'The subversive that pretends to be one of us': Republican Maine senator in trouble as far-left challenger surges in Senate race
As the Maine Senate race heats up, BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler is calling out Senator Susan Collins not as a stabilizing moderate, but as a “subversive” within the Republican Party.
“What Collins is facing in the state of Maine is not a pretty picture. Susan Collins has portrayed herself to be a moderate Republican all her life, a sort of centrist Republican. You could call her a liberal Republican,” Wheeler explains.
“She’s not a social conservative. She’s not based. She’s not fully woke either. But what’s happening in the state of Maine is embarrassing for her because the state of Maine is about to elect a senator instead of Collins who’s not a moderate,” she continues.
And this politician who’s not moderate “has a Nazi tattoo on his arm.”
“A Democrat with a Nazi tattoo. A Democrat who has trained the militia, the transgender militia groups that seek to be the Marxist vanguard for a revolution. A man who not only claims to be a socialist, but claims outright to be a communist. I’m talking about Graham Platner,” Wheeler explains.
“Graham Platner, currently in Maine, is polling higher than Susan Collins. Susan Collins risks losing her seat to this whack job. Unless she gets a boost from you, unless people want to support her and turn out, unless people want to expose who Graham Platner is. But what would be our motivation to do that if Collins isn’t on our side?” she asks.
“What would be our motivation to make sure that Graham Platner loses if Collins votes in the exact same way that Graham Platner has promised to do? If Collins is subverting your vote by subverting the president’s agenda, is she on our side really, or is she set to lose everything that she has spent her entire career building?” Wheeler continues.
And Collins does not have a great track record when it comes to supporting the president’s agenda.
“It was Senator Susan Collins and Senator Bill Cassidy who torpedoed President Trump’s original nominee for the CDC, Dave Weldon. Dave Weldon is a congressman from the early 1990s who had the audacity, what, 30 years ago, to question whether the increase in the childhood immunization schedule had any correlation to the increase in chronic disease,” Wheeler explains.
Wheeler also points out that over the course of her career, Collins has taken “nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the pharmaceutical and health products industry.”
This is why Wheeler crowns Collins as the “most destructive to the MAHA agenda within our own party.”
“The subversive that pretends to be one of us is Susan Collins,” she adds.
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CNN analyst has some really bad news for liberals hoping for a MAGA collapse: 'Ain't going nowhere'
Liberal activist Michael Moore stated in 2016 that then-candidate Donald Trump was the "human Molotov cocktail that they've been waiting for — the human hand grenade that they can legally throw into the system that stole their lives from them."
Moore, ever a cynic, suggested that if ultimately lobbed by the American people into the White House, Trump would neither deliver on his promises nor prove very effective as president.
'What he brought into the GOP looks like it's going to last long beyond him.'
To the chagrin of Moore and other liberal activists whose prognostications in recent years have aged like milk, Trump has not only delivered on many of his promises and shaken the foundations of the unworkable liberal order but fathered a movement that threatens to continue delivering on his promise of a "Golden Age" by leaning further into a muscular and nationalistic conservatism.
Politicos on both the left and right are betting on the collapse of the Make America Great Again movement in the coming years, especially after Trump leaves office. Unfortunately for them, the restorative fire set by the "human Molotov cocktail" in 2016 appears to be burning as intensely as ever.
CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, indicated on Thursday that the MAGA movement "is as powerful as it has ever been," particularly where the GOP is concerned.
Enten told talking head Sara Sidner that whereas a Marquette University poll found that 74% of Republicans viewed MAGA favorably two years ago, polling now indicates that 78% of Republicans hold a favorable view of the political movement.
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"We're talking about something that, in my opinion, will very much be able to outlast Donald Trump," said Enten. "Trump is in term number two. He can't run for a term number three. But the bottom line is this: What he brought into the GOP looks like it's going to last long beyond him."
After noting that "it's a very populist movement," Sidner asked what the GOP felt about Vance serving as "the next standard-bearer of this movement."
Enten noted that Vance is presently the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028 "because the Republican base loves JD Vance."
"What are we talking about here? Someone who really represents the Make America Great Again movement," continued Enten.
"A year ago, his favorable rating among Republicans — 81%. Latest Marquette University Law School poll, look at this, 84%. Eighty-four percent! So if anything, his favorable rating is somewhat up from where it was a year ago after a year of Trump."
As for the GOP's relationship with the current standard-bearer, Enten indicated that whereas 62% of Republicans said Trump was a good influence on the party before he ran for his second term, that number has since jumped to 71%.
Enten noted that while there are many people on the left who'd like to think the influence of Trump and the MAGA movement on the GOP is waning, that's simply not the case.
"Donald Trump, MAGA, JD Vance — they ain't going nowhere when it comes to the GOP," added Enten.
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Left melts down after learning babies aren’t at risk of hedonistic needle parties and don’t need hep B shot
In another massive win for MAHA, a federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine within hours of birth.
“I try to thank God every day for RFK Jr. being in the position that he’s in as secretary of HHS. And today was one of many reasons why I am so grateful for his leadership,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”
The birth dose will now only be recommended for infants whose mother has tested positive for hepatitis B.
However, the left is predictably freaking out.
“Contrary to the leftist hysteria that you undoubtedly are hearing on social media, they didn’t say you’re not allowed to give it to your baby. They didn’t say you should never give it to your baby. They simply suggested, instead of giving this to a minutes-old baby, you could just wait until the baby is 2 months old for the first dose,” Gonzales explains.
“That’s literally all that they are suggesting. ... I feel like they should have gone further. So, it’s just funny to hear all of the leftist hysteria, like, ‘We want to vaccinate the babies when they’re seconds old. We don’t want to wait until they’re 2 months. Are you kidding? That’s a lifetime. We want to get them as soon as possible,’” she continues.
“It’s a weird cult. It’s cultish behavior,” she adds.
And Gonzales points out that it “seems very silly” when you realize that as a society, we’ve been OK with injecting “every minutes-old baby with a hepatitis B vaccine regardless of their exposure, risk, or anything like that.”
“Since 1991, they have had a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for the first dose within 24 hours of birth,” she says, explaining that hepatitis B “spreads through contact with blood, semen, or other body fluids from an infected person.”
“Your risk [of] infection rises if you have sex without a condom with multiple sex partners or with someone who’s infected with hepatitis B; share needles during the use of drugs injected into a vein; are born male and have sex with men,” she explains.
“I don’t know about you guys — my babies are not going to, like, crazy drug orgies,” she adds.
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Woke lecturer cries 'white supremacy' after MAGA-racist smear doesn't go as planned
A nose-ringed Indiana University lecturer is accusing the university of racism for investigating her in-class smear of MAGA as racist.
During a press conference held on Friday by the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, IU School of Social Work lecturer Jessica Adams claimed that she was barred last month from teaching a "Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice" master's class and from contacting her students after a student filed a complaint over her use of a graphic that suggested "Make America Great Again" is a form of "covert white supremacy."
'I feel like white supremacy is actually on full display in the way that my case has been handled.'
According to the graphic Adams provided to the Indianapolis Star, "Make America Great Again" is a form of "socially acceptable" and "covert" white supremacy.
The following are also listed as forms of "covert white supremacy" on Adams' pyramid:
- "Bootstrap Theory," the idea that individuals can achieve success through their own efforts;
- anti-immigration policies;
- paternalism;
- "Euro-centric Curriculum";
- "English-only Initiatives";
- police killing non-whites;
- "Denial of White Privilege";
- "Denial of Racism";
- celebrating Columbus Day;
- "Fearing People of Color";
- "Expecting POC to Teach White People";
- colorblindness; and
- the assertion that "we're just one human family."
The placement of the different forms of "white supremacy" in the critical race theory pyramid is intended to signal their severity. "Make America Great Again" is located just below the line that separates "covert white supremacy" from "overt white supremacy" — a category that includes neo-Nazis, cross burnings, lynchings, and the KKK.
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Adams claimed that while a student had initially complained about the leftist propaganda to Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks' office, the formal complaint was ultimately filed by her dean, Kalea Benner, who allegedly accused Adams of presenting "biased information as fact."
Evidencing her ideological blinders and apparent antipathy for the school's administration, Adams, who appears to be white, suggested that the dean of the IU School of Social Work was a racist for questioning the factual nature of the pyramid, stating, "I feel that the assumption that it is not evidence based is rooted in white supremacist ideology. I feel like it's very much rooted in the assumption that the experiences and the voices of minoritized populations, individuals, communities are not valid. And so I feel like white supremacy is actually on full display in the way that my case has been handled."
Adams suggested further the critical race theory pyramid was credible since it is used by leftist organizations such as the National Education Association "as a tool for anti-racist and anti-oppressive education."
A letter from IU administrators indicated the woke lecturer potentially violated Indiana's intellectual diversity law, reported the Star.
Indiana Republicans passed legislation last year aimed at cultivating intellectual diversity on campuses and in classrooms.
Under Senate Enrolled Act 202, professors and other faculty members at state educational institutions are expected not only to foster a culture of free inquiry and free expression inside the classroom but to refrain from subjecting students "to political or ideological views and opinions that are unrelated to the faculty member's academic discipline or assigned course of instruction."
Adams has suggested, however, that she was teaching within her discipline and the scope of the course.
"I was asked to teach on structural racism, and as you teach on structural racism in the United States, you cannot not discuss white supremacy," Adams said during Friday's press conference. "It is the ideology that emboldens racist behavior."
While reportedly removed from the one class, Adams continues to teach three other courses at the university.
Under the IU code, a faculty member could face various disciplinary sanctions, including a written reprimand, a probationary period, a temporary suspension without pay, termination of employment, and/or immediate dismissal.
Banks' office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
IU spokesman Mark Bode told WFIU Public Radio that the university does not comment on personnel matters.
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No MAGA 'Magic' allowed? Champion card gamer faces bans for Trump support
A President Trump supporter says he has been kicked out of countless stores and card tournaments simply for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.
Joe Brennan, a champion Magic: The Gathering player, made headlines last week after he was banned from an upcoming tournament over alleged behavioral issues stemming from anonymous complaints. However, most supporters pointed to a different culprit: the fact that other game players simply do not like Brennan for wearing his MAGA hat at tournaments.
'There was a player that had a play mat with Trump's bloody, severed head next to a guillotine on it.'
After Brennan's ban, it was not hard to find posts online referring to him as a "Nazi" who made people "uncomfortable" with his hat or others that called for even greater restrictions on him.
Mind Rot
Brennan has triggered liberals in his space for years, and the fact that he is seen as one of the best players in the world and the "poster child" for vintage Magic cards, all while wearing a MAGA hat, does not bode well for his online reputation. Past posts from 2023 that show threads complaining about Brennan wearing his hat while "knowing it irritates people" are still available.
In a 2024 Twitter post, a user asked, "With Nazi s**t finally being cancellable can we kick Joe Brennan out of eternal magic?"
Still, dozens of players stood up for Brennan after his ban and signed a letter asking for an adequate resolution. The completely reasonable document riled up even more agitators, who Brennan said went after his supporters.
"People [were] getting doxxed and extorted into giving money to charities that they may or may not have supported otherwise, but they were kind of pseudo-canceled," Brennan told Blaze News. "Basically, as your penance you have to give money to this charity to show that you're on the right team and things like that."
Brennan called the reactions "egregious," but also expressed great discomfort with the idea that not only were individuals engaging in such behavior but they "felt comfortable posting pictures of their messages engaging in that behavior and bragging about it, as if they knew that the community would celebrate them for doing 'the right thing' for doxxing and extorting these people for signing their names on this letter."
Virtue's Ruin
No stranger to a ban, Brennan revealed to Blaze News that these acts were just the latest in a years-long battle.
RELATED: MAGA hat triggers woke cardplayers into allegedly banning champion from entering tournament
Brennan stressed that he does not mind anyone wearing political attire or messaging in stores, public settings, or at tournaments; he simply wants to be able to wear his, too.
Describing the Magic card scene as like "the Seattle or the Portland" of hobby communities, Brennan said tournaments are rife with left-wing displays that are never challenged.
Bernie Sanders, President Obama, and even pro-Palestine materials are consistently on display, Brennan told Blaze News, while providing pictures of Magic players wearing shirts like "Smoke Meth & Hail Satan."
"Even last year at this tournament there was a player that had a play mat with Trump's bloody, severed head next to a guillotine on it," Brennan explained.
Cast Out
The progressive bias even extends to brick-and-mortar locations. Reasserting that he does not mind if a company has political displays or allows patrons to wear attire he disagrees with, Brennan said that there have been many occasions when he would walk into a store and immediately face a ban over his MAGA hat.
"Most of the time I would just walk into the store, and oftentimes it was stores that had known me for years, but they would say, 'Hey, either you have to leave,' without really any discussion, or some of them would say, 'You have to either take your hat off or leave.'"
Brennan has even faced bans despite being on amicable terms with organizers, before arriving at an event to face a public excommunication.
"[The tournament organizer] kicks me out in front of everybody as soon as I walk in the door. ... It seemed to me like he was looking to make a public spectacle, like a virtue signal."
Despite the ongoing crowd of distractions, Brennan has stayed out of the mud. In the most recent instance, he even reached out to the company that banned him, looking for a solution.
Shockingly, the two parties came to terms.
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— (@)
Collective Restraint
With the help of a fellow game player and lawyer, Brennan spoke with Card Titan, the organizers of a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tournament now in its 11th year.
While Card Titan had vaguely allegedly alluded to Brennan in a post on X about its "core values," Brennan was surprised when the company agreed to put out a joint statement.
Both parties said they agreed to "bring down the temperature" and attempt to find unity. The statement also said "political discrimination has no place" in the community and that "wearing a MAGA hat" is "not a legitimate reason to remove" someone from an event.
Brennan said he was shocked that Card Titan agreed to the statement and said it was the first step in such a direction that the company or any relevant tournament host has ever made in their community.
"At this point I don't believe that Card Titan in any way was discriminating against me like past companies certainly have," Brennan explained. "But I do believe that the most likely scenario is probably that whoever made the underlying complaints, or whatever they were, I assume were just politically motivated."
Brennan's desire for positive outcomes cannot be ignored. He even described several instances when he has bitten his tongue in order to keep the peace.
Show of Valor
For example, Brennan recalled speaking to the organizers before the 2019 NYSE Open, a Magic: The Gathering tournament in New York. Brennan revealed that organizers told him at the time that even with a $500 entry fee, they were still not breaking even and that 2019 would be the final tournament.
Not only did Brennan promise he would win the tournament, but he vowed to return the first-prize winnings to the organizers to bankroll future tournaments.
"I said, 'Listen, don't sweat it. I'm going to go win the event, and I will give you back the first-place prize. ... I will give you back that prize, and you'll be able to run the next event — you know, use that as your startup money.' And I did that," Brennan remembered.
Brennan said the prize was four copies of the card Mishra's Workshop, currently valued between $2,500 and $3,200 USD each. Due to his generosity, the tournament was able to live on. However, the next time it was set up, other players circulated a petition asking to have Brennan banned from the tournament, despite his actions to ensure that the tournament could continue.
"Now, these players didn't know what I had done," Brennan said. "They didn't know that that tournament would not have existed were it not for my, you know, what I had done the previous year. But it was like, man, that really kind of hurt."
Through all the insults and stressful situations Brennan has gone through, his spirit has not wavered, even when asked if he is putting too much faith in his opposition in terms of coming together.
"Really, we need to come together, man. This toxicity and polarization is just crazy. I would ask anybody who's listening: Play out the current trajectory to its inevitable conclusion. And 10 years from now, is that a world you want to live in? You know? That's all I'm saying."
Brennan is set to return to Card Titan's tournament in 2026. Card Titan did not return requests for comment.
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MAGA hat triggers woke cardplayers into allegedly banning champion from entering tournament
A champion cardplayer was reportedly banned from an upcoming tournament for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat at previous events.
Joe Brennan has won at least four Magic: The Gathering tournaments in 2025, but allegedly was prevented from playing in an upcoming tournament in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this week. The fantasy-based card game is over 30 years old and has also been played online since 2002.
'... can we kick Joe Brennan out of eternal magic?'
The North American "Eternal Weekend" put on by company Card Titan is now entering its 11th competition and recently posted on X about its "core values."
The company started by saying it wishes to maintain an environment where "all attendees can feel safe."
"Unfortunately, from time to time conduct of a community member fails to meet our expectations and we have to make tough choices in order to preserve a positive event experience," the company said.
The company added that any attendees that engage in "conduct detrimental" to the values would have their badges revoked and be asked to leave the premises. This post was believed to be in reference to Brennan, with countless commenters taking his side.
One man named Conor Clarke, who started a petition to have Brennan reinstated, claimed in an open letter that the player was banned simply for having worn the MAGA hat to events in the past.
— (@)
Clarke posted on X the letter from a group of Magic: The Gathering players with "differing political views" who wrote to express their disagreement with Card Titan and said the alleged ban "raises serious concerns" for the community.
The letter noted that Brennan has been "banned from many game stores and Magic events for wearing the MAGA hat," including the Eternal Weekend, despite already having allegedly paid for entry and accommodations. It added that Brennan was told that the ban stemmed from "multiple reports" regarding his "behavior" in 2024.
While Card Titan did not respond to a request from Blaze News to clarify whether Brennan was banned — and the reason for it — progressive complaints about Brennan have circulated online for years.
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In 2023, a Reddit post showed an X thread that complained about Brennan wearing "his MAGA hat to every tournament, knowing it irritates people."
The post went on to say Brennan "cannot be a good person" and that "MAGA represents" denying women equal rights and the idea that "Black Lives Don't Matter."
In 2024, a different Twitter post asked, "With Nazi s*** finally being cancellable can we kick Joe Brennan out of eternal magic?"
An Oct. 3 X post took issue with people sharing Clarke's open letter online, with the author worried that when detractors shared the letter to criticize it, they were still letting "more s***ty people see it and support it."
Reporter Lewis Brackpool told Blaze News that in his experience, card and board game communities in general have been "dominated by progressives for a long time."
"Ironically, nearly all of the leftist fanbase and players of Magic: The Gathering cannot seem to differentiate between fantasy and politics. This is due to not having the brain capacity to comprehend that consistent idol worship of a card game will inevitably lead to fusing the hobby with their identity," Brackpool remarked.
In reference to Brennan "wearing merchandise that differs from Che Guevara or a hammer and sickle," Brackpool said, "the progressives cannot ever give it a pass, as it threatens their self-identity and knee-jerks them into an insecure frenzy."
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