Past Catches Up
Graham Platner Withdraws From Maine Senatorial Race
Also on today’s menu at the News Café:
Trump Orders An End To US Trade With Spain
Countries Other Than US Move Away From Fossil Fuels
An unapologetic Graham Platner ended his candidacy for US Senate in Maine, blaming his decision to withdraw on “a political system that is not built for normal people. It is built structurally so that movements like ours cannot flourish, that if they begin to succeed they can be crushed.”
What brought him down, leaving Democrats in a frantic scramble to replace him on the November ballot just days before the filing deadline, were new allegations that he sexually assaulted a former girlfriend five years ago. Maine voters had been aware of earlier abuse allegations which Platner, an oysterman and combat veteran, had said do not represent his growth in recent years. He strongly denied the new allegations, which he attributed to politics. “I only have until July 13 until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot,” he said.
The report published by Politico led to local Democrats who had endorsed him, including leaders in the Maine Democratic Party, to change their minds, and the national Democratic Party has increased its pressure to oust him from the race out of fear that his sordid past would prevent them from defeating Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.
Discussion: Platner’s political platform reflected the values of Maine voters, and it was up to them, not national Democrats, to decide whether to support him. With the new revelations, even Mainers who had been willing to give Platner a chance became convinced that he was lying about his continued abuse of women. The outside interference, though, gave the national media a chance to cast the controversy as an existential conflict indicative of a divided party incapable of working together. It has diverted attention from the crumbling MAGA coalition and the president’s mental deterioration.
Trump Orders An End To US Trade With Spain
President Donald Trump called for an end to trade with Spain on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, citing Madrid’s not meeting the 5 percent of GDP commitment toward the defense of the alliance and the country’s withholding of permission to use a base in Spain for the US attack on Iran.
“I didn’t speak to Spain. Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,” Trump said as he told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “I’d like you to cut it off.”
Severing trade ties with Spain would undermine the trade agreement between the United States and the European Union negotiated last year. The deal that the European Parliament recently implemented includes a clause allowing the bloc to pull out if there is any breach of what is known as the Turnberry Agreement.
Discussion: While Spain has not reached the 5 percent of GDP goal for military spending, the country has been dramatically increasing its NATO spending. Economist Paul Krugman wrote that, even if Trump had the authority to single out Spain in the European trade agreement, his declaration is rather like Europe declaring it is going to cut off all trade with Florida — difficult or impossible to do.
Countries Other Than US Move Away From Fossil Fuels
Countries across Asia and Africa, faced with increasing costs of fossil fuels in the wake of the US and Israel’s war against Iran, are speeding up the adoption of solar, batteries, and electric vehicles in order to decrease their dependence on imported natural gas and oil. European and Asian prices for natural gas have risen more than 50 percent since the war began, and oil prices have risen again after President Donald Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over on July 8.
Chinese exports of solar panels have increased more than 80 percent from last year, and China exported more than 2 million electric passenger vehicles between January and May. SIA Energy, an oil and gas consultancy, stated, “If China’s car industry were handing out a salesman of the year award for 2026, President Trump would be a leading contender.”
With electric vehicles reducing the need for gasoline, the global oil demand is falling. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says 45 percent of global oil production has gone to road transportation in cars, motorcycles, and trucks and, before the war in Iran, it expected global oil demand to rise this year. Instead, the disruptions from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz led the agency to downgrade expectations to a decline in oil demand for this year.
Discussion: The Trump administration’s cancellation of federal tax credits for electric vehicles has led to fewer sales in United States, even though sales are up in the rest of the world.