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Welcome to this week’s edition of the Surge, a newsletter that always gets stuck right here (the beginning) and may have to bring on Hunter Biden as an opening joke writer.
A lot happened in politics this week, and we’re not even lying about that like we usually do. After a long and thorough search, Donald Trump finally found someone sleazy and unqualified enough to lead America’s intelligence community. Todd Blanche successfully landed the administration in a big enough scandal to earn himself a promotion. And if your name is Dan Sullivan but you haven’t gotten on the Alaska Senate primary ballot yet, you’re missing a party.
Let’s begin, however, with the man whom you may be so sick of hearing about at this point … that we’re giving him two entries off the top.
1.
Graham Platner
Teetering.
Maine Democrats—and with them the national Democratic Party—are in trouble. This year, they have the best opportunity they’ve ever had to oust Maine Sen. Susan Collins, but they may be a few days away from nominating a dud. It’s been an awful week of news for Graham Platner, whose high-risk, high-reward candidacy is looking dangerously imbalanced toward the former.
Since the beginning of the campaign, he’s gotten away with a lot of dug-up, ugly old Reddit posts, as well as an explanation that it took him decades to recognize that the tattoo on his chest was a Nazi symbol. But last weekend, the Wall Street Journal first reported how his wife, in 2025, had discovered “sexually explicit texts” with several women who were not his wife. Then, this week, the New York Times reported on several ex-girlfriends of Platner’s who described his “unsettling,” “volatile,” and, in some cases, “abusive” behavior. (Other ex-girlfriends spoke highly of him.) Platner, in damage-control mode, acknowledged that he was occasionally a lousy boyfriend but denied any sort of physical abuse, swore that he has cleaned up his act, and pledged that no more skeletons will emerge. We have trouble even slightly believing that last part.
2.
Graham Platner, Pt. 2
Who’s going to end up running against Susan Collins?
Platner is poised to officially win the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night—even though Gov. Janet Mills is making weird noises about how she’s still in the race—but we don’t think it’s premature to begin thinking about whether he’ll ultimatelyface Collins on the ballot in November. We see this going one of two ways. Platner may well pull through this in a weakened but still competitive position, while future revelations don’t land with the same punch. Then the race is on as it ever was. This is the most likely scenario. Or Maine Democrats determine that they’ve finally seen enough red flags, the bottom falls out, and Platner is compelled to withdraw. Maine law would give state Democrats the opportunity to name a replacement candidate if Platner drops out by July 13.
The scenario we can’t envision is Platner experiencing a collapse but staying in the race anyway. The stakes of Senate control are too high, and Chuck Schumer has spent too many years trying to topple Susan Collins, to simply cede the seat.
3.
Bill Pulte
Sure, let the mortgage-gossip goon run national intelligence.
What does the bottom of the barrel look like in terms of Donald Trump’s presidential appointments? We’re not saying we’ve seen the bottom yet, but his selection of Bill Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence plumbs new depths. Pulte, a finance and real estate guy by trade, is nominally head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But what he really does is encourage Trump to give in to his worst instincts. It’s Pulte who dug around the mortgage applications of the president’s enemies, like Adam Schiff, Letitia James, and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, as grounds to either force them out of their jobs or have them indicted. It’s Pulte who urged Trump to fire Jerome Powell as Fed chair and recommended criminal investigations into Powell over the Fed renovations. It’s Pulte who put into Trump’s brain the idea of a 50-year mortgage, a proposal that earned Trump widespread criticism. Pulte has no national security or intelligence experience; Hill Republicans and fellow Cabinet officials don’t like him.
The announcement comes at a time when Senate Republicans are less inclined than ever to roll over for Trump. Right off the bat, Collins, Mitch McConnell, Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, and John Cornyn expressed little interest in supporting him. Even Majority Leader John Thune said, “We don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there.” Compounding the issue, Democrats have warned Republicans that Pulte’s nomination makes it impossible for the party to support any extension of surveillance powers. All of this prompted Trump to state that Pulte wouldn’t be submitted to Senate confirmation for the position permanently, instead serving merely as acting director. But regardless of the scope of his role, Democrats aren’t just going to hand him fresh spy powers.
Read more What Do We Do With the Latest Revelations About Graham Platner?
4.
Todd Blanche
Just bad enough at his job to get a promotion.
We once wrote an edition of this newsletter examining how, in order to please Trump’s “audience of one” and succeed in his administration, an official has to do their job poorly by any objective measure. So let’s look at acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s past few weeks. He used his authority to settle a junk lawsuit filed by Trump that would give Trump ultimate control over a $1.8 billion slush fund to dole out to whoever he wanted, including people who beat cops on Jan. 6. The settlement also barred the IRS from ever auditing Trump again. This has become one of the biggest scandals of Trump’s term, invited real pushback from Senate Republicans, and thrown a wrench into Republicans’ efforts to pass immigration enforcement funding through reconciliation, as Democrats were planning to crucify them through an open amendment process. It was an unnecessary and damaging mess. Blanche ultimately had to declare under oath that the administration was “no longer moving forward with the fund, period.”
In short: Congratulations to Todd Blanche! He soiled his name, his reputation, and the Justice Department in such spectacular fashion during this tryout period that Trump has finally offered him the job full time. His confirmation could be interesting to watch. Two members of the growing Senate GOP YOLO caucus, Tillis and Cornyn, sit on the Judiciary Committee and may even ask Blanche about his central role in this massive scandal to steal money from the Treasury and give it to violent morons. Or they’ll cut their losses and support him, knowing that whoever’s next in line would probably be worse.
5.
Dan Sullivan
Or should we say the Dans Sullivan?
Blanche’s word that the slush fund was finished was good enough for most Senate Republicans to vote down Democratic amendments on the subject, and the majority was at last able to pass its immigration enforcement reconciliation bill early Friday morning. The most difficult amendment, offered by Schumer, would have sent the bill back to committee—i.e., killed it for the time being—with instructions to add language officially blocking the slush fund. Republicans could afford to lose only three votes on the amendment. Much time was spent among Republicans debating who deserved those three get-out-of-jail-free cards. In the end, it was Maine’s Collins, Ohio’s Jon Husted, and Alaska’s Dan Sullivan—the three sitting Republicans that Schumer is focusing on unseating this fall—who voted for Schumer’s amendment. It’s the first time, really, that Sullivan and Husted have acknowledged through their votes the trouble they’re in this fall.
Sullivan has a unique problem. As he angrily complained to anyone who so much as said “good morning” to him this week, a second “Dan Sullivan,” about whom very little is known, has qualified for the Alaska primary ballot. Sullivan (the incumbent one) and his campaign quickly blamed Democrats and his top opponent Mary Peltola’s campaign for orchestrating a “dirty political trick” to rig the election. They are pursuing legal recourse. Both national Democrats and the Peltola campaign have denied any involvement, and Sullivan (the cool, fresh, new one) isn’t responding to reporters’ inquiries. This does smell quite dirty, and we look forward to learning more about it. But it’s not all that uncommon of a name.
6.
Xavier Becerra and Karen Bass
What to make of California’s primary results.
California held its primaries on Tuesday, and we should know the final results sometime this decade. While the state continues to count, and count, and count, a couple of things are coming into focus in the primaries that this newsletter has enthusiastically covered: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra will almost certainly advance to the general election in that race, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will advance in her reelection contest. The outstanding question now in each race is which challenger will face them in November.
In the governor’s contest, Republican Steve Hilton has the edge over billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer. In the mayor’s race, Republican Spencer Pratt, a quasi-fictional television character, has the edge over Democratic council member Nithya Raman. Although it is mathematically possible for Steyer and Raman to each claw their way into the top two in each race, the odds are against them. And since it’s a blue state, this means that Becerra and Bass are on their way to November victory over their Republican opponents. In a year in which Democratic voters nationally have been willing to get weird with their nominees, California Democrats will settle for safety.
7.
Andy Ogles
The dang staffers are at it again.
The Tennessee Republican representative ushered in Pride Month this week with the following X post: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” Buddy? Going by the percentages of Capitol Hill Republican staff, homosexuality probably had a place in your morning meeting. Trash like this isn’t new for Ogles. A few months ago, he posted, “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” But while that old post is still up, Ogles deleted the more recent post after getting an earful from other GOP members and leadership.
Having recognized the error of his ways, Ogles manned up and took the high road: He posted that it was a staffer’s fault. “Earlier today while working on the farm”—a 10/10 wind-up; you know this guy’s not gay!—“my phone began going crazy because of a post made by a member of my comms team. The post was stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus. The employee has been reprimanded.” Does the employee have a place in America, though?
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