Sleazebag in New York Post Interview

Trump sat down with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on her Pod Force One podcast this week and didn't hold back on the two men Democrats are counting on to flip Senate seats in Maine and Texas.

On Platner, Trump was blunt: "He's a major sleazebag."

He went on: "I mean, you can't imagine [he wins], yet he's up in the polls against [Republican incumbent] Susan Collins. But she's always down in the polls and she survives."

Platner's scandals by this point were already stacking up like cordwood.

His wife discovered sexually explicit texts he'd sent to multiple women on a messaging app – less than a year into their marriage – and took what she found straight to his campaign.

Before that came the Nazi SS "Totenkopf" death's head tattoo Platner wore on his chest for nearly two decades.

He claimed ignorance – said he got it drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia back in 2007 and didn't know what it meant.

Then investigators found Reddit posts from years later where Platner appeared to discuss and justify the very symbol he claimed not to recognize.

He covered it up. The scandals kept coming.

The excuses haven't stopped. Neither has his poll lead.

Trump acknowledged the strange dynamic – Platner remains ahead of Collins despite the avalanche of revelations – but he wasn't worried.

"She's always down in the polls and she survives," Trump said.

Trump Calls James Talarico Worse Than Platner in Senate Showdown

When the conversation turned to Texas, Trump reserved his sharpest verdict for James Talarico – the 36-year-old former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian Democrats are banking on to end their nearly 40-year Senate drought in the Lone Star State.

Trump called Talarico worse than Platner.

Republicans have been hammering Talarico as an "open borders, Trump-hating radical" since he defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee went after him within hours of his win.

Trump had already compared Talarico to the gap-toothed, glazed-eyed MAD Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman – and called him "a weird candidate" who holds radical positions on gender, masks, and values that don't belong anywhere near Texas.

Talarico showed up to a campaign stop with Barack Obama and ordered tacos.

Paxton's campaign turned it into an ad.

"I've been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton's first indictment," Talarico shot back.

The line got laughs. It didn't change the fact that he's running in Texas.

What Two Scandal-Plagued Senate Candidates Mean for Democrat Senate Control

The Democrat Party is heading into the 2026 midterms with two of the most compromised Senate candidates in recent memory – and remarkably, both still appear competitive on paper.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake the Senate majority. Maine and Texas are on their target list. But they're running a confessed cheater with a Nazi tattoo in one race and a candidate their own president calls worse than that in the other.

Trump's Pod Force One interview was a preview of the playbook Republicans will run against both men from now through November. Name them. Define them. Remind voters every single week what kind of people the Democrat Party puts forward when it wants to take back power.

Platner is a sleazebag. Talarico is worse. And if Republicans stay on offense, neither one gets anywhere near the United States Senate.

Sources:

• Miranda Devine, "Trump tells 'Pod Force One' Graham Platner is a 'major sleaze bag,' but James Talarico is worse," New York Post, June 3, 2026.
• Paul Steinhauser, "Open borders, Trump-hating radical: GOP unleashes early blitz on Texas Democrat Talarico," Fox News, March 4, 2026.
• Fox News Staff, "Growing list of controversies threatening Democrat Graham Platner's Maine Senate bid," Fox News, June 4, 2026.
• Scott McClallen, "The Nazi Tattoo, the Reddit Posts, and Now This: Graham Platner's Senate Campaign in Crisis," Townhall, May 30, 2026.
• Paul Steinhauser, "Trump compares Dem Senate candidate to freckle-faced cartoon character, promises to campaign for Paxton," Fox News, May 28, 2026.